Guest Blogger Occasional Adventure wrote a blog for us about a unique community project in Costa Rica that is on a mission to regrow coral reefs.
Before we dive into the project, could you tell us a bit more about yourself?
Hi – We’re Alex and Elliot, founders of Occasional Adventure, an Instagram account we set up to share our adventures and environmental learnings.
As we travel, we are educating ourselves on the climate issues we face around the world and the amazing solutions different people and communities are working on. We volunteer in every country we go to, which is the best way to learn, meet new people, and give back. As everything we learn is always so interesting and inspiring, we can’t keep the information just for ourselves! We share our experiences on Instagram so our followers can learn, be inspired, and see things that are happening around the world, that aren’t in mainstream news. We hope this will help them make more informed decisions with our planet in mind.
Can you tell us about an interesting project you recently visited?
One organization we recently met with is Proyecto Corales (in English this means Project Coral). It is a community organization focused on regrowing the coral reef in a town called Sámara, along the Pacific Coast in Costa Rica.
Our meeting with Proyecto came about after we walked along Sámara beach and noticed a huge amount of dead coral washed up on the beach, we had never seen anything like it before. When we got home we did a Google search and found that coral death can be caused by different stressors; from land-based pollution to climate impacts such as coral bleaching and ocean acidification. This google search also led us to find Proyecto Corales, who is on a mission to regrow the coral reef in Sámara.
How big is the issue?
If coral reefs continue to die, then this will cause serious issues. To put this into context currently 25% of all marine life, including over 4,000 species of fish, are dependent on coral reefs. And around half a billion people in the world depend on coral reef ecosystems for food, coastal protection, and income from tourism and fisheries. These numbers highlight how important it is to protect the reef we already have, whilst regrowing the coral reef that has been lost.
We wanted to know more about the amazing work that Proyecto Corales are doing to regrow the coral reef in Sámara, so we got in touch and the president of the project, Martin Richard, kindly agreed to meet with us.
Martin told us that in the last twenty years 80% of Sámara’s coral reef has been lost due to water pollution and warming waters. Trees were cut down upstream to make way for tea plantations, and mangroves were cut down to make way for hotels causing much more sediment than normal to go into the ocean. The algae living on the coral can’t photosynthesize with such reduced light and so the coral dies. Sámara has also seen many more warming events with the ocean temperature rising over 28°C more often and for longer than normal. The more warming events there are, the less time the coral has to recover, therefore leading to its death.
This isn’t just Sámara, we hear a similar story to this across the world. Over 50 percent of the world’s coral reefs have died in the last 30 years. Thankfully, organizations such as Proyecto Corales are finding successful ways to regrow coral reefs and return them to their natural state.
How did the organization come about to regrow coral reefs?
The organization was formed after a government survey found that only 5% of the coral reef was remaining and it ran the risk of disappearing altogether, so the community decided to act.
In September 2017, a team of marine biologists and local residents came together to form Proyecto Corales and make a plan to regrow the coral reef. Everyone who works for Proyecto Corales is a volunteer, giving up their time and money with the aim of restoring Sámara’s coral reef to its natural state, full of corals and marine life.
Proyecto Corals are regrowing the coral reef in Sámara, how do they do this?
In the last four years, they’ve been honing in their technique to find the most effective, scalable, and resilient way to regrow their coral reef. They take 1cm samples from existing coral on three different beaches, to ensure genetic diversity, and use this to grow whole new corals.
Off the bay of Sámara, they have created an underwater coral nursery where they regrow these samples into larger pieces. The 1cm samples are attached to fishing strings suspended between pipes. It then takes 6-8 months for the samples to reach 10-12cm, which is when they are ready to be placed back on the ocean floor in areas where the coral has previously been lost. So far, they’ve replanted 170 samples back into the reef and have another 200 samples in the nursery. Their goal is to scale up production and expand the operation to have 1,000 samples in the nursery at one time. This will allow them to regrow the coral reef quicker, making a bigger impact and bringing back marine life to its full potential.
That’s so interesting, where can we find further information?
We agree! It’s great to see the work that Proyecto Corales are doing to tackle this important issue and learn how they are regrowing the coral reef. So, if you are keen to learn more then visit their website at proyectocorales.org. You can also donate to their project which is a great way to help from afar and feel part of the amazing work Proyecto is doing to regrow the coral reef.
In addition, if you are interested in following our journey and sustainability learnings you can find us on Instagram (see below).
Stay safe and fun travels everyone!
Written by: Alex & Elliot – Occasional Adventures
