{"id":48962,"date":"2025-03-20T13:35:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T11:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnestartit.com\/?p=48962"},"modified":"2025-03-29T16:29:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T14:29:38","slug":"the-red-coral-is-blooming-again-in-the-medes-islands-a-decade-later-the-restoration-is-bearing-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/the-red-coral-is-blooming-again-in-the-medes-islands-a-decade-later-the-restoration-is-bearing-fruit\/","title":{"rendered":"The red coral is blooming again in the Medes Islands: a decade later, the restoration is bearing fruit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A decade after being transplanted to the Medes Islands, colonies of red coral (Corallium rubrum<\/em>) confiscated from illegal fishermen have not only survived but have grown into a robust community, nearly identical to the original ones. This is confirmed by a recent study conducted by scientists from the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM).<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This discovery represents a major breakthrough in the restoration of coralligenous habitats, an essential underwater ecosystem of the Mediterranean, known for its slow growth and rich biodiversity. Red coral, a biological jewel of the seabed, has been seriously threatened by illegal fishing, including in protected areas.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Restoration in key areas of the mediterranean<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The intervention was carried out in the Montgr\u00ed, Medes Islands and Baix Ter Natural Park, at a depth of around 18 meters, in areas rarely visited by humans and still largely unaffected by climate change. This controlled environment allowed the transplanted colonies to successfully establish themselves and gradually regain their ecological role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A coral under pressure: illegal fishing and climate change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Red coral is particularly vulnerable. Its extremely slow growth makes natural regeneration difficult when populations are damaged. Added to this is the pressure of climate change: rising water temperatures and marine heatwaves have caused significant mortality among various Mediterranean species, including red coral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For centuries, this species has also been exploited for jewelry making, drastically reducing its presence in deep and hard-to-reach areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What makes marine restoration effective?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The study highlights that many restoration efforts are assessed only in the short term, based on the survival of transplanted organisms during the first few years. However, this approach is insufficient for long-lived species like red coral, which can live between 50 and 100 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers stress the need for long-term monitoring to fully understand whether biodiversity and ecosystem services are truly on the path to recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Restore, yes \u2014 but also protect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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For restoration to be successful, it is crucial to eliminate the root cause of the degradation. In the ocean, due to the global impact of climate change and other human activities, there are hardly any areas left that are completely free from environmental stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is why the study also emphasizes the importance of effectively protecting marine ecosystems before intervening, and of scaling up restoration efforts, which are currently often limited in scope and ecosystem-wide impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A clear message: nature responds when given the chance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The recovery of red coral in the Medes Islands is not only good news for Mediterranean biodiversity \u2014 it is also a reminder that ecological restoration, when done properly, works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This kind of study invites us to rethink our relationship with the sea, by prioritizing active and sustainable conservation of ecosystems and supporting long-term projects that regenerate marine life from the ground up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A decade after being transplanted to the Medes Islands, colonies of red coral (Corallium rubrum) confiscated from illegal fishermen have not only survived but have grown into a robust community, nearly identical to the original ones. This is confirmed by a recent study conducted by scientists from the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Institute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":48944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[1157,1153,706,1154,602,880,1156,1155,1152,795],"class_list":["post-48962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability-en-2","tag-baix-ter-natural-park","tag-corallium-rubrum-2","tag-costa-brava-3","tag-ecosystems","tag-medes-islands","tag-mediterranean","tag-montgri","tag-protected-areas","tag-red-coral","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cnestartit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}