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  • Day 28

    How to do a beach profile

    April 9, 2021 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    So, there is these folding yardstick, a measuring tape and a device I have no idea what it's called
    Beach profiles are done to monitor the health of the beach. Here in Las Terrenas the beach has been retreating.
    Because of climate change and urban construction in Las Terrenas where there are now rules around construction.
    Houses are built, sometimes unfinished, left alone for years. Sediment goes into the river which transports it into the sea. Corall reefs (and the whole marine envirement) get damaged.
    In 2018/2019 there have been very strong storms which, without protection of the reefs, have washed out the beach and a part of the road along the beach.
    Coral reefs are important to lessen the power of storms.
    The corals need a specific temperature to for to be in good health. Global warming stresses them and ultimately die.
    We started to have classes about the marine enviroment. How it works, what the cause for damages are.
    Some of the volonteers (still: not me) will have the chance to actually transplant corals which have been planted, nursed and brought up in a special constructed nursery on the bottom of the sea, to a existing coral reef and plant them there!
    The volonteers regularly clean the nursery and the reefs ...loads of plastic.
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