Coral reefs are the rainforests of the ocean
Covering just 1% of the ocean, but 25% of marine life depends on them.
Corals and their importance
What is a coral?
Why are they so important?
How coral restoration works
Coral can regrow from cuttings
Reproducing corals is a lot like gardening. Corals can regrow from cuttings, much like plants, allowing them to clone themselves.
Fragmentation is the process where pieces of coral break off, often due to storms or physical damage. Each fragment can then settle and grow into a new colony if conditions are right.
This asexual reproduction method allows for corals to rapidly expand their numbers in favorable environments and contribute to the growth and repair of reefs.
We take advantage of this process to quickly restore areas of degraded coral reefs.
Harvesting fragments from our nuseries
We grow a diversity of coral fragments in our coral nurseries so we can monitor and tend to them for optimal growth.
When we wish to recolonize a new area, coral fragments are first harvested from mother colonies at our shallow coral nurseries. We select from a list of common hardy species based on the different project’s needs.
We prioritize sustainable practices by locating the coral nurseries in shallow water where they can be accessed via snorkelling or foot, consciously avoiding the use of gasoline-powered boats.
The coral fragments are brought back to the land where we start adding them to a natural fiber rope.
Make coral ropes then staking them
On land, we can involve more members of the community. By doing so, we can plant large numbers of corals at once. We plant an average of 500-1000 corals per planting session. The kids love looking for little crabs inside the coral branches.
Ropes are 2m long 6 feet, and have 10 corals. We plant them in batches of 200 which cover an area of 30 square meters (325 square feet).
We use all-natural cotton rope and hardwood that is resistant to rotting in the water. One team works to pound in the wooden stakes while the other team strings the coral ropes around the stake
HELP US SAVE THE CORAL REEFS
Your donations help us identify new partners for nurseries and restoration sites. It also supports our staff who help set up the education programs from coral nursery setup, creating grafts for coral restoration sites and conservation of existing reefs.