Spark of life? WaterFrame /Alamy Stock Photo

A trial is underway to restore damaged coral on the Great Barrier Reef using electricity.

The reef has been severely assaulted in recent years by cyclones and back-to-back heatwaves.

Nathan Cook at conservation group Reef Ecologic and his colleagues are attempting to regrow surviving coral fragments on steel frames. The frames are placed on damaged parts of the reef and stimulated with electricity to accelerate the coral’s growth (see video).


Electrified metal frames have previously been used to encourage coral growth on reefs in South-East Asia, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. They have been shown to attract mineral deposits that help corals grow 3 to 4 times faster than normal.

The technique is being trialed at a section of the reef 100 kilometres north of Cairns that was badly affected by the 2016 and 2017 mass coral bleaching events. Some coral is starting to grow back naturally, but it will take at least a decade for even the fastest-growing species to fully recover.

Cook hopes the artificial method of speeding up coral growth will help the reef survive future bleaching events, which are now predicted to strike at least every five years due to climate change.