World first living Coral Biobank opens at Cairns Aquarium

The world’s first living coral biobank aimed at future proofing the Great Barrier Reef has opened at the Cairns Aquarium. Take a look inside.

The world’s first living coral “biobank” has opened at the Cairns Aquarium.

Part of the Forever Reef project, Living Coral Biobank at the Cairns Aquarium is officially open to the public, highlighting the need to maintain and preserve the biodiversity of The Great Barrier Reef’s coral population as a potential summer disaster looms.

The project began in 2019 with the aim of collecting all of the over 400 species of coral found on the reef to preserve as living specimens.

Currently the bank is home to almost 200 of those species but Great Barrier Reef Legacy managing director Dr Dean Miller said time is of the essence to ensure they can have all species represented within the bank.

“The window of opportunity to collect all the remaining species is closing rapidly with coral bleaching events we are loosing the most vulnerable corals and reefs,” he said.

The Forever Reef Project has created the world's first living coral biobank, with 400 different species of coral collected from the Great Barrier Reef and safely stored in a controlled environment at the Cairns Aquarium. Forever Reef Project chief scientist Charlie Veron, managing director and project leader Dr Dean Miller and Cairns Aquarium CEO Daniel Leipnik examine the special biobank tanks at the aquarium, which are capable of holding 12,000 different coral samples. Picture: Brendan Radke

“We feel things are going to change drastically with the shift to the El Nino weather pattern. “We are going to have a very hot summer both above and below the water and with bleaching events we are going to loose coral species.”

Known as the Godfather of Coral, Dr Charlie Vernon said the project was a very big deal for the Great Barrier Reef.

“I think now we have seen 15 species gone extinct on the Great Barrier Reef and after the summer that number is going to higher and higher,” Dr Vernon said.

“We have got to act now or it is never.

“Its only a smaller number of species lost till now but we could loose hundreds in a single year in a mass bleaching event and the conditions we see looming for this summer are worse than we have ever seen.”

The facility is capable of holding up to 12,000 coral fragments to be available to aid in reef research and restoration efforts worldwide.

Cairns Aquarium owner Daniel Leipnik said that while the conservation efforts were key to the future of the reef the project also provided another attraction for those visiting Cairns.

“It’s a very significant process for us as one of the number 1 things people want to see when they come to Cairns Aquarium is the beautiful coral,” Mr Leipnik said.

“People are enamoured by the colours, shapes, and textures of the coral.”

Originally published as World first living Coral Biobank opens at Cairns Aquarium