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 If
you have ever seen pictures or visited the Great Barrier Reef in Australia,
you’ll agree that coral reefs are worth saving. Not only are they
beautiful, they’re also home to many species. Although they only cover
about 2 percent of the world’s ocean, an estimated 25 percent of marine life lives in coral
reefs. Isn’t that amazing? Unfortunately, however, due to human activity,
scientists have predicted that coral reefs
might disappear by 2100.
 Two
of the biggest threats to coral reefs are global warming and fishing,
such as bottom trawling. Bottom trawling
involves dropping nets to the bottom of the
ocean and then dragging them up to the surface when the net is filled
with fish. As you can imagine, bottom trawling causes a lot of damage because the nets break
the fragile branches from the reefs.
This is obviously sad, but there is good news! If these branches are
found quickly and attached back on, they can
be saved!
 Currently, that work is being
done by scuba divers. In the future, however, the divers may be replaced
by Coralbots. These robots can look around on the ocean floor and pick up broken
branches. They are even smart enough to know the difference between
trash and coral! The Coralbots work in groups and attach the broken
coral to the reef.
The Coralbots were created by researchers at Scotland’s Heriot Watt
University, where they are currently undergoing the final phase
of testing. When they’re ready, researchers hope to get enough money
to build hundreds of Coralbots and release them in the waters
off Scotland. Then, hopefully, the Coralbots will be sent to reefs
all around the world.
 “Swarms
of robots could be instantly deployed after
a hurricane or in a deep area known to be impacted by trawling,” said
Dr. Lea-Anne Henry, who is leading the project. “The Coralbots can
rebuild the reef in days
to weeks, instead of years to centuries.”
Let’s hope the Coralbots can undo the damage caused by
humans and save the world’s coral reefs! |
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