ARNHEM, Netherlands — Like the animals on Noah’s Ark, the corals arrived in pairs.
On Monday, divers with gloved hands gently arranged self-reared corals from the World Coral Conservatory project among their cousins on Europe’s largest coral reef at Burgers Zoo in the Netherlands.
“This is the first project where we begin to maintain these corals of known origin. Since we know exactly where they come from, they have the potential to be returned to nature. … That’s why it’s very important to conserve these corals, because they don’t do very well in the wild,” Nienke Klerks, a biologist at Royal Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem, told The Associated Press.
It is one of several projects around the world seeking to address declining coral reef populations, which are suffering from bleaching caused by rising sea temperatures. Corals are critical to marine ecosystems, and while these projects will not stem the tide of damage caused by human-caused climate change, they are seen as part of broader solutions.
The World Coral Conservatory hopes to create a coral bank in aquariums across Europe that could be used to repopulate wild coral reefs if they succumb to the stress of climate change or pollution.
Together with two zoos in France and the project’s creator, the Monaco Scientific Centre, the eastern Netherlands zoo received more than a dozen coral fragments from the coast of Seychelles in eastern Africa.
The Dutch zoo has been propagating the corals since 2022, allowing them to grow in a highly regulated environment before they were large enough to join the rest of the reef.
“We tested it behind the scenes…what works for these corals. “This way we know where to put them and how to keep them,” said zookeeper Pascal Kik.
Each diver held up a coral (one that looked like a large mushroom, the other a decorative cookie) for journalists to photograph before placing it on a ledge near the center of the 8 million liter (2.1 million gallon) tank.
Few of the zoo’s other corals come from the wild. They are shared by other zoos or handed over by Dutch customs officials after being confiscated. Coral poaching is a major threat to coral reefs in some parts of Asia.
That would make it difficult to return the corals to their natural habitat. But the team knows exactly where their 14 corals came from, making it more likely that they could be successfully reintroduced if necessary.
Corals are key marine species, according to Mark Eakin, executive secretary of the International Coral Reef Society. Eakin, retired chief of coral monitoring for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says about 25% of marine animals spend a portion of their lives depending on coral reefs.
This makes projects like Arnhem even more important, he said.
“We’re in a situation where we really need to take every step we can,” Eakin told the AP.
In early April, scientists from NOAA and the International Coral Reef Initiative said coral reefs around the world are experiencing global bleaching for the fourth time.
Bleaching occurs when corals under stress expel the algae that give them their vibrant colors. Algae are also the food source for corals, and if bleaching lasts too long or is too severe, the coral could die.
In the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, bleaching affected 90% of corals assessed in 2022. The Florida Coral Reef, the third largest, experienced significant bleaching on last year.
Terry Hughes of Australia’s James Cook University, an expert on the Great Barrier Reef, argues that the world needs faster, bolder efforts to stop the damage of climate change, rather than small-scale restoration projects like this one.
“You can’t replace a magnificent ecosystem with an aquarium,” he said.
Others say every little bit helps.
“Coral reefs would be one of the first systems to completely collapse due to climate change,” said Ronald Osinga, a marine biologist specializing in corals at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
“It’s sad that it has to be like this,” said Osinga, who is not involved in the Dutch zoo initiative. But projects like this are a “good backup plan.”
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