06/12/2007

Bali coral reefs revived with electricity

PEMUTERAN BAY (Indonesia): Just a few years ago, the lush coral reefs offBali island were dying out, bleached by rising temperatures, blasted bydynamite fishing and poisoned by cyanide.

Now they are coming back,thanks to an unlikely remedy: electricity.

The coral is thriving on dozens of metal structures submerged in thebay and fed by cables that send low-voltage electricity, whichconservationists say is reviving it and spurring greater growth.

As thousands of delegates, experts and activists debate climate at aconference that opened this week on Bali, the coral restoration projectillustrates the creative ways scientists are trying to fight the illeffects of global warming. The project - dubbed Bio-Rock - is the brainchild of scientist ThomasGoreau and the late architect Wolf Hilbertz.

The two have set up similar structures in some 20 countries, but theBali experiment is the most extensive. Goreau said the Pemuteran reefs, off Bali's north-western shore, wereunder serious assault by 1998, victims of rising temperatures andaggressive fishing methods by impoverished islanders, such as stunningfish with cyanide poison and scooping them up with nets.

"Under these conditions, traditional (revival) methods fail," explainedGoreau, who was in Bali presenting his research at the UN-led conference.- AP