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Volunteering in the Seychelles

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In the heart of a coral garden

Every year, the PONANT Foundation offers company employees the opportunity to get involved in volunteering initiatives around the world. In spring 2024, Adva and Margaux joined up with a charity in the Seychelles. Their mission: to help restore the coral reef.

Protecting the seabed

In Beau Vallon, in the north-west of the island of Mahé, Adva and Margaux were welcomed by Yasmine, project manager with the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS). For a fortnight, she guided our two volunteers through the projects of this NGO, which has been working to conserve the marine ecosystem in this archipelago in the Indian Ocean since 1997.

Saving the coral at Fisherman’s Cove

A team of 11 people work at MCSS every day, regularly assisted by volunteers. Since 2016, the organisation has been running a project to restore the reef at Fisherman’s Cove, on the island of Mahé, in cooperation with one of the bay’s resorts. The programme includes seven deep-water coral nurseries and two land-based tanks, a system designed to encourage coral growth. Coral reefs are essential for marine biodiversity, heir existence is threatened by fishing, certain diseases and global warming.

Coral gardening

After discovering lush landscapes and enjoying a snorkelling session at the beach, Adva and Margaux learnt more about corals and their environment. They discovered the coral gardening techniques that are designed to restore the reefs. This series of meticulous tasks were to form the core of their mission.

Did you know?

Corals are animals with a skeleton, a stomach and a mouth. Polyps, which are tiny animals, make their own exoskeleton, forming corals.

Nurseries on land and at sea

‘These tanks contain coral cuttings taken from the ocean. They are then broken up and placed in nurseries on land for a year, then at sea for nine to twelve months. Once they have finished growing (to between 10 and 25 cm), they will be replanted in the ocean,’ explains Margaux.

Fragile corals

‘Some of the corals we are observing are suffering from a phenomenon called bleaching and will no longer be able to survive, even in nurseries.’ Adva

Thorough cleaning

After harvesting coral fragments from the reef, Adva and Margaux sort them by species in tubs and inspect them very carefully, in particular to eliminate the anemones that kill the cuttings. ‘We quickly become like apprentice surgeons, equipped with our syringes and white vinegar.’ Adva

Growth under close surveillance

When the corals are returned to the sea, the job consists of checking the installations and cleaning the corals, as Adva explains: ‘We brush them gently with a toothbrush to remove the algae, brush the ropes that hold them in place, and get nibbled by the fish that come to eat the algae residue.’