Play video
STORY: CORALS IN CRISIS
LOCATION: BAA AND ADDU ATOLLS, MALDIVES.
SHOT: VARIOUS DATES, SEPTEMBER 2022
DURATION: 2.44
SOURCE: NEKTON
RESTRICTIONS: FREE ACCESS ALL PLATFORMS IN PERPETUITY/NO ARCHIVE RESALES . MANDATORY ON SCREEN CREDIT: "COURTESY OF NEKTON"
HEADLINE: MALDIVES CORALS IN CRISIS
STORYLINE
Meet the marine biologist who is in a race against time to save a coral reef in the Maldives. And find out if the international Nekton science mission, exploring offshore , can provide vital new data to help her?
On the tiny island of Fulhadhoo, Aya Naseem and the Maldives Coral Institute are involved in a labour of love.
They are painstakingly repairing and rebuilding a reef, threatened by sediment from a nearby harbour development.
The reef had already survived coral bleaching events - when corals slowly boil to death because of rising sea temperatures.
The team knows the climate crisis is real and they are on the frontline.
SOUNDBITE AYA NASEEM MALDIVES CORAL INSTITUTE
"At the moment we're moving towards a 1.5 degrees rise in global temperatures by 2030. At that rate, the corals of the world will be reduced by more than 90%; so, unless we can drastically reduce the global carbon emissions , coral reefs will not survive and neither can Maldives.
The way to save the reef is by growing new corals from fragments of destroyed coral heads.
Those new corals are then transported and re-attached to the original reef.
Reefs are a natural sea defence against ever more violent storm surges, caused by global warming.
Out at sea, scientists from the international Nekton Mission are looking for other answers .
Could corals found at greater depths be transplanted to the shallows to help replace what has been lost?
SOUNDBITE Prof. Alex Rogers, Nekton Mission
"I think the jury is still out on that and we'll know more by the end of the expedition when all the data has been looked at and, intriguingly, 30-metre transects carried out with the ROV do seem to show some very health coral populations; so it may be the deep reef refuge hypothesis holds out - certainly down to 30 metres, but maybe not deeper".
Data gathered by the Nekton Mission will be used by its joint mission partner ,the Maldives Marine Research Institute, to better comprehend corals in the deep.
STORY: CORALS IN CRISIS
DURATION: 2.44
SOURCE: NEKTON
RESTRICTIONS: Free access on all platforms in perpetuity/no archive resales.
3 VERSIONS: 16:9, 1:1, 9:16 - Available at www.apmultimedianewsroom.com/nekton
HEADLINE: MALDIVES CORALS IN CRISIS
STORYLINE
Meet the marine biologist who is in a race against time to save a coral reef in the Maldives. And find out if the international Nekton science mission, exploring offshore , can provide vital new data to help her?
——-
CAPTIONS/SUBTITLES
On the tiny island of Fulhadhoo, Aya Naseem and the Maldives Coral Institute are involved in a labour of love.
They are painstakingly repairing and rebuilding a reef, threatened by sediment from a nearby harbour development.
The reef had already survived coral bleaching events - when corals slowly boil to death because of rising sea temperatures.
The team knows the climate crisis is real and they are on the frontline.
SOUNDBITE AYA NASEEM MALDIVES CORAL INSTITUTE
"At the moment we're moving towards a 1.5 degrees rise in global temperatures by 2030. At that rate, the corals of the world will be reduced by more than 90%; so, unless we can drastically reduce the global carbon emissions , coral reefs will not survive and neither can Maldives.
The way to save the reef is by growing new corals from fragments of destroyed coral heads.
Those new corals are then transported and re-attached to the original reef.
Reefs are a natural sea defence against ever more violent storm surges, caused by global warming.
Out at sea, scientists from the international Nekton Mission are looking for other answers .
Could corals found at greater depths be transplanted to the shallows to help replace what has been lost?
SOUNDBITE Prof. Alex Rogers, Nekton Mission
"I think the jury is still out on that and we'll know more by the end of the expedition when all the data has been looked at and, intriguingly, 30-metre transects carried out with the ROV do seem to show some very health coral populations; so it may be the deep reef refuge hypothesis holds out - certainly down to 30 metres, but maybe not deeper".
Nekton Mission data will be used by the Maldives Marine Research Institute to better comprehend corals in the deep.
1. Various of repair work to reef at Fulhadhoo, Baa Atoll ,Maldives
2. Soundbite (English) Aya Naseem , Maldives Coral Institute
3. Various underwater repairs to reef at Fulhadhoo, Baa Atoll ,Maldives
4. Aerial Nekton Mission mothership RV Odyssey
5. Nekton scientists in submersibles at Addu Atoll
6. Soundbite Prof. Alex Rogers, Nekton Mission
7. Aerial Nekton Mission mothership RV Odyssey
8. Underwater pictures in Addu Atoll
9. Aerial Fulhadhoo island, Baa Atoll
To download the media briefing in full, please click through on the link below:
4 October 2022
