The coral whisperer: Hassan Ahmed's mission to train a new generation of reef builders

Save the Beach, the organisation that Beybe co-founded to protect the beaches and house reef of Villingili – a tranquil, motor-vehicle-free satellite island of Malé – is one of the country's leading groups on coral reef restoration efforts. The NGO is currently working on a project called Maldives Coral Restoration Programme to restore and build reefs on four islands across the Maldives.

The Maldives Independent sat down for a chat with Beybe about his certification, the reef restoration project, coral relocation after infrastructure projects and the need to invest in long-term reef building projects. The following interview was edited for brevity.

Beybe: Our Maldives Coral Restoration Programme is endorsed by the ministry of tourism and environment. We wanted to teach locals about coral restoration because it's expensive and no one else is teaching it properly. Over the past ten years, we've been learning different methods.

Now I am trained in the Mars Assisted Reef Restoration System, which uses interlocked frames called reef stars that create a web underwater. All the corals grow simultaneously, creating a complex environment within one year. Fast growing corals reach 10-15 cm, and the three-dimensional growth attracts fish and invertebrates, replicating a regular reef's ecological functions.

Then we add microfragmentation – taking fragments from massive corals and placing them close together so they fuse as they grow, covering larger areas faster. We place thousands of microfragments on the established reef stars.

Finally, we introduce larval restoration. We collect coral eggs and sperm during spawning, fertilise them, and release the larvae onto our sites. Our restored sites provide the right sounds and vibrations that larvae need to settle, ensuring continuous reef growth even if some original corals die.

No. Not yet. Actually, this is the first time in the world these three methods are being tried together to build a reef. I got trained from the pioneers of these methods, so I believe combining these methods will be more successful. This is the first time anywhere that these three methods are being combined to restore a reef.

We have sites in Villingili, Fulhadhoo, Himmafushi and Keyodhoo, with two new islands planned.

The Villingili site was installed in October – corals have already grown 2-3 cms. Keyodhoo is similar, with massive corals growing on top of attached corals.

Our oldest site is in Fulhadhoo – after three years, you can't even see the frames anymore, it's all grown. The rocks have started to consolidate.

The reef star method can be scaled up, it's low cost and designed so you can involve many people in a standardised methodology.

Very resilient. We've faced rough weather – so bad that boats almost ran aground – but our reef stars held strong.

The MARS method was developed over 15 years as a low-cost, scalable approach involving communities. Our aim is to train locals so they can take ownership of their own reefs without depending on us.

We select four islands based on community commitment, because building a reef requires long-term dedication. We do consultations, research the island, identify sites, train locals and work with them to build a reef.

In Keyodhoo, we've put 200 reef stars and will expand to 900 square meters total. We'll hire two people from the island for long-term sustainability, train them, and have them run school programs. All kids who complete reef star training get certified.

It's amazing! At our Villingili site, after we completed our setup, we saw a 700 percent increase in fish life within three months. That area now has the most fish on the island.

For coral diversity, we choose fragments from different, resilient corals rather than replicating the same genetics. The diversity is lower than larval restoration but still good.

The Villingili site is in the most polluted area of Maldives – the most challenging place to restore a reef. It's been almost 30 years since the natural reef was destroyed, and now we are seeing only about a 5 percent regrowth.That shows that when we destroy a natural reef, it cannot come back on its own – we need human intervention.

What we found is that, in this country with all these divers when we started talking about corals (in the early 2000s) people didn't know what coral is, that it is a living thing. People still cannot grasp it when we say it's an animal. When we show spawning to people, they go "Wow" because they don't know about it, that it releases eggs and sperm, that it fertilises and after metamorphosis it becomes a coral. This is important for people to know.

Every year, we study coral health across Maldives on scientific cruises – taking reef profiles, fish counts, monitoring bleaching since 2015.

We've published six papers and have three more coming this year, covering climate change impacts, microplastics, and coral relocation. We're co-authors on research with the University of Genoa.

We should be the ones to do it. We are talking about our reef and our home. We cannot live without our reefs and our ocean. The biggest challenge is that there isn't a university that teaches marine biology.

The university has a marine science programme but it's not marine biology. If you go abroad to study, you'll be old by the time you return. I had to learn through online courses and field work.

From Hulhumalé, we relocated 500 corals in 2015, but only six survived the 2016 El Nino bleaching event.

The Gulhifalhu corals did better – 60 percent survived bleaching, and 80 percent of fragments from relocated corals survived, which is good. We've learned how to handle corals better since then.

We now agree to do relocation work only if contractors agree to our terms – enough time, good team, and proper payment. How can you relocate a reef within 10 days? It's impossible. We can't even take 100 square meters in ten days, there's a lot of corals in the reef that they are destroying. But give us two months and a team of 30 people, we will bring the reef back. If we can take 5,000 colonies within 10 days, imagine what we can do with two months.

Most contractors won't agree to this and find cheaper alternatives. They relocate corals just for name's sake with some divers and maybe one marine biologist present. The marine biologist they brought for Gulhifalhu work, the person was not allowed to go in the water under their safety protocols. He has to analyse the data collected by others and publish it.

You are giving irreversible damage to an area. If you're going to do it, you need to save the diversity of corals there.

Yes. I strongly believe that now. Because we have been able to grow a reef, and we know how to do it. If you can reclaim a hectare of land, you can build a hectare of reef. You also need to spend to build a hectare of reef.

Actually, yes! The government includes mitigation and coral relocation components in high-profile projects like Gulhifalhu, but there's no budget for community restoration projects.

But Maldivian businesses need to spend on coral restoration, especially those using our islands. Resort operators, guesthouse operators – guests come to see our reefs, manta rays, whale sharks, turtles and sharks. All tour operators are selling the environment, so they need to spend on protecting it. I'm sorry to say there's no business investing in long-term sustainable projects. Most want short-term projects rather than building locals to carry on long-term work.

You cannot fund coral restoration for just one year – you need at least three or four years to see concrete success. When funding stops after a year, there's no one to monitor the corals.

They can start learning – there's information online and we're easy to reach. But a successful project needs community involvement, so you need to convince residents that this is important. You also need council permission and to consider planned developments.

I want kids to study and research first. Do a reef check course, understand what happens to a reef before starting. When you research, you'll find this isn't a joke or something for fun - this is serious work. Maldives needs people who can do coral restoration work. I look forward to seeing kids coming into this field.