Reefs to Rubble & back to Reefs

On average, 30% of the reef substrate in Pulau Lang Tengah is covered by dead coral rubble. In extreme cases, this number is even at 99%. The implications in coral reef recovery are significant.

When coral reefs die, the skeleton of individual colonies eventually disintegrates and falls onto the seabed as 'coral rubble'. Coral rubble is extremely mobile, and during the monsoon season, when waves are very strong, entire fields of coral rubble are on the move. This prevents natural recovery of damaged reef sites. However, during scientific site assessments, we have noted that many coral species are still found as 'recruits' (a.k.a baby corals) in these rubble, which means that if the substrate would be stable, these corals could settle, survive and grow bigger until they reach adulthood - eventually initiating reef recovery naturally.

We started to stabilize small portions of these rubble fields, and thus we know that corals do grow at these degraded sites - they just need a 'catalyzer'. Therefore, we made it our mission to stabilize as many patches as possible, and slowly but surely, we aim to connect these patches into a healthy and vibrant mosaic of coral reef.

Check out our latest progress here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdr8EOIplux/