Special project to restore Hikkaduwa reef
Mahinda P Liyanage, - Galle Daily News correspondent
A special project to restore the devastated coral reef of Hikkaduwa
National Park has been launched by the Wildlife Conservation Department.
Divers with transplanted corals on concrete moulds before
the commencement of their underwater mission of restoration
of the devastated coral reef of Hikkaduwa National Marine
Sanctuary. Picture by Mahinda P Liyanage, Galle Daily News
correspondent |
The department thoughtful of the impending threat posed to the
survival of the marine wildlife sanctuary, carried out a series of
researches, ahead of initiating the project.
The Hikkaduwa National Park, one of the two marine national parks in
Sri Lanka is globally acclaimed as a nature reserve with a rich coral
reef and biodiversity.
The reef in the recent past suffered a high degree of degradation due
to both natural and human activities.
The coral bleaching in 1988 induced by El Nino and the direct impact
of the Boxing Day tsunami aggravated the degradation of the coral reef.
Under the initial phase of the restoration project, the department
plans to re-plant corals over an extent of 1,000 sq. ft of the marine
park, using a Philippine technique which has proved to be quite
successful. Wildlife officers have made arrangements to deposit 700
concrete moulds with corals transplanted on them on the sea bed.
With the passage of time the tender corals on concrete moulds would
grow with accumulation of further corals on them. |