Pledge to Protect: ONE°15 Marina Coral Garden Updates

With more than 27% of the world’s coral reefs being destroyed, ONE°15 Marina is on a mission to go green and safeguard our beautiful marine biodiversity through the launch of the ONE°15 Marina – Seakeepers Asia Coral Garden project.

In conjunction with the Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI) of NUS and sponsors The International SeaKeepers Society Asia, Audi Singapore and SC Global Developments, this project aims to protect the marine-eco-system in our marina and provide a natural habitat for existing sea life so that we may nurture an aquatic treasure trove for all to explore.

In this post, we would like to document and share the exciting updates and project developments through our restorative efforts.

UPDATES

Coral fragments on nursery frames
Since August 2019, 106 coral fragments from 14 genera have been transferred to the new frames. As of June 2021, 63 live coral fragments remained on the nursery frames. Most of the surviving coral fragments were healthy, and some coral colonies such as Cyphastrea and Porites had encrusted on the frames. Reef fauna such as feather duster worms, juvenile carpet eel blennies and Haddon’s carpet anemones have also been documented on the nursery frames, highlighting the potential of the structures to function as novel habitats for marine organisms.

All surviving transplants increased in live tissue area, ranging from 1.1 to 61.7 times. Turbinaria mesenterina transplants had the fastest mean areal growth (7.3 ± 3.4 cm²/month) amongst the species.

Take a look at our seabed that’s now populated with corals!

18 August 2020
An update on our coral garden after 6 months!

Fishes are spotted in the seas, making our coral garden their home!

Our coral garden is also spotted growing well and looking healthy after the transplant. Just take a look at the before (left) & after (right) photos of our coral garden! As of 15 January 2020, 174 live coral transplants remained on the seawall with an overall survivorship of 72.8% and a total area of 7301.33 cm².

Take a dive under the waters and check out how the researchers from the Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI) of NUS conduct the coral garden transplantation!

15 April 2019
Over the past few months, the TMSI team transferred over 70 coral fragments onto the new seawall, monitoring their growth and health. The overall transplant survivorship was 91.1% – most coral transplant recovered from the transplantation process and appeared healthy with visible growth, growing up to twice their initial area.

These statistics show that using marine epoxy was viable in assisting the transplation of corals at ONE°15 Marina, and that certain species such as Tubrinaria mesenterina and Goniastrea aspera are suitable for larger-scale marina transplantation.

Juvenile marine fishes such as the black eeltail catfish, kite butterflyfish, and longfin spadefish were seen seeking shelter and food at the nursery frames.

8 January 2019
The TMSI team are currently working on the following recommendations to enhance the coral gardens

1. Convert two wells from Boaters Bar and all six floating nursery frames into nursery tables.
2. Reinforce and replace new metal mesh on all 3 old floating nursery frames.
3. Install additional new six floating nursery frames based on the old metal frame structures.
4. Diving to transfer some corals from the floating frames to temporary holding frames to assess the integrity of the old frames.

30 November 2018
We transferred 36 coral fragments from the nursery to the seawell. In total, 80 hard coral fragments have been transplanted to the seawell area. 77 live coral transplants remained on the seawall. The total area of coral transplants was 1503.4cm2.