The Marine National Park Headquarters (MNPH) implemented a continuous monitoring and survey project on the spawning of corals. After two months, the team finally overcame the rough sea climate and successfully documented the precious images of coral spawning in the Dongsha Atoll coral reefs on April 28th 2013.

To document coral spawning in the Dongsha Atoll, a research team formed by members of the MNPH and researchers from National Sun Yat-Sen University began a series of sampling work in early March targeted to observe the reproductive glands of coral. The team took shifts to work underwater at nights, so that they would not miss the reproductive cycle of the coral. Finally, on April 28th 2013, the team witnessed the spawning of corals and documented the precious moment of new life for Dongsha Atoll.

The Dongsha Atoll, located at the north part of the South China Sea, was formed through over ten million years of reef-building. It is the only fully developed coral atoll in the waters of Taiwan. The Dongsha seas, neighboring the Coral Triangle- the area with the world’s highest diversity of marine lives, are a hot-spot of biodiversity in Taiwan’s waters, making it a perfect place for study of coral diversity.

Since the MNPH was founded in October 2007, a team of researchers had begun a series of surveys on the coral spawning (sexual reproduction), as well as actively transplanting (asexual reproduction) the coral to expand clone types. Currently, through the coral conservation projects, the MNPH team has successfully facilitated building two large coral blocks (54 transplants for each block), and the surveys conducted in the past five years show that the Dongsha Atoll Lagoon has been recovering, and the coverage rate has increased from the original 2-50% to the current 17.5-71.5%. All the encouraging news shows the effectiveness of the team’s effort in coral conservation. In the future, the MNPH will continue to protect the rich and diversified marine environment and ecologies in the Dongsha Atoll National Park, including conservation of coral colonies.