One Million Corals Project for Colombia

The Ecomares Foundation led the project “Restoring and Conserving Reefs in Colombia: Microfragments in Nurseries and Larvae Rearing Course for Mass Coral Species in Isla Tesoro-PNNCRS,” funded by the Colombia en Paz Fund through the Ministry of Environment and administered by Conservation International. The project aimed to generate 135,000 microfragments to increase the number of coral colonies in the PNNCRSB and train entities involved in restoration and conservation of reefs about sexual reproduction methods and larvae rearing of coral spawning species in laboratory settings. Thanks to this project, in June 2022, an extensive eleven-day effort took place, where Ecomares, with the support of National Parks, Conservation International, CEINER, and Diving Planet, set up three tables with over 13,500 microfragments from 8 reef-building species. Since then, Ecomares has conducted monthly maintenance and monitoring of these nurseries, showing an increase in area (skeletal extension) and height across all species. Furthermore, in September, Ecomares held the first larvae rearing course in Colombia, with national and international trainers (Ecomares, Universidad del Magdalena, and SECORE International), successfully training 26 individuals from various entities working on reef restoration projects nationwide on assisted fertilization techniques and large-scale larvae rearing.