Environmental mitigation – the process of taking actions to avoid, decrease or compensate for the impacts of human activity – is often considered a magic pill that can fix damages caused to an ecosystem. This magic pill has been put to use most recently in India’s Great Nicobar island. The government, which has proposed multiple infrastructure projects on the island, has said that coral colonies and giant clams that will be affected due to the work on the proposed international transhipment port will be translocated to four newly identified sites along the island’s west coast as a mitigation measure.However, there is a difference between what is being proposed and ecological reality. Genuine coral translocation must consider ecological dimensions to ensure longevity and long-term resilience. When viewed through this lens, the proposed translocation of corals reveals itself to be a dangerous illusion.To understand why, it is essential to first understand the biology and ecology of the coral reef ecosystem. Coral reefs are the most biologically diverse marine ecosystems on earth. Although they occupy less than 1% of the ocean floor, they are home to more than 25% of all marine species. They form three-dimensional physical structures that provide abundant shelter, feeding, and breeding grounds for a range of reef-associated organisms. In addition, they provide vital ecosystem services to coastal communities, including support for fisheries, tourism, and act as crucial natural barriers against storm surges, cyclones, tsunamis etc.Golden-lined snapper. Photo: Vardhan PatankarCircling barracudas fish in the Nicobar islands. Photo: Vardhan PatankarA Nicobari spear fisher fishing in Great Nicobar island. Photo: Vardhan PatankarA coralscape may look like a static underwater landscape of colourful rocks and plants, but in reality, it is an extremely complex, living network of animals called coral polyps. Belonging to the phylum Cnidaria, they are related to jellyfish, but they group together to form huge colonies. Each coral colony consists of thousands of tiny, translucent, cup-shaped, sac-like skeletal structures called corallites, which coral polyps secrete for protection. Hidden within the tissues of these polyps are millions of microscopic algae called zooxanthellae. The beautiful colours of corals that you see are not their own; they come from the zooxanthellae that live inside the polyp tissues. The zooxanthellae and corals work in a tight symbiotic association, where the algae provide vital nutrients that help the corals to grow, and the corals provide the necessary shelter for the algae to harbour and survive.The creation of a reef structure is an incredibly slow process, and it usually begins out in the open water, where spawned eggs and sperm develop into free-swimming larvae that drift with the currents, sometimes for up to 48 hrs. Once a larva finds a stable, submerged surface, it settles and metamorphoses into a single polyp. Almost immediately, it begins extracting calcium and carbonate from the seawater, secreting a hard calcium carbonate skeleton to anchor itself to the substrate. Growth then happens through budding, where the polyp clones itself repeatedly to create an interconnected colony. Over centuries, as countless generations of polyps build upon the limestone remnants of their predecessors, they form the massive reef ecosystems we see today. Understanding this intricate, slow-motion biology and the finer nuances of their ecology is essential if you want any success with translocation.Anyone who has ever dived, snorkelled or learned about coral reefs in class, including my five-year-old son, knows that corals are immobile or ‘sessile’ organisms. For their survival, many factors such as temperature, light, salinity and sufficient nutrient flow have to align — and in the right proportions. These variables heavily dictate the community composition of the reefs. The Great Nicobar island harbours more than 400 species of corals, and you will find each species or genus of coral is tightly controlled by depth, current flow and localised micro conditions.As per an official statement, a decision has been made to translocate 16,150 out of 20,668 coral colonies from Galathea Bay, which is along the east coast of Great Nicobar, to four newly identified regions along the west coast of the Island. This decision completely ignores the fundamental nuances of reef formation. Several published studies such as this one have established that direction (with respect to the island) and location are critical drivers determining coral community composition. Having spent years diving and surveying these reefs first-hand, I know that the east and west coasts are ecologically worlds apart. I’ve witnessed that there are stark differences in bathymetry, the unique oceanographic regimes, and the heavy currents between the east and west coasts of GNI. Besides, the coral colonies along the east coast near the Galathea river are heavily dominated by massive and sub-massive boulder-type corals. They are specifically from the Favia, Favites, Lobophyllia, Diploastrea and Porites genera. I