New project launched for coral conservation
A project has been launched to preserve and restore coral in Hong Kong using the world’s first 3D coral reef tile printing solution.  Sino Group with its Hong Kong Innovation Foundation is working on the initiative with Ocean Park and a start-up, archiREEF.  They aim to build 20 square metres of artificial reefs in Deep Water Bay over the next three years. Dr David Baker, a co-founder of archiREEF, said Hong Kong is well-known for its rich marine biodiversity, with around 90 hard coral species, but they are facing challenges due to global warming and rising sea temperatures. He said their technology can help restore coral in a faster way, as natural recovery is too slow. “We can attach living corals and give them a head start at surviving and thriving in that new environment… So our long-term goal is that the tile over time will become less and less obvious because the corals themselves are growing and becoming a new reef,” he said.  Meanwhile, Ocean Park will launch a scheme enabling 10,000 primary and secondary school students to join online coral conservation seminars. A hundred of them will be selected as programme ambassadors to help promote coral conservation to the public.