A new coral gene bank and nursery in the Bahamas is rescuing coral formations endangered in the sea by climate change and disease and is regrowing them for eventual return to the seas.
A consortium of wildlife and marine organizations, the Bahamas government and the Atlantis Paradise Island resort is behind the project, along with the University of the Bahamas.
While rising temperatures and water pollution have been reducing coral world-wide, an additional threat has become prominent in the Bahamas area, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. The hope is to nurture strains that will be resistant to the disease.
Fifteen coral species have been relocated to the Atlantis Paradise Island-based biosecure Gene Bank research facility. Coral fragments collected from the ocean are placed in pristine, on-site aquaria, and once stable, they grow and reproduce quickly with the aid of innovative reproduction techniques such as lunar-cycle simulations.
