This giant coral chest could save the Great Barrier Reef

If one of the world’s most important ecosystems fails, this clever insurance policy may prove to be its saving grace; take a look inside the world’s first living coral biobank.

It’s the most peaceful nursery I’ve ever seen. Never mind that the babies constantly feed, incessantly tussle and never properly go to sleep. But, then again, it’s hard to sleep when you don’t have a brain.

In three raised ‘cribs’ in the Cairns Aquarium, 392 small pieces of coral resembling tiny trees, sticks of scored calamari dipped in beetroot sauce, and clumps of marshmallow-pink hair billowing in the breeze sit neatly side by side. Attached to metal plates, they grow bigger and stronger every day, thanks to their uncanny ability to clone themselves.

Maintaining life inside a coral chest

The corals live a charmed life, gently rocked by a wave machine, cleaned regularly by their fishy friends, and made to feel at home with lights that mimic sunrise, sunset and cloud cover over the Great Barrier Reef. The only bother is when their neighbour gets too close and they offer a backhanded sting to mark their territory.

“Hmm, we might need to move that one,” observes our guide Makayla Grady, as her discerning eye notices the thin tentacle of a fluoro-green coral giving its tank-mate a swift whip on the backside (in a Chucky-like twist, this kind of nursery play can result in fatalities). “We love them, but they can get a bit competitive.”

Fragments of mature corals from the Great Barrier Reef blossom in the Cairns Aquarium.

Though the little corals in front of us are animals, akin to an upside-down jellyfish – or, most commonly, hundreds or thousands of animals called polyps clustered together, who are peas in a pod with their algal best mates called zooxanthellae (what were their parents thinking) – they’re not babies as such.

Rather, they’re fragments of mature corals living on the Great Barrier Reef, surgically removed by a team of divers (don’t worry, the upside of no brain is no pain), then DNA tested and microchipped like the family dog, so it’s clear who they are and where they come from.

The state-of-the-art nursery they’re subsequently placed in is the world’s first living coral biobank – a facility designed to insure one of the world’s natural wonders. Because, as most of us are aware, climate change is posing a significant threat to reefs worldwide, and time is running out.

The recent coral collection is secured in the quarantine tank.

A giant ‘coral ark’ in the making

The Cairns living coral biobank, established as part of the Great Barrier Reef Legacy’s Forever Reef Project, aims to ultimately protect all 415 species of hard coral on the Great Barrier Reef, later expanding to include soft and international corals. The full collection is planned to lodge in a giant ‘coral ark’ (inspired by Noah) in Port Douglas, with smaller biobanks run by traditional owner groups dotted along Queensland’s coastline.

The coral specimens are preserved in a living ‘coral ark’.

In a similar vein to the seed vault tucked into a snowy mountain in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard – a repository for millions of important seeds from around the world – the biobank will keep our precious corals safe, and they can be replanted on the reef if things go belly up in the big blue.

Divers bring coral specimens to the vessel.

Biobank tours at Cairns Aquarium

Though the giant ark is still a few years away, the Cairns Aquarium is letting visitors get acquainted with the biobank by offering 30-minute tours through its on-site holding facility. The aim is to help people understand more about the fascinating, but arguably underrated, creatures that underpin the entire ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef. In short, without coral, the aquatic empire breaks down, impacting everything from the fish, to the sharks, to the whales, to the adorable pygmy seahorses.

Visit the world’s first living coral biobank in Cairns.

The ongoing threat to the Great Barrier Reef

Despite their indisputable importance, the flamboyant gardens that landscape the sea received little attention until a mass bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 highlighted their fragile nature.

“Pre-2016, the only real questions I got asked [from guests] were where to find Nemo or how long a turtle lives for,” says Great Barrier Reef Legacy operations manager Paul Myers, who has spent 15 years on the reef as a dive instructor. “After the biggest bleaching event on record, the questions became a lot more educated and were more centred around, ‘tell me about the health of the reef, tell me about coral bleaching’.”

Paul Myers and Cameron Bee inspect corals in the facility.

Though bleaching became a hot topic, the nuances of the corals it impacted remained largely elusive, with Dr Charlie Veron, a key collaborator on the Forever Reef Project, still one of the few people worldwide who can identify corals to a species level underwater.

The Forever Reef Project is home to precious corals collected from the Great Barrier Reef.

“About two years ago, I did a course on coral ID and there were about 30 people in the room,” says Myers. “All of us had been working on the reef for more than 10 years, but none of us knew anything about coral identification. Firstly, it is so tricky, but also, you just don’t get asked.”

That’s where the living coral biobank tours play an important role, not just in safeguarding the reef’s corals, but to help educate people on their importance and vulnerability, and, in turn, the importance of tackling climate change. As Cairns Aquarium founder and CEO Daniel Liepnik says, “Addressing climate issues requires changes to human behaviour, and getting people to care is the first step.”

Dr. Dean Miller evaluates the health of the corals prior to collection.

Growing hope for the future of the reef

Unfortunately, climate change is a complex, long-term problem to resolve – and in the context of the Great Barrier Reef and more frequent extreme weather events, time is not on our side. This leaves the biobank as one of the few signals of hope that suggest things might work out okay. “It’s not the solution, but it’s adding resilience to the system,” says Myers. “Because if we lose the reef, it’s gone forever.”

So although the little, brainless corals in the biobank can never sleep peacefully, knowing they’re tucked away safe and sound in their quiet, comfy cribs means that we can.

The freshly collected corals are carefully brought up to the vessel. (Image: Martin Stringer)

Living coral biobank tour fees

On top of the regular admission fee, living coral biobank tours at the Cairns Aquarium are $20 per adult and $14 per child, with all tour fees donated to the Forever Reef Project.

For more travel inspiration, news and tips, read our travel guides on the Great Barrier Reef and Cairns.