Since July 2019, Roatan Divers has proudly been part of the Roatan Marine Park’s Coral Reef Restoration Program, supported by the Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund).
The Roatan Marine Park has set up a coral fragment nursery at Seaquest Deep dive site. Roatan Divers, along with five other dive centers, have taken on the responsibility of taking care of the elkhorn and staghorn fragments that have been placed on “trees” in the nursery to ensure they grow to the best of their abilities. Encouraging coral growth through controlled fragmenting is an important way to boost hard coral population, and we’re so excited to be part of this project! As of October, there have been 16 trees planted, so this project is chugging along swimmingly.
Before any in-water work, we got in-depth and incredibly informative briefings about coral and their growth behavior. Armed with this information, we have worked extensively in-water with the coral fragment trees, making sure the tree structures and coral are kept clean, and keeping an eye out on the coral’s progress.
Armed and ready…to clean the reef!
While we have really enjoyed working on this project, it turns out our guests do, too! We’ve had so many guests volunteer for cleaning dives and take part in our Project AWARE Coral Reef Conservation specialty course so that they can learn more about the work we’re doing and put their knowledge to practical use. We love that we can offer a hands-on course to benefit the Roatan Marine Park’s conservation efforts and are looking forward to the nursery’s continued progress.
Interested in helping out? Donate to the Roatan Marine Park so that they can continue to grow the Coral Reef Restoration program. Future plans include expanding the Seaquest Deep nursery and finding other locations around the island for more nurseries, as well as creating a Roatan Marine Park Coral Reef Restoration specialty course.
If you’re interested in learning more about coral reef restoration on Roatan, join us for our Project AWARE Coral Reef Conservation specialty course and get practical, hands-on experience! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so it’s not one to miss.
