Huawei helps Mauritius 'reforest' coral reefs

PORT LOUIS — Off the east coast of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, not far from Pointe aux Feuilles, sit a number of coral nurseries.

Coral fragments collected from various places are cultivated here, and when the corals have matured they will be transplanted to a degraded area of reef ecosystem, thus realizing reforestation under the sea.

The project is being jointly undertaken by Chinese technology company Huawei and the Mauritius-based nongovernmental environmental protection group EcoMode Society.

Sudheer Maudhoo, Mauritian minister of blue economy, marine resources, fisheries and shipping, said, so far, the project has raised over 25,000 coral fragments and transplanted them across an area of 1.01 square kilometers.

Mauritius has more than 150 km of its coastline surrounded by coral reefs. Coral reefs play a crucial role in the Earth's ecology, serving as vital habitats for a multitude of marine animals and plants.

Maudhoo said coral reefs also play an important economic and social role, as they not only attract tourists and provide jobs and a source of income for locals, but are also a natural barrier to protect coastal areas from tropical storms. In the past few decades, however, reef ecosystems have faced many threats, including climate change, overfishing and pollution.

Nadeem Nazurally, an assistant professor at the agriculture faculty of the University of Mauritius, has long been involved in marine protection and coral conservation. He said the coral cultivation process used to be "lengthy and cumbersome".

"Once we leave the site we don't really have any vision or knowledge of what's happening underwater," he said.

As a result, "annoying setbacks" can't be avoided, Nazurally said. For example, the crown-of-thorns starfish, known as a "killer" of coral reefs, could eat up to four square meters of coral seedlings in a single night, only to be discovered the next day when it was too late, said Nazurally, who is also president of EcoMode Society.

Bringing Huawei on board with this project has changed this scenario.

"With Chinese technology, we can monitor from our office, even at night, and we can intervene in time," he said.

Li Jiyu, a technical engineer at Huawei Mauritius, said that monitoring at the coral reef restoration site can determine factors that disturb reproductive success. Huawei deployed a solution comprising underwater cameras, satellite navigation receivers, 5G technologies and cloud computing.

"With the support of Huawei, we have been able to scale up," said Nazurally.

While the project is in its second phase, technologies such as artificial intelligence-based data analysis will be used to guide conservation decisions, support the research of marine biologists, and educate the public on the importance of reef conservation.

Nazurally said the data collected through Chinese technologies will be shared with researchers at the University of Mauritius to help them understand the process of coral bleaching, and the interaction patterns between corals and other marine organisms.

"The project is a perfect example on how to merge technologies and restore ecosystems," the marine scientist said. "There is a big potential for collaboration with China."

Xinhua