History of coral reef restoration in Belize Dead reef, hardly any fish. This photo was taken in 2006, but many sites still look like this today. Nursery-grown out-planted corals provide habitat for countless other species, fish, invertebrates, etc. The corals in this photo were ~ 3.5 years old/out-planted. After Hurricane Iris (2001) hit Placencia and Laughing Bird Caye National Park (LBCNP) most people gave up the reef for dead. Other impacts like bleaching and disease had also taken their toll.
Observations of live broken elkhorn corals near San Pedro inspired the idea of ‘replanting’, and large live stands of elkhorn corals were still inside Gladden Spit and the Silk Cayes Marine Reserve (GSSCMR). The idea of transplanting corals to LBCNP was dismissed by many, saying there was only rubble left, the donor reef site was too far from LBCNP, and disease or bleaching might just kill them. Or people did not think there was a need, until 2006 when acroporids were listed by the US as Endangered Species (they made the IUCN Red List in 2008).
That listing gave credibility to the need, and PACT funded the first restoration work in 2006, when 19 elkhorn fragments were transferred from GSSCMR to LBCNP. Part of that initial work included mapping elkhorn stands near Placencia. Seventeen of those original transplants are still alive today and have made many more ‘satellite’ colonies (>35) from natural storm fragmentation. In 2009 six in situ nursery sites were established near Placencia using three culture methods from Dr. Austin Bowden-Kerby. We have modified much and today have 21 nurseries in southern Belize. We have out-planted > 26,000 acroporids and demonstrated their natural reproduction after out-planting.
We are expanding from LBCNP to GSSCMR, and through 2020 will be working in South Water Caye Marine Reserve (SWCMR) and Turneffe Atoll. 1