CRF Has Lead Role in Bonaire Pilot Project

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Last year the Coral Restoration Foundation was invited to assist the local coral reef restoration group on Bonaire in the southern Caribbean.  In early February, the Bonaire Island Council granted a permit to the local group to allow work to begin on developing a nursery and restoration program on the main island of Bonaire and adjacent island of Klein Bonaire.  Ken Nedimyer, CRF Board member Denise Nedimyer, and the Coral Restoration Foundation staff will travel to these islands in the Netherland Antilles during April to begin work on the Bonaire Reef Pilot Project.

In addition to working with local Bonaire authorities to identify specific sites for coral nurseries and reef outplantings, CRF will collect different genetic strains of staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn (Acropora palmata) coral, that will be used to populate coral growing trees in two coral nurseries.  These corals will be monitored and maintained by the local support group trained by CRF and  will form the base nursery stock that will be fragmented every six months to develop second and third generation corals in each genetic subgroup.  In late 2013, these second and third generation corals will be taken from the nursery and outplanted onto nearby degraded reefs. Read more...


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