Revolutionizing the Concept of Reef Recovery
Our project, a global pioneer, has revolutionized the typical concept of tropical coral nurseries. These nurseries, used for growing coral fragments and located just a few meters deep, are utilized by snorkel divers for tropical reef restoration.
We wanted to go further and revolutionize this concept by creating the first nurseries for deep coral recovery. The nurseries are dynamic and serve as a support system for restoring corals. When a coral fully recovers, it is removed from the nursery and replanted in its original location, leaving space for another at-risk coral to recover. To date, we have three nurseries (30, 33, and 36 meters deep), each dedicated to corals from a specific depth range.
Due to the severe deterioration of the population, the slow growth rate of the species, and the high number of detached colonies at risk, it is necessary to collect and care for all these colonies to restore them and reintroduce them into the reef, thus slowing the population decline.
After carefully collecting these colonies, we transfer them to the coral nurseries, where we provide a series of treatments that remove dead tissue, sediment, and parasites to help the coral recover. We visit the nurseries almost daily to apply treatments, allowing the corals to heal their wounds.
Additionally, we have developed a close relationship with the fish that help to maintain and restore at-risk corals, acting as true “coral gardeners”.