Titouan freedives beneath the waves · Chau Chun
Throughout my early childhood, this pearl farm was my home. It was an amazing place to begin my time on Earth. Everywhere you looked, there were patterned fish, covered with spots and stripes, and sharks patrolling nearby reef ledges. Every day, we caught fish from the reef to eat, and I was swimming with the sharks before I knew how to feed myself.
French Polynesia is home to rich reefs with many different species of fish · Cristina Mittermeier
“At only 16 kilometers wide from west to east, the island of Mo'orea is a drop of land in the ocean that surrounds us. We are completely connected to the sea.” · Ryan Borne
Scientists tell us that coral reefs could be the first ecosystems to disappear from our planet. If we do not take action in the next 10 years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, stop pollution and overfishing, and find better ways to restore them, all corals could be beyond saving. I could not believe it when I read that we have already lost more than a third of all reefs.
Corals are turning white as the planet heats up. Their polyps become stressed and expel the algae that gives them their color · Cristina Mittermeier
Coral fragments recover in table nurseries before being replanted on damaged areas of the reef · Cristina Mittermeier
Corals Gardeners now have their headquarters in a little Tahitian house called a “fare” · Cristina Mittermeier
We collect “super corals” — corals that are naturally more resistant to the extreme conditions caused by climate change, like a warmer, more acidic ocean — and put them in a nursery to grow, before transplanting them to damaged zones of the reef. This strengthens the habitat, encouraging other life to return.
Education is the number one priority for Coral Gardeners. They go into local schools and speak to the kids in French Polynesia about coral reefs · Cristina Mittermeier
Coral reefs take up less than 1 percent of the planet’s surface, yet they provide a habitat for around 25 percent of recorded marine species · Cristina Mittermeier
Titouan encounters a playful pink whipray on the seabed · Cristina Mittermeier
For all the young kids out there who want to start something, you just need to be passionate. Find a project that drives you. Take a sheet of white paper, write down a few ideas, and start telling your story to others — the rest will follow.
Titouan and his group of island friends have turned their dream of restoring the reef into a reality · Cristina Mittermeier
