Be sure to read our monthly updates from Marine Savers – direct from our resident teams at
the Marine Discovery Centres at Landaa & Kuda Huraa – our long-term partnership with Four Seasons Resorts Maldives.
Landaa Giraavaru
At Landaa this month, we transplanted 21 new coral frames, kindly sponsored by guests (5), the Resort (16), and online (0), adding 959 new coral fragments to the reef. The resort frames consisted of: 1 Manta Package, 8 Build-a-Reef, 3 Managers’ Cocktails, 1 Staff Reef, and 3 Special Frames for World Environment Day. We also monitored (cleaned, repaired, photographed) a total of 72 coral frames, mainly at the Dive Site.
To see the progress of your own frame, please visit our dedicated Four Seasons monitoring page where we upload new photos every 6 months or so.
Small Wins For Corals
19 coral frames, making part of Sadler’s Reef, were lifted and fully recycled during June. This patch is located at 10m deep on the Coral Trail. Additionally, a patch of 6 large frames on House Reef was also recycled. Approximately 900 fragments were attached to the existing frames through recycling projects.
3D Mapping Engineering
This month, 2 of our wider Reefscapers team members joined us for 3 weeks for a new 3D-mapping project. Mathieu and Nathani, two French engineers, created detailed models of the House Reef dive site and part of a stunning coral patch near Voavah. They tested different mapping methods, including scuba diving and Reefscapers’ ROV (underwater drone). By the end of their stay, they had produced 3D-printed models of the House Reef’s key features to support PADI instructors during dive briefings, as well as a complete 3D model of the dive site. They also created a highly realistic model of the coral patch near Voavah and shared their 3D mapping expertise with our onsite Reefscapers team.
Coral Spawning
During the June Full Moon period, we observed 3 colonies spawning: an encrusting Montipora coral species, new to our Massives Database. Pigmented eggs (oocytes) were found in harvested fragments of an Acropora species that we have not previously recorded, so we hope to catch it spawning next month.
Kuda Huraa
At Kuda Huraa this month, our coral experts transplanted 7 new frames, and monitored and repopulated 60 growing coral frames, across all our coral restoration sites around the island.
To see the progress of your frame, please visit our dedicated Four Seasons monitoring page where we upload new photos every 6 months or so.
The Channel (repopulation and frame removal) – over the past few years, many of the older restoration frames have become buried beneath accumulated sand. This month, we continued to excavate the buried frames and remove them carefully to minimise disturbance to the surrounding reef, while improving the overall structure and appearance of the restoration site.
Noah’s Rock – is located within the house reef, ranging from depths of 3m on the shallow reef flat to 10m along the deeper slope. This month, we completed the six-month monitoring of all coral frames at this site, and observed overall healthy growth particularly in the shallower areas. But sedimentation continues to threaten the coral colonies at this site. By partially smothering coral tissue and reducing light exposure, sedimentation can quickly lead to coral mortality. On the deeper side of the site, encrusting sponge growth also remains a concern, as sponges continue to spread across sections of the coral framework, competing with corals for available substrate and overgrowing living coral tissue contributing to coral mortality. In response, maintenance and monitoring activities were carried out throughout the month, including the rebuilding and routine maintenance of all remaining coral frames.
Coral Predators
Coral predator monitoring and removal efforts were carried out throughout June across the restoration sites, with collections made during routine maintenance and monitoring activities. A total of 261 corallivorous organisms were recorded during the month, with the majority originating from the Water Villas and House Reef sites. Among predatory echinoderms, two medium-sized Acanthaster planci (crown-of-thorns starfish) were removed from the Reef Wall area of the House Reef during morning dives. Gastropod corallivores accounted for the majority of removals, with 238 Drupella snails collected from the Water Villas site, predominantly associated with colonies of Montipora digitata. Additional species included two Drupella cornus from the Water Villas, along with several Coralliophilia species from Noah’s Rock at the House Reef, including 10 Coralliophilia erosa, one C. monodonta, four C. violacea, and four C. costularis. The continued presence of these coral-feeding organisms highlights the importance of regular monitoring and timely removal to minimise predation impacts on the coral restoration sites.
Coral Reproduction Programme
June was an exciting month for the coral spawning project at Kuda Huraa! The team night-dived twelve times across the full moon and new moon periods, clocking up 17+ hours underwater. Only one spawning jump per day was completed as no eggs were observed in Acropora tenuis despite thorough gravid checks. Spawning of Montipora monasteriata was observed over two of these nights; one individual colony was observed spawning and it split spawned across both nights. This is the first time spawning has been observed in this genus at Kuda Huraa. It is exciting to see the continued expansion of spawning research into different genera of massive and encrusting corals.
Coral Bleaching
Throughout June, we continued to assess coral bleaching across the Water Villas, Blue Hole and House Reef restoration sites. As average sea surface temperatures started to return to more typical levels, we began to observe signs of recovery in some coral colonies. However, we also recorded mortality among colonies that had experienced prolonged stress during the preceding months of extreme heat. Bleaching assessments will continue throughout July to monitor ongoing recovery and any further changes in coral health.
