How coral transplants could rescue Turkey's threatened reefs

Scientists are carefully moving the sea animals to new locations to save them from construction schemes

Transplanting coral is difficult work. You only have 20 minutes to dive down 30 metres and transplant the coral to the correct part of the rock, where hopefully it will live for hundreds of years," explains Serco Ekiyan, one of a small group of volunteers who have taken on the huge task of saving the corals around the Princes' Islands (Adalar), a picturesque archipelago in the Marmara Sea about a 40-minute boat ride from Istanbul.

The Marmara Sea, made up of water from the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, is home to 24 Alcyonacea coral species whose existence is threatened by the onslaught of nearby property development. Among those disappearing are sea whips, sea pens, sea fans and some types of red and yellow soft corals.