Restoration efforts underway after luxury yacht caused ‘significant’ damage to coral colonies

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The coral in Honolua Bay was ground to bits by a luxury yacht recently stuck around for nearly two weeks.

After three unsuccessful attempts, the ‘Nakoa’ was dragged away by another boat and ultimately sunk over the weekend.

Tuesday, a team from the Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute started the effort to clean and restore the coral.

The team said there are a “significant number” of broken coral fragments throughout the area.

The team collected more than 100 broken coral fragments and identified four to five large colonies suitable for reattachment.

Wind and rising swells made reattaching the coral difficult, so the team took the colonies and fragments back to their lab.

The team says they’ll reattach the colonies at the site once the swell passes.

Officials at NOAA say coral reefs are some of the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth. “Coral reefs support more species per unit area than any other marine environment.”

“Once coral reefs are damaged, they are less able to support the many creatures that inhabit them and the communities near them,” says NOAA.

If you want to donate to the cleanup and coral restoration effort, click here.

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