Thai scientists breed coral in labs to restore degraded reefs
On a starry night, four Thai marine biologists scuba dived through shallow waters off an island in the country's south as billions of pink specks floated up from the ocean floor in a spectacle that takes place only once a year. The pink specks were sperm and eggs released by coral. The scientists collected as many samples as possible for breeding, as they fight to save Thailand's expansive reefs from degradation driven by warming oceans and human activity like tourism.
Their research is painstaking because the coral only spawn once a year, and it can take up to five years to raise the juveniles in a lab before they are ready to be transferred back onto the seabed.
"We have hope that the degraded coral reefs can recover and return to their former beauty," said one scientist, Nantika Kitsom.
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