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UMT replants corals as step towards marine ecosystem conservation

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UMT replants corals as step towards marine ecosystem conservation

Sunday, 11/06/2023

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Coral reefs are natural ecosystems formed at the bottom of the ocean, and interestingly they are categorized as animals. These unique living beings function as protectors of the seashores, preventing them from the strong impact of the ocean waves. In addition, coral reefs are important to fry due to their safe surrounding and easy availability of food.

According to a study published by “proceedings of the royal of society journal,” a part of the largest coral reef in the world, the Great Barrier Reef, has been dead since 1995 as a result of increased ocean temperature and climate change.

The situation became worse when the ecosystem experienced large-scale coral bleaching during 2016-2017, which destroyed about two-thirds of the coral reefs. The bleaching still occurs until the present day.

An increase in the ocean temperature also creates stress to these living organisms leading to bleaching and death of the corals.

In addition, the unbalanced acid-alkaline values have also become a disturbance to the coral reef ecosystems and prevented them from sustaining themselves.

As part of the ecosystem conservation measures, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) has doubled the effort by collaborating with corporate agencies to disseminate the importance of ocean conservation to the society.

In conjunction with the World Oceans Day that is celebrated every 8 June annually, UMT has collaborated with Aquaria KLCC to organize the Coral Conservation Expedition at UMT Marine Natural Research Station on Bidong Island.

The programme that was organized for the first time has also drawn the attention of 40 volunteers comprising people from different age groups and professions.

UMT Vice Chancellor Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mazlan Abd Ghaffar said that the programme was an effective measure in the effort to conserve the corals that have experienced deterioration.

“We at UMT take the responsibility in the environmental and ecosystem conservations. The awareness campaign has started since several decades ago and it has not been easy to educate the society to care for the oceans.

“This effort needs involvement from everyone in order for its effectiveness to be realized more immediately so that the natural ecosystem conservation can be completed within a shorter time.

“A sustainable environmental ecosystem will contribute towards the well-being of our lives and those of future generations.”

The expedition project that was launched at Aquaria Kuala Lumpur also received a fund totalling RM200000 for starting the coral conservation and awareness campaign activities.

Meanwhile, coral expert from the Faculty of Science and Marine Environment at UMT, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tan Chung Hong, said the instability of the ocean’s temperature because of the hot weather lately will also give negative effects to the corals.

“If the hot weather continues for a long time, the corals will die. If the ocean’s temperature returns to normal within two weeks, the corals will undergo a restoration process and their colours will return to normal.

He added that the rate of coral growth is very slow and it takes roughly a year for the corals to reach the length of 10 centimetres.

Several activities were successfully held including environmental maintenance briefing, sharing sessions with coral researchers from UMT, and introduction to coral replanting.