Have you ever taken a photo of coral reefs using a Canon Camera?
Well, Canon Europe, Middle East and Africa is partnering with Nature Seychelles, a leading non-profit organization in the Western Indian Ocean, and the Coral Spawning Lab, to lead a first-of-its-kind project designed to safeguard vital marine ecosystems.
The project aims to restore and protect coral reefs against climate change by embracing a new method of coral regeneration in the region.
Canon will provide investment to Nature Seychelles for the construction and operation of a coral breeding facility as well as Canon imaging equipment to enhance observation and documentation of coral spawning, to be used in citizen science, and for education and awareness.
Canon’s equipment will allow researchers to witness coral spawning events in detail previously not seen before.
This will be the first of its kind in the region and will enhance Nature Seychelles’ new Assisted Recovery of Corals (ARC) facility, a land-based coral aquaculture facility aimed at boosting coral restoration efforts to save reefs from the impacts of climate change.
With support from Canon and Coral Spawning Lab (CSL), Nature Seychelles will develop a deeper understanding of coral reproductive timing, post-settlement growth, and survival.
The technology provided will also facilitate photomicrography, photogrammetry, and the production of high-quality imagery and videos for researchers.
The new cutting-edge coral breeding facility will create a genetic bank of resilient coral and document the process like never before.
It will be built by Coral Spawning Lab, a UK-based team of researchers that work to better understand the life cycles of reefs to equip communities with the information they need to regenerate coral ecosystems. CSL will also provide training in Seychelles to operate the facility.
Coral reef restoration in the Seychelles has traditionally relied on the “coral gardening” technique where coral fragments are selected from existing reefs and grown in nurseries, before being transplanted back into degraded areas.
However, given this process results in a reef populated by genetically identical corals, the technique falls short of creating corals that can routinely withstand the events that degrade them; for example, coral bleaching events, where stress triggered by rising ocean temperatures causes damage to their tissue.
The lack of genetic diversity within gardened reefs is a critical weakness, rendering the technique only a temporary fix rather than a long-term solution for improving reef health and resiliency in the region.
“We’re essentially cloning corals, creating reefs of genetically identical species,” explains Dr Nirmal Shah, CEO of Nature Seychelles.
Shah said Canon’s partnership, alongside Coral Spawning Lab’s expertise enables them to breed corals and create a genetic bank of resilient species and will also allow us to unlock the secrets of coral reproduction.
Dr Jamie Craggs, marine biologist and co-founder of the Coral Spawning Lab, says the Coral Spawning Lab has always pushed the boundaries of coral reproductive science.
This partnership with Canon and Nature Seychelles allows us to continue that tradition of innovation, combining our expertise with their cutting-edge imaging technology to develop new and more effective approaches to coral conservation.
Peter Bragg, Sustainability and Government Affairs Director at Canon Europe, Middle East and Africa, says their partnership with Nature Seychelles and the Coral Spawning Lab in this innovative effort to protect the Seychelles’ vital coral reefs, demonstrates our commitment to biodiversity.