Volunteers have taken on the huge task of saving the corals around the Princes’ Islands. Photo Credit: Serço Ekşiyan
Environment Turkey280 Corals Find New Home and Save Endangered Reef
A group of volunteers has successfully transplanted 280 corals from the Princes’ Islands area, where construction threatens the survival of 24 coral species, to the shores of uninhabited Tavşan Island, both located in the Marmara Sea in Turkey.
“The Marmara is turning into a haven for certain ecosystems that we must protect,” says hydrobiologist Dr Cem Dalyan. “It’s a bit like the Noah’s ark legend – if you preserve a small number of each species, they will multiply and thrive again once the calamity is over. The Marmara Sea is the ark, and could save the entire Mediterranean.”
In 2017, they transplanted 90 corals with 90% success. Two years later, they transplanted the remaining 190 corals, this time with a 60% success. The corals are adapting well to their new environment. As they need to be protected, efforts are being made for the area around Tavşan Island to be turned into a marine protected area.
