A new life for a dying coral garden

Efforts are underway to revive the coral reef at Kandakuliya in Kalpitiya which had been gradually destroyed over the years. Under an ongoing project live corals are brought in from Mannar and planted in the area by the officials of the Department of Wild Life, Kalpitiya, with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Navy.

Manjula Kumara of the Department of Wild Life office in Kalpitiya said, corals were being replanted in specially made concrete shells, and they were seeing the results of work undertaken a few months ago.

According to Manjula, initially concrete boxes were laid on the seabed subsequently, sample species and coral knobs were brought from the Bay of Mannar and introduced to the dead sanctuary in Kalpitiya Bay with the assistance of the

Sri Lanka Navy

Underwater pictures taken last week showed the effectiveness of a job well done.

The project looks not only at replanting corals but also looks at the reintroduction of other species of marine life and the revivifaction of its biodiversity.

The Sea Fauna and Flora Sanctuary at Kalpitiya, gazetted in 1992, covers an area of over a 307 sq km of the seabed.

The area has 136 varieties of coral, 400 types of fish, prawns and various rare fauna and flora.

A section of the newly planted coral reef at Kalpitiya

Shoals of fish flock around the newly introduced corals

Varieties of fish are once again seen among the corals

Coral knobs are first planted in concrete shells or pots

The Sri Lanka Navy joined hands with the Department of wild Life