Cubans Grow Corals, Restore Reef with Limited Support

Cubans Grow Corals, Restore Reef with Limited Support

A small group of Cuban dive instructors¹ have started a project to grow corals and replant them. The divers² hope to restore part of Cuba's barrier reef. And they are working with limited financial support and using materials recovered from the coast.

Luis Muiño  is one of the project's leaders. The 44-year-old fisherman grew up on Cuba's north coast. He said he saw his beloved reefs outside the mouth of Matanzas Harbor slowly weaken and the number of fish lessen³ over the years.

Muiño  told Reuters, "It's incredible the loss of coral in the past 30 years." He added, "Our dream is to repopulate again the parts of the barrier reef that have lost their corals."

To make that happen, Muiño  worked with other dive instructors and neighborhood schoolchildren with support from Cuba's National Aquarium⁴ and the Cuban environmental program Ecovalor.

They began collecting pieces of coral spread across the ocean floor after large storms three years ago. The pieces were then hung on branches of underwater "trees" made from old plastic pipes and supported by fishing lines recovered from the coast.

Muiño  said the pieces grow quickly. They are then "replanted" on the coral reef, attached by nails driven into the rock. In a year, most survive and grow enough to repopulate part of the barrier reef between 60 to 80 meters in length, he said.

"It's a project that takes time," said co-worker Michel Soto. He said the project has done better than expectations even with little financial support and limited equipment in Cuba. He commented, "Everything is difficult, but we keep pushing ahead ... and we are making progress."

Like many coral reefs around the world, the ones in Cuba are threatened by changing water temperatures, invasive plants and animals, pollution and over-fishing. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric⁵ Administration (NOAA) says the world has already lost 30 to 50 percent of its coral reefs.

Karine Guillevic is a French diver who just visited Cuba for the first time. She said the reef looked better than others she had seen on dives elsewhere in the world, including in Africa.

"The coral ...needs to be protected," she said after two dives on a recent trip to nearby Varadero. She said, "It's good to see that in Cuba they take care of what they have, and that it is still not too affected⁶ by too much tourism."

Muiño  said a healthy reef and a happy tourist are his real reward. "We do this out of love for the reef," Muiño added.

Words in This Story

coral – n. a hard material formed on the bottom of the sea by the skeletons of small creatures

reef – n. a long line of rocks or coral or a high area of sand near the surface of the water in the ocean

incredible – adj. difficult or impossible to believe

tourism – n. a tool with many stiff hairs or fibers that is used for cleaning, smoothing, or painting something

1 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

2 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

3 lessen   

vt.减少，减轻；缩小

参考例句：

• Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
• They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。

4 aquarium   

n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸

参考例句：

• The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。
• I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天，我要和父母一起到水族馆去。

5 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。