Coral Reef Restoration in the Lakshadweep Sea

Why Reefs Are Bleaching

Corals are animals living in symbiosis with zooxanthellae algae that provide colour and up to 90 per cent of their energy. When sea surface temperatures exceed the local summer maximum by about 1°C for several weeks, corals expel the algae and turn white. Prolonged bleaching leads to mortality.

• Degree Heating Weeks (DHW) above 4 trigger significant bleaching; above 8, widespread mortality.
• The 2023-25 global bleaching event affected reefs in over 80 countries — the most extensive on record.
• Lakshadweep's atolls lost substantial live coral cover after the 1998, 2010 and 2016 El Niño events.

What the Restoration Mission Does

• Coral gardening: fragments grown in underwater nurseries and transplanted onto degraded reefs.
• Selective propagation of heat-tolerant genotypes identified from surviving colonies.
• Artificial reef structures and 'biorock' mineral accretion to stabilise substrate.
• Community monitoring with the Lakshadweep fishing cooperatives; a moratorium on reef-adjacent dredging.

The Bigger Picture

Reefs support fisheries, buffer islands from storm surge and underpin tourism. Restoration buys time but cannot substitute for emissions cuts: at 1.5°C of warming, 70–90 per cent of reefs are projected to decline. India's Deep Ocean Mission and the Blue Economy policy framework must therefore integrate reef resilience with adaptation finance and ocean-monitoring capacity.