By María Angélica Troncoso |
Arraial d’Ajuda (Brazil) (EFE) economic engine of the city.
Located in the state of Bahia, in the northeast of the country, this city attracts thousands of tourists every year for the white sands that stretch along its 85 kilometers of beaches, several of which are considered the most beautiful in the country.
The coral spectacle that surrounds them and the natural pools that form between the reefs and the sand when the tide goes out, is another of the attractions of the municipality.
However, for many, these ecosystems that are essential for the biodiversity of the oceans and that are also extremely vulnerable, according to experts, are no more than simple rocks.
This ignorance, along with other factors such as climate change, predatory fishing, urbanization, sediments, and the hundreds of tons of plastic and garbage that are thrown into the sea every year, threaten their disappearance.
“All the damage suffered by corals ends up affecting man,” Flávia Guebert, general coordinator of the Living Coral Project, told EFE.
The initiative, financed by the state oil company Petrobras, seeks the preservation of coral reefs through actions that promote sustainable tourism and the monitoring of environmental variables of these marine ecosystems, in a continuous research work.
they are not rocks
And it is that although it may not seem like it, coral reefs are living structures and a diversity of fish, algae and other organisms depend on them.
Its system is formed by the accumulation of skeletons of animals and plants and its construction requires the joint action of an infinity of beings.
Corals are marine animals and the stony (rocky) type are the base of reefs and remain fixed in the same place until the end of their lives.
The only corals of this type in the South Atlantic are in Brazil and several of its species are endemic, since they only exist in the country.
Such is the case of the “Brain Coral” (Mussismilia harttii), very common in Porto Seguro reefs and which, according to the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), is in danger of extinction.
In total, in the South American giant there are 66 species of corals -between stony, hydrocoral, soft and black-, of which 24 are unique in the world, according to Living Coral.
Coral reefs, source of income
The enormous and varied diversity found in coral reefs is also important to the man who lives on them through fishing and tourism.
Additionally, they protect the coast from storms and erosion and are important sources of essential raw material for medicines.
In Brazil alone, more than 18 million people depend directly and indirectly on corals.
In Porto Seguro, nautical tourism predominates, which includes tours to the reefs, guided diving and walks, activities that can be deadly for these marine environments if their importance is not known.
“(…) then a diver goes out for the first time, moves his fins and hits the corals or grabs hold of them and does not know that he is killing them because he does not know that they are living animals. That, unfortunately, is very common”, explains the expert.
For this reason, the organization gives priority to the training of tourist guides and dive drivers, so that with specific training they have a more conscious behavior and understand that it is not right to step on them or mistreat them and that their skeletons are not decorative objects to be carried around. houses.
Scientific and ancestral knowledge
Coral reefs, typical of tropical waters, take thousands of years to grow. Since they need sunlight for this, the vast majority are located in shallow waters close to the surface, although they also exist in the depths of the sea.
In the nurseries that Coral Vivo has in Arraial d’Ajuda, one of the districts of Porto Seguro, there are corals over 10 years old that do not seem to be that old due to their size.
The place also influences, because in Brazil they grow slower than in Australia, but those there are less resistant because their waters are more transparent and with less marine plankton, as Carlos Henrique Lacerda, regional coordinator of Living Coral research, explained to EFE.
Expert professionals and people from the community who possess empirical and ancestral knowledge, complemented by scientists, participate in the research carried out by the project.
Such is the case of Edmilson Conceição do Carmo, better known as Beach, a Pataxó indigenous fisherman, son of fishermen and who has been with Living Coral for 17 years.
“Here I do a little bit of everything. I do part of the research work with the monitoring (of the corals) and I am also in the educational part explaining how the nursery works to the visitors, ”she told EFE Beach.