SOUND BARRIER
UK experts set up speakers to lure fish back to reef
BRITISH experts are trying to save the Great Barrier Reef – by using sound.
Dying coral could be revived by playing the sounds of healthy reefs through underwater loudspeakers to attract young fish, a study involving two UK universities suggests.
Experts say the ‘acoustic enrichment’ could be a valuable tool in helping to restore damaged coral reefs.
The Great Barrier Reef, off Australia’s Queensland coast, is home to a vast array of marine life, plants and animals from fish and turtles to sharks and rays, plus 400 hard and soft corals. But in the past three decades it has lost half its coral cover, partly because of pollution and global warming.
The research team was made up of scientists from the universities of Exeter and Bristol, Australia’s James Cook University and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
The team placed loudspeakers underwater playing healthy reef recordings in patches of dead coral. They found twice as many fish arrived – and stayed – compared to equivalent patches where no sound was played.
Study lead author Tim Gordon, an Exeter PhD student, said: ‘Fish are crucial for coral reefs to function as healthy ecosystems. Boosting fish populations in this way could help to kick-start natural recovery processes, counteracting the damage we’re seeing.’
The technique works by regenerating the sounds that are lost when reefs die off, according to the findings in Nature Communications.
Professor Steve Simpson, also of Exeter, said: ‘Healthy coral reefs are remarkably noisy – the crackle of snapping shrimp and the whoops and grunts of fish combine to form a dazzling biological soundscape. Juvenile fish home in on these sounds when they’re looking for a place to settle.’ Dr Mark Meekan, of the Australian Institute, said: ‘Attracting fish to a dead reef won’t bring it back to life automatically, but recovery is underpinned by fish that clean the reef and create space for corals to regrow.’