Unfortunately stony corals also face a grave threat from ocean acidification due to rising CO2 in the atmosphere. They need alkalinity to make their skeletons.
Shading can buy corals time against heat and light stress, but it does nothing about the declining carbonate availability they need to keep building skeleton
Couldn't you have a floating hole filled net to give shade over larger areas? I guess this is the early stages of testing the idea, but if it's promising enough, I think floating surfaces are the way to go.
A problem is that corals need algae to photosinthesize so too much shadow is also bad.
Another is that the shadowed water will be still hot, because the water moves away and temperature inertia is too powerful so is not efficient and now corals will have two problems instead one problem. A coral that does grow slow, either has powerful poisons, or will be invaded. Corals are always at war with their neighbors.
A better focus would be to use some kind of system to move deep water up using the reef topology. Would be noisy and obtain permits will be a real pain in the ass, but at least could work.
In the meanwhile as this is not easy, this small umbrellas are time consuming to build and not much useful and can dislodge and hit other corals damaging them, a floating and anchored second hand jumping bed would be much more efficient, relatively less risky to crash against submerged corals, and a little more durable. Many owners of jumping beds with holes on it, would be glad to get rid of... donate them for free for a good cause. At least this is needed just in summer and will need to be removed before winter storms turns it into garbage. Small fishes will use also this platforms for refuge so corals could also benefit of that.
Watching the health of the colony constantly to see if there is too much shadow is essential, Also place it out of the fishermen way and never on ship routes. And this can't be used in areas with seals.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 82.0 ms ] threadHave to nitpick though, umbrellas protect you from falling water, parasols block light.
> - "Playing sounds of healthy coral on reefs makes fish return" (2019) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36450824#36465577 and other Coral Restoration links
Another is that the shadowed water will be still hot, because the water moves away and temperature inertia is too powerful so is not efficient and now corals will have two problems instead one problem. A coral that does grow slow, either has powerful poisons, or will be invaded. Corals are always at war with their neighbors.
A better focus would be to use some kind of system to move deep water up using the reef topology. Would be noisy and obtain permits will be a real pain in the ass, but at least could work.
In the meanwhile as this is not easy, this small umbrellas are time consuming to build and not much useful and can dislodge and hit other corals damaging them, a floating and anchored second hand jumping bed would be much more efficient, relatively less risky to crash against submerged corals, and a little more durable. Many owners of jumping beds with holes on it, would be glad to get rid of... donate them for free for a good cause. At least this is needed just in summer and will need to be removed before winter storms turns it into garbage. Small fishes will use also this platforms for refuge so corals could also benefit of that.
Watching the health of the colony constantly to see if there is too much shadow is essential, Also place it out of the fishermen way and never on ship routes. And this can't be used in areas with seals.