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Reef in Brief – Issue #1

by Powershop on October 24, 2019

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As our Powershop Coral Nursery grows we'll update you along the way.

This nursery wouldn’t have been possible without the contributions of our Your Community Energy customers!

If you’re new to Your Community Energy you can find more info on the Your Community Energy page. If this is old hat for you, then your contributions have gone to some amazing causes. Either way – thank you, your decision to purchase the Your Community Energy Powerpack has led to our most ambitious project yet.

The Powershop Coral nursery

The nursery was installed in early September by a team of incredible volunteers, divers and marine biologists from the Reef Restoration Foundation.

What we have done so far

They took a piece of healthy coral (pictured below) and turned it into pieces of mini coral to grow in our underwater nursery. Some of this coral will be ‘coral fragments’ that will be replanted in Great Barrier Reef once it’s grown and other parts of this coral will be ‘mother colonies’ to re-stock the coral trees with new coral fragments once they have grown over 6-12 months. This allows for a continuous restorative cycle.

How does this process work?

Great q, you can check out this handy animation to get the low down on coral propagation.

What makes a coral nursery?

Well, the Reef Restoration Foundation assembles what looks like metal Christmas trees in the water. The design of these ‘trees’ accelerate the growth of coral clippings attached to them, which are checked every 7-10 days to ensure there is no sign of disease. At these check-ins the coral tree frames are cleaned and our corals get a good measure.

Since installation, our baby corals have adapted well to their new home in the Powershop Coral Nursery at Welcome Bay on Fitzroy Island. We’ll update you on all the activity at the Powershop Coral Nursery in our next Reef in Brief – including coral growth, marine life, the tides and the Reef.

In the meantime, all Your Community Energy premiums collected from the start of October until our corals are planted to the Great Barrier Reef in 2020 will go directly towards ongoing operational costs of the Powershop Coral Nursery.

So you’ll know exactly what you’re supporting the next time you whack a Your Community Energy Powerpack into your cart.