Reef Rescue

How witnessing state-of-the-art reef restoration in the Bahamas turned writer Lisa Kadane’s family into keen coral champions.

Peering over the side of a shallow saltwater tank, my teenage son inspects tiny prongs of elkhorn coral growing on small round plugs. There must be hundreds of them, lined up in tidy underwater rows like veggies in a bed of soil. Nearby, a coral technician takes thin slices from a larger coral, then uses a marine epoxy to attach them to new plugs next to their wee elkhorn cousins. When these baby corals are big enough, they’ll be planted out in nearby reefs.

On a recent trip to Grand Bahama Island, my family had a chance to see innovative coral farming in action at Coral Vita, the Bahamas’ first coral farm. Since our kids were small, we’ve visited tropical destinations to snorkel, marveling at walls of healthy elkhorn and finger coral in Belize, and clumps of brain coral teeming with fish in St. Lucia.

But we’ve also floated over deserts of bleached or damaged corals elsewhere in the Caribbean, where an estimated 60 to 80 percent of corals are dead.

From the educational displays at Coral Vita, we learn that, worldwide, 50 percent of coral reefs have died since the 1970s, and more than 90 percent are expected to perish by 2050, mainly due to warming oceans and water acidification that can cause mass bleaching of corals. Hurricanes, unfettered coastal development, overfishing and human carelessness (such as swimmers standing on reefs) also harm corals.

While it’s heartbreaking to read about the plight of these biodiverse ecosystems that support a quarter of all marine life, it’s heartening to see firsthand what’s being done to help them on this 2.5-acre farm in Freeport, which grows 17 native coral species. Since 2021, Coral Vita has watched the fish population at its Rainbow Reef restoration site nearly double, including parrotfish that are important for reef health. In the long term, reef restoration supports coastal communities that rely on reefs for fisheries and tourism, as well as to act as natural wave and storm buffers.

Our tour guide, operations manager Veronica Cuccurullo, explains how Coral Vita’s land-based farming technique grows coral up to 50 times faster than it would grow in the ocean. The coral cutting and pasting we witness is called microfragmenting — placing those tiny pieces, or “frags,” of like corals in close proximity triggers them to grow quickly, like scar tissue forming over a wound.

The coral is also climate change-resilient because Coral Vita uses hardier native species found in Grand Bahama’s reefs and canals, which have evolved to live in warmer waters than the ocean. Growing these tougher corals in tanks on land allows the team to adjust the water quality and temperature to reflect projections for future ocean conditions as the corals grow, which further fortifies them for life in the wild. “These ‘assisted evolution’ techniques can lead to higher survivorship of corals once they’ve been planted back out in the reefs,” says Cuccurullo.

We don’t get to see coral outplanting in action, but a tank display shows us what to look for in a healthy reef: vibrant, colorful corals, a high diversity and density of reef fish, and crystal-clear water.

After our visit, my daughter and I head out to snorkel off Fortuna Beach. Fringed by swaying palms, the white, powder-soft sand stretches for more than half a mile, abutting calm, shallow water that entices swimmers and snorkelers with endless shades of blue. After kicking out from shore, we quickly spot rainbow wrasse and yellow tangs swimming near healthy brain and finger coral, much larger than the babies we saw at Coral Vita. We drift above the happy scene, feeling protective of — and rooting for — this small, healthy ecosystem that’s thriving against the odds. 

Three Ways to Help Coral Reefs

BE MINDFUL

Choose tour operators committed to sustainability for your snorkeling and diving trips, watch where you step and stand, and use a reef-safe mineral sunscreen.

ADOPT A CORAL

With Coral Vita’s adoption program, you choose the size of coral to sponsor and the farm keeps you updated at each stage of the growth and outplanting process.

DIVE IN

Go on a guided snorkeling or freediving adventure with the Reef Rescue Network to explore coral restoration sites throughout the Caribbean.