What we do
Our work focuses on assisting the natural recovery of coral populations on degraded reefs in Bonaire. Using an active restoration approach, we produce coral outplants using two techniques: fragmentation and larval propagation. By integrating these two techniques and using them as key tools to restore reefs on an ecological and meaningful scale, focusing not only on species diversity and abundance, but genetic diversity as well.
Propagating Fragments
Fragmentation or “coral gardening” is also known as “asexual propagation” because it takes advantage of the asexual reproduction of corals by fragmenting donor colonies. Using this technique, we generate thousands of clonal fragments in off-shore coral nurseries every year, without harvesting the existing coral populations on the reef.
Propagating Larvae
We also produce corals through larval propagation, or “sexual propagation” because this method takes advantage of sexual reproduction by collecting coral spawn and rearing genetically diverse larvae into larger colonies.
Monitoring
Monitoring is a cornerstone of our comprehensive approach to coral restoration, supplying essential data that guides our work. We combine a variety of monitoring techniques to gain valuable insight into coral performance before and after outplanting, and assess our overall progress towards restoration goals.