Vertical Reef Restoration with the Perry Institute for Marine Science

DISCOVERY Yacht Awatea
Abaco, Bahamas
June 25-29, 2024

Program Overview

Long-term monitoring indicates declines in coral cover associated with hurricanes, bleaching events, local threats, and stony coral tissue loss disease (Dahlgren et al. 2021). Coral restoration projects are crucial to restoring coral reefs in the Bahamas and the many species of fish and invertebrates that depend on healthy coral.

Application

PIMS will return to the nursery sites in the coming years to assess coral growth and eventually transplant these corals to the reef where they will continue to grow and provide habitat and protection for numerous Bahamian marine species.

Expedition Summary

From June 25th-29th, SeaKeepers led an at-sea expedition onboard DISCOVERY Yacht Awatea with the Reef Rescue Network from the Perry Institute for Marine Science in Abaco, Bahamas. The PIMS team removed 2 old vertical reef structures in the ocean to replace with new coral nurseries. On the first day, the team removed corroded buoys and lines from the structure. On day two, they mounted two sets of three buoys underwater and attached four horizontal lines every 5 feet between the buoys from a depth of 30 ft up to about 15 feet. Awatea then cruised over to a reef where the team had planted staghorn corals in previous years, and the researchers collected 64 coral fragments from healthy corals on the reef. On day three, the coral fragments were tied to the horizontal lines along both structures where they will dangle in the water column and receive more sunlight and nutrients than fragments transplanted on the reef would.