It is estimated that 25% of the ocean’s wildlife depends on a healthy reef to survive. And it supports a billion-dollar tourism industry that provides a livelihood for hundreds of regional families. Healthy reefs also serve as a natural barrier to coastal towns, preventing damage from storms.
The ultimate goal of Costa Rica Coral Restoration is to recover, restore, and propagate the coral community at Marino Ballena National Park. We aim to achieve this via educational and social programs as well as using our laboratory and nursery to grow healthy coral.
El Niño is here and Costa Rica is experiencing a large-scale, intense bleaching event. When the ocean’s water warms, corals expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues. This causes the coral to turn completely white. Moving as quickly as possible to preserve the fragile genetics of our reef, we recently stopped planting our coral back into the oceans and are focusing on growing coral in our laboratory coral tanks. We must expand our lab to establish more tanks to preserve these precious corals.
Costa Rica Coral Restoration will focus not only on the breeding of coral in our lab and nursery but will also use the spaces as educational and social tools, involving the local community and giving people an opportunity to see the marine life that typically only divers see. We believe that the more the local community becomes involved with the coral regrowth project, the more invested they will be in helping restore and end harmful practices that have led to the corals’ demise in the past.
The world’s coral reefs are experiencing bleaching, and coral restoration projects can be found all over the globe. In 2019, the Costa Rican government issued a decree that directed its environmental agency to focus on the preservation and restoration of Costa Rica´s coral reefs. With the collaboration of government and private sectors, we believe we can turn the tide on coral loss here in Costa Rica and can become a positive influence for generations to come.
CORAL FRAG TANKS
The location of our private coral fragmentation operation is located inside of the National Park at Playa Reserva Tortuga. Here we have constructed a laboratory that hosts our coral fragmentation tanks. Local coral species are grown, monitored, and studied here before getting transplanted into multiple offshore restoration sites located just off of the coast.
OFFSHORE SITE
Our coral frags will be transplanted just off the coast inside of the National Park. First, they will be hung on “Coral Frag Trees” to acclimate to the open ocean environment. After signs of healthy growth, they will be transplanted on nearby rock shelves and closely monitored. Our ultimate goal is to reestablish the coral population back to levels not seen in decades.
THE AQUARIUM CENTER
Our Public Information Awareness facility located at the entrance of Marino Ballena National Park. This is where vibrant coral tanks and VR headsets will educate tourists, school children, and locals visiting the park. A highly visible location in one of Costa Rica’s most visited National Parks, along with the sponsorship of Park Rangers, this is the perfect place to educate locals and people from all over the world about our noble environmental cause.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Costa Rica Coral Restoration has as one of its core values a community outreach program. Whether it is with guided visits to our facilities or us taking the coral reefs to the community with the aid of virtual reality, we want to bring the the local community to have access to the coral reefs. We will work with other non profit organizations in the area that focus on youth programs with the goal of getting the local youth community involved.
