Critical equipment installed for the land-based coral nursery thanks to local support.
Nature Seychelles has presented two local businesses with the “Friends of Cousin Island” award for their contributions to marine conservation.
The two businesses – Titan Plant Hires and D&S Equipment – were honoured by Nature Seychelles for providing equipment and services free of charge to assist in the installation of large pipes, which are the seawater intake lines from the ocean to the land-based coral nursery at Amitie, Praslin.
“I am all about protecting the environment and helping my country,” says Julio Pool, the owner of Titan Plant Hires, who offered the use of his excavator, and his very experienced excavator operator, Miguel Payet, for the entire duration as a donation to coral reef restoration and Nature Seychelles.
For their part, Stephane Etheve and D&S Equipment offered Nature Seychelles free transportation for Titan-owned excavator to and from the site.
The intake lines installation is pivotal for receiving seawater into the land-based coral nursery – known as the Assisted Recovery of Corals (ARC) facility – the first of its kind in Africa, and which is set to revolutionise the way the NGO grows corals to restore reefs. The facility is expected to exponentially increase the number of corals available for restoration through coral aquaculture to regenerate the coral population in the natural reef ecosystem.
To install the lines, with permission from authorities, the two companies working alongside contractors and Nature Seychelles staff, helped to temporarily remove rock armouring on the Amitie coast opposite the ARC facility, lay the two intake lines, which run from the facility, under the road, and through the armouring one hundred and fifty metres into the ocean, and then replace the rock armouring. They also had to lift 600kg cement blocks, which were placed on top of the intake line to anchor the line in position on the seafloor. A stainless-steel manifold, manoeuvred by the excavator, was also placed and attached at the end point of the intake lines to ensure the lines don’t get blocked.
“The entire operation was extremely challenging and couldn’t have been achieved without the contribution of all the people on site,” says Eric Blais, Nature Seychelles’ operations manager, who supervised the entire 5-day operation. Eric, being Eric, was in the water every day with the team, laying the pipes.
“The future of our coral reefs just got a little brighter thanks to the generosity of these two local businesses,” says Nature Seychelles Chief Executive Dr Nirmal Shah. “When we faced a funding challenge for a key part of our new land-based coral nursery, they stepped up and donated their services, which enabled us to complete the project. It shows a growing recognition of the importance of collaboration between non-profits and the private sector.”
“We have been working on Praslin and Cousin Island, which is adjacent to Praslin for decades, and the community there understands that our work is non-profit and benefits the society and community of Praslin. We are incredibly grateful for their partnership and for all the people who worked during this time to bring everything together.”
Titan Plant Hires and D&S Equipment are the fourth recipients of the Friends of Cousin Island Award.