The sustainability team at Six Senses Zil Pasyon has completed the first stage of the coral restoration project seeing the corals growing.

Six Senses Zil Pasyon is located on the private island of Félicité, the fifth largest island in Seychelles, offering unsurpassed vistas of the ocean and surrounding islands. This 30-villa and two multi-bedroom residence resort occupies one-third of the total land and has been brilliantly designed to embrace the picturesque landscape of untouched beauty. Located among beautiful rock formations on the water’s edge the resort offers all spa facilities, including five individual treatments villas, a saltwater infinity pool and a yoga and meditation pavilion with fit seamlessly into the natural surroundings, making guests feel they are at one with nature.

Coral Restoration Project

In May 2019, the sustainability team at Six Senses Zil Pasyon successfully completed the first stage of its coral restoration project. It’s part of a larger habitat restoration plan, which continues to unroll on the island in collaboration with two local NGOs; the Ramos Marine & Island Reserve and Nature Seychelles alongside the Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA). During the first two years of the coral restoration project, over a thousand grown corals have been transplanted back to the reef in the marine protected area between the northern side of Félicité and Coco Island.

Global heating and coral bleaching
Over recent years, corals have been under threat due to global heating and climate crisis. Because of the sudden increase of sea surface temperatures, the corals expel the algae living in symbiosis within their cells that provide up to 90 percent of their food requirements, making them white and resulting in widespread mortality (a process called coral bleaching). The increase in the ocean’s water temperature can be caused by El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), an event intensified by climate change, which caused up to 95 percent mortality in coral reefs and reduced coral cover from 50 to 5 percent around Seychelles in 2016.

Coral nursery

The sustainability team at Six Senses Zil Pasyon built an underwater nursery was built for the corals to grow before they are transplanted on the reef. Within three months, the team was delighted to see that the coral tissue had started to grow. The project was completed in May 2019 with 1,339 successfully transplanted corals over the 1,750 grown colonies.

What’s next?
After the successful completion of this first phase, the next step will involve the monitoring of the reef’s health, and especially of the transplanted corals. The Sustainability team are now conducting surveys for the design of a new type of coral nursery, which will further enhance the restoration of the marine ecosystem surrounding the island of Félicité. 

About Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas
Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas is one of the world’s leading operators of luxury hotels, resorts and spas, managing 19 hotels and resorts across 15 countries, plus 37 spas under the brand names Six Senses, Evason, Six Senses Spas and Raison d’Etre. There are a further 18 hotels and resorts signed into its development pipeline. In February 2019, Six Senses became part of the IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) family of hotel brands.