Nursery corals flourish

A CORAL nursery ground established off Fitzroy Island has exceeded all expectations.

Some corals have grown nearly 250 per cent in just six months.

The Reef Restoration Foundation has released results from its first offshore nursery after installing six coral “tree” frames in waters around the island, off Cairns’ coast, late last year.

Nearly 250 coral fragments were attached to the frames, cut from 24 initial pieces of coral harvested from fringing reefs around the island.

The bushy and branching corals have grown from between 53 and 250 per cent.

Foundation chief executive Stewart Christie said the results were surprising, particularly given the large wet season the Far North experienced earlier this year.

The resulting lack of sunlight and poor visibility is not considered to be conducive to coral growth.

“We weren’t necessarily expecting a lot of growth, but when we started looking at the results around the middle of May, we were really pleased with the progress,” he said.

The method adopted by the foundation was developed in Florida Keys and the Caribbean where more than 25,000 corals are grown and planted annually in offshore nurseries.

It is envisioned the corals will be able to be transplanted around the island to restore habitat lost to coral bleaching.

The fringing reef was affected by consecutive mass coral bleaching events from 2016-17.

About half the shallowwater corals in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park died during the mass bleaching events, according to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.