With tourism at a complete standstill, the Australian scuba industry is pivoting towards environmentalism. 

Instead of letting the boats bob aimlessly in the harbor, many companies are repurposing their vessels — and crew — for coral restoration missions along the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). 

We’ve mentioned coral restoration projects in the past, however, these missions are particularly important as the GBR is in the midst of its worst bleaching event to date. 

If you want to know what causes coral to bleach or why that’s important, we’ve got you covered. 

Back to the (scuba) business. 

The repurposed scuba instructors are joining forces with scientists and researchers from around the world to try and mitigate the problem as much as possible. 

Over the years, coral nurseries have been established in key areas around the GBR. These nurseries are used to grow ‘heat-tolerant’ coral species that may be able to survive Earth’s future climate conditions. 

Now, the teams are working together to harvest the baby corals that have grown and fuse it with adult corals of the same species that are bleaching. 

While this alone won’t be enough to save the GBR, regrowing key coral species could provide a foundation for long-term recovery.