Maya Bay, Thailand: How scientists are glueing the coral back to life

Scientists have come up with an unlikely way to restore marine life to a Thai beach that's been ravaged by overtourism: superglue.

Maya Bay, a small cove made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio's blockbuster The Beach in 2000, was closed indefinitely last October after buckling under the pressure of up to 5000 visitors a day, all of whom arrive in boats that can damage the coral reef and pollute the water.

Since then, ecologists have been working to regrow the coral by glueing dead portions of it back onto the rocks; and futile as it sounds, the painstaking process is working. After about a week, the coral is stable enough to grip the terrain independently, the glue dissolves and the reef can flourish.

Thailand-based Swedish photographer Magnus Larsson has been first to document the underwater process, and told Solent: "As a lifelong diver, photographer and admirer of marine life, it is very sad to see the degradation of the corals.

"They are the base in the coral reef ecosystem and so if they disappear, everything else goes with it. The corals provide food and shelter for many species of marine life, so when they corals are healthy, the marine life will move in, and when they are flourishing, the reef fish, octopuses and turtles will all come back as well."

Maya Bay, only 240 metres long and 15 metres deep, was closed to tourists on June 1, 2018 - a move that was long overdue.

Initially there were plans to re-open it a few months later - the beach is believed to generate about $17.4 million in revenue each year for Thailand - but it quickly became apparent that more time was needed, around four years by most estimates. Hard coral grows at a rate of just 1cm to 3cm per year.

"We need a time-out for the beach," marine scientist Thon Thamrongnawasawat said last summer. "Overworked and tired, all the beauty of the beach is gone."