Coral Reef Restoration in Seaflower BR

Larger is better. Well, at least when it comes to reef restoration, we do believe larger is indeed better. When we go larger, we achieve a high ecological and social impact. Let us explain.

The Reef Rescuers project in the Seychelles, between 2011 and 2014, use large-scale rope nurseries to grow more than 40K fragments and transplanted over 24K of those in 5000 m2. The assessment of the ecological impact generated by this large effort provided evidence to suggest that large-scale coral reef gardening can enhance natural reef recovery. It could double coral settlement and recruitment, increased fish density and build resistance to bleaching, with some of the effects prevailing beyond natural disturbance (Shute et al. in prep). The results we saw were in contrast to what smaller projects had seen until then which lead us to propose that when it comes to the ecological footprint of reef restoration, larger is better.

¿But could this positive effect extend to the social component of reef restoration? We mean, why are we restoring coral reefs anyway if is not for having communities continue enjoying the services that coral reefs provide to them.

From this initiative, Colombia’s largest coral reef rehabilitation project was launched in October 2017 at the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve. In its first year of the Reef for All project, eight mid-water floating rope nurseries were built in San Andres and Providencia islands, increasing the national capacity to grow corals from a couple thousand to more than 16,000 fragments of different coral reef species, but targeting the three endangered Acropora species.

By the end of 2018, 13468 fragments of four species of hard corals were growing in the nurseries. In October 2018 we started out planting nursery-grown corals and by January 2020, we have outplanted 6522 nursery-grown corals in one hectare of reef, combining the areas intervened in both island. Preliminary results showed an average increase of 41% in live coral cover at intervened sites and an ecological footprint (i.e. area in rehabilitation) of ca 4.5 hectares. We have achieved what other projects in the Caribbean took almost 10 years to achieve at a cost of USD $60 per square meter of reef rehabilitated.

Check research products from the project

Partners in the large-scale coral reef restoration “Reef for All” project include the Secretary of Agriculture and Fisheries from the Government of the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina, the provincial environmental authority CORALINA, Conservation International Colombia, and the Corales de Paz. Other local NGOs and diving operators also collaborated in different stages of the project.

So, for us at Corales de Paz and collaborating organizations, we indeed believe that larger is better. In three years, we expect to see that the joint protection of selected sites with the addition of ca. 5,000 nursery-grown coral colonies per hectare, lead to a 10% increase in the live coral cover, fish biomass, aesthetic value, and structural complexity and overall health at intervened coral reefs within the Seaflower MPA.

How much better is larger? We are still monitoring and evaluating our outplanted sites. We are using photo-mosaics to assess survival and growth together with standard coral reef monitoring techniques, which you can take part in by becoming a Reef Check Ecodiver. We continue to publish and share our results with coral scientists, reef practitioners, and the public at large. We invite you to keep following us to learn how much larger is better!