have seen that some of these individual colonies are as large as an SUV vehicle, and these corals are known to grow just a few millimetres to a centimetre per year. It must have taken well over 2,000 years of uninterrupted stability for them to reach this size. I have also observed the presence of the giant clam, Tridacna gigus in the region, and as their name suggests, they grow huge, almost up to 1.5 meters in length. Uprooting or disturbing these coral colonies and giant clams of this age is an irreversible loss, as they are ancient historical foundational structures that have anchored the marine ecosystem for millennia.Giant clam, Tridacna, which is a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act. Photo: Vardhan PatankarGiant clam in Great Nicobar island. Photo: Vardhan PatankarWhat specific measures will be taken to ensure the survival of the translocated coral colonies and giant clams in their new locations? How will the potential impact on the surrounding reef ecosystem be monitored after the translocation? Also, what are the contingency plans in place for the remaining 4,518 coral colonies that are not included in the translocation?Officials have mentioned that coral colonies will be extracted using a brutal combination of coral-cutting saws, hammers, chisels and hydraulic underwater hammer drills. The plan is to lift these massive structures entirely as whole objects from the seabed, loading them into carrying trays secured to the vessel’s hull using lift bags. The mechanical extraction process is going to trigger massive, localised sedimentation plumes, both at the sites where they are removed from the seabed and at the recipient sites where they are dropped. This will definitely increase the sedimentation level. Several studies such as this one have shown that corals are sensitive to even minor spikes in sedimentation. Forcing a mechanical shock of this magnitude will definitely alter local ocean chemistry. This is also an incredibly dangerous operation, even to researchers and divers who will undertake this task due to unpredictable currents in Galathea Bay, where the river runoff is heavy.We also must re-examine the legality of this. Corals, as well as giant clams, are protected under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (WLPA), 1972. This means that they have the highest level of legal protection, as stringent as that afforded to a tiger. Killing them, that too at a massive scale, is a severe legal offence.To ensure their survival, it’s been promised that every single coral colony will be tagged, an undertaking that will be extremely expensive and incredibly labour-intensive. With the future of the corals uncertain, thousands of reef-associated organisms will also be thrown into jeopardy. In addition, we have to remember that entire reef ecosystems will be dismantled. These habitats rely on intricate, highly specialised symbiotic relationships, which are going to be broken, for example, the tight-knit bond between sea anemones and clownfish. If more than 16,000 coral colonies are systematically uprooted, the structural collapse will be passed onto every reef-associated species. Given how tightly these marine communities depend on one another for shelter, feeding and survival, this entire endeavour will undoubtedly impact the region’s marine biodiversity.Sea anamone and clownfish – one the most common reef associates. Photo: Vardhan PatankarClown Anemonfish and Amphiprion percula exhibiting tight symbiotic relationship with one annother. Photo: Vardhan PatankarClown Anemonfish and Amphiprion percula. Photo: Vardhan PatankarThe fundamental biology of corals makes them vulnerable to environmental shifts. They are not modular Ikea-type furniture that can be uninstalled and reinstalled at will. They depend on a series of precise natural conditions to survive, which include specific light levels, water temperatures, pH, current velocities, nutrient flow and the fine functioning and right balance of reef associates.Dumping them on the west coast under the pretext of calling it a mitigation strategy can expose them to severe, unpredictable conditions, most notably the strong currents prevalent in these new areas. Shifting delicate coral colonies into zones with incompatible hydrodynamic forces practically guarantees physical destruction and acute stress. Given the immense scale of this operation and the extreme fragility of corals, we can realistically expect a mortality rate of 90-100% in these translocated colonies and severe mass scale violations of law that is meant to protect the wildlife. Unfortunately, a GPS tag will do little more than track a dying organism, rendering the entire translocation just an illusion rather than an ecological safeguard.Vardhan Patankar is a marine biologist who has studied coral reefs and conducted a range of basic and applied studies in marine systems for 15 years, trying to understand ecosystem-level processes in marine environments. For his research, he has extensively dived and snorkelled across the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, including proposed sites in Great Nicobar.