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Our work

Current Projects

pillar coral in nursery
Advancing Coral Seeding Technology in the Caribbean In partnership with FUNDEMAR and SECORE International, this 3-year project (2023-2026) refines coral seeding methods to scale up restoration efforts across the Caribbean. Supported by CORDAP, it focuses on innovation, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing to enhance regional reef recovery. View ProjectBuilding Reef Resilience & Community This 5-year initiative (2023-2027), ...

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Adapting to Coral Bleaching and Disease

divers move a boulder coral nursery to deeper water during 2023 bleaching event
Bonaire’s coral reefs are facing unprecedented challenges, from the rapid spread of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) to the devastating impacts of mass bleaching events driven by record-high ocean temperatures. Reef Renewal Bonaire is tackling these threats head-on through innovative restoration techniques like selective propagation, coral breeding, and mitigation. By propagating and outplanting resilient ...

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Restoring Branching Corals in Lac Bay

July 2022 - December 2025 RRFB is actively restoring key populations of 2 branching coral species in Lac Bay, staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata). Widespread bleaching, disease, and poor water quality in the bay, as well as throughout the Caribbean, have led to a decline in Acropora populations. By harnessing asexual fragmentation ...

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Our Monitoring Strategy

Tracking Coral Performance to Tailor our Restoration Approach In our comprehensive approach to coral restoration, monitoring stands as a cornerstone - 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. Single ...

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Advancing Coral Seeding Technology in the Caribbean

November 2023 - 2026 We've joined forces with Fundación Dominicana de Estudios Marinos (FUNDEMAR) and SECORE International to implement innovative approaches for large scale coral restoration. We're focused on refining each step of the Coral Seeding process and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.  Our overall goal is to scale up the impact of coral restoration efforts in ...

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Building Reef Resilience & Community: A 5-Year Project

We are working on a 5-year project [2023 - 2027] funded by the Dutch national and Bonaire municipal governments, aimed at assisting the recovery of the reefs within the Bonaire National Marine Park boundaries. The project focuses on enhancing coral diversity and abundance, fostering collaboration, while building our restoration community. We’ve pinpointed 4 tangible restoration ...

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Coral Breeding

Assisting Coral Sexual Reproduction for Restoration Our coral breeding program uses larval propagation as a restoration method, allowing us to work with numerous coral species and morphologies. By harnessing the natural reproductive potential of coral, larval propagation increases the genetic diversity of corals on reefs and potentially scales up the number of corals we can ...

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Propagating Fragments

Coral propagation by fragmentation is the restoration technique that we began our project with in 2012. This method is based on the asexual reproduction of corals and allows us to harness the natural process of fragmentation to propagate large numbers of corals. It enables us to produce thousands of corals without harming the wild populations. ...

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Coral Spawning

Spawning is a benchmark of coral health as well as the first step of the coral breeding process. Spawning is the synchronized release of eggs and sperm or larvae into the water column. It takes a lot of energy for corals to engage in spawning, so corals only spawn when they are mature and healthy. ...

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