Cuba: Divers try to revive coral reef (video)

Colorful fish and bright corals: This is what underwater life in Cuba used to look like. But climate change and ocean pollution have left their mark. A group of Cuban diving instructors are now trying to revive this habitat. The idea: Broken coral fragments are collected from the sea floor and attached to a kind of “underwater tree” made of old plastic pipes. Here the coral parts can survive and grow. In a next step, the divers transplant the corals back into the reef. Luis Muino is one of the project managers: “There are ten coral trees, each with 40 to 50 fragments, so a total of almost 400 fragments that are cared for in the nursery.” In a year, these coral fragments could grow into a 60- to 80-meter-long reef of fully regenerated coral, Muino said. Michel Soto is also committed to the threatened coral reef: “The project takes time and you need patience. But that’s our job and we love what we do. I think that other people can do their part for our future, our children and grandchildren should do so they can see the reef as it was six or seven years ago.” According to US experts, 30 to 50 percent of the world’s coral reefs have already been lost.