Coral Restoration Project received this wonderful description of how your donations were used in Roatan
Bay Islands Reef Restoration (BIRR) is grateful for the past and on-going support from the Coral Restoration Project, which has provided vital financial assistance as we seek to restore endangered corals on Roatan’s reefs.
During the tourism shut-down, BIRR received 10 new coral nursery trees financed by the Coral Restoration Project. This was a terrific shot in the arm for our project that was struggling due to the absence of tourist divers in Roatan.
The 10 new “trees” helped up solve an issue we were having growing Elkhorn coral in our first nursery location in Turquoise Bay Channel. This nursery is positioned in the channel/lagoon area behind the reef to protect the nursery from waves and storms. However, our Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) was not as healthy as we would like and suffered some mortality due to disease. We believe that the Elkhorn corals need more fast-moving and cooler water than the tidal, sediment-filled sea water in Turquoise channel.
Therefore, we installed the 10 corals trees outside the reef at the White Hole dive site. This nursery is located in 45 feet of water so we can lower the trees when storms are approaching. Also, we are now using a thicker monofilament to attach the corals to the trees. We have installed 10 trees and filled the trees with 10 different genotypes of Elkhorn coral. So far, the corals are growing great, avoiding disease, and appear “happier” at their new nursery location.
Thanks so much to the Coral Restoration Project for providing us with the new trees which have formed our new successful Elkhorn coral nursery!!
