Artificial breeding of corals makes marked progress in Hainan

The artificial breeding of stony corals has achieved marked progress around the phoenix island in Sanya City, south China's Hainan Province, according to a recent survey conducted by a team of experts.

Sunday marks the 11th World Wildlife Day, which was designated by the United Nations in 2013 to enhance awareness of the world's wild fauna and flora.

Stony coral is a Class II species under state protection in China. Coral reefs built with it as the main body are known as submarine tropical rainforests, with fascinating colors and extremely rich biodiversity.

From 2011 to now, researchers from the Hainan South China Sea Institute of Tropical Ocean (HITO) have used the latest propagation technology to breed nearly 600,000 corals in the waters of the phoenix island. These corals have also reproduced themselves, making the total number now over a million.

"Over the years, we have been continuously researching technologies such as coral seedling technology, fixing coral seedlings to the seabed, and using robots to place artificial reefs under the sea. All of these will greatly improve the efficiency and speed of coral ecological restoration in Sanya," said Chen Hong, director of HITO.

As an important natural distribution area for corals in China, there are 137 species of corals distributed throughout the Sanya sea area, of which 108 are found in the Sanya Coral Reef National Nature Reserve.

Researchers said that at present, corals have become an iconic species in Sanya. Protecting corals is of great significance to promoting ecological protection in the South China Sea.