“I RECOMMEND getting inside the net. It’s very good for you,” jokes marine ecologist Peter Harrison. “It’s good for your skin, it’s good for your clothes.”
The net in question is a giant, slimy thing, with a fine mesh at its base that contains a precious cargo: coral larvae that have been incubating in the ocean for five days. Some white sun shirts have already fallen casualty to the net, getting coated in a greenish algal stain on contact.
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It is early December and we are on Wistari Reef, which forms part of the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia. I’m with 17 others on three research boats, on a field trip to reseed reefs with coral larvae in the hope that they will eventually grow into new coral.