C. Rescuing Coral
Bleached coral.
Coral Vita restores threatened reefs by growing resilient corals and transplanting them into degraded sites.
Up to one billion people rely on coral reefs for food, coastal protection, and income. But reefs are rapidly dying due to climate change, pollution, and overfishing. Over 30% have died since the 1970s, and 75% are projected to die by 2050.
By establishing a global network of land-based farms to grow diverse corals resilient to changing ocean conditions, Coral Vita helps protect the communities, industries, and nations that depend on healthy reefs.
Coral Vita uses new methods developed at the Mote Marine Lab that accelerate coral farming up to 50x natural rates and strengthen their resiliency to changing oceanic conditions. They restore reefs by growing and transplanting resilient corals. We restore reefs using a proven 5-step process:
- Assess target reef's health and water quality conditions
- Create a restoration plan, determining which coral species should be grown, how many, and where they will be planted to revive the reef
- Raise these corals using accelerated growth and improved resiliency methods in our land-based farms
- Install the corals into the reef once they are sufficiently mature
- Monitor the reef's progress after installation
By using microfragmenting - a process pioneered by the Mote Marine Laboratory - we can accelerate coral growth up to 50x natural rates. Many coral species that serve as critical building blocks for reefs (such as Brain or Great Star corals) grow too slowly to be feasible for restoration projects using ocean-based nurseries. Now, Coral Vita can grow these corals in months rather than decades.
Land-based coral farming enables the usage of assisted evolution techniques to improve coral resiliency to changing oceanic conditions that threaten reef health. Assisted evolution involves raising corals in the laboratory under stressful conditions such as increased temperature and acidity. Naturally occurring spontaneous mutations plus natural selection produce corals that are resistant to these stresses. These are grown up en-mass and planted in areas of depleted coral. Coral Vita advisors are leading experts in coral resiliency and accelerated growth methods, putting the company at the forefront of efforts to help reefs survive for future generations.
Farming corals on land further reduces risks that ocean-based nurseries are exposed to, such as storms, boating accidents, or warming events. Also, ocean-based farming limits the type of corals to the site-specific location of the nursery. Growing corals on land allows us to produce a range of native corals which meet the needs of a particular site, as Coral Vita can tailor water conditions that replicate those of restoration site. Sooner rather than later, Coral Vita's land-based farming offers a viable solution to counter large-scale degradation.