A bouquet of coral for a birthday or special occasion? Did you know there’s a means of gifting coral for that special reefer in your life whilst also helping to restore nature?
Coral Gardeners is doing some amazing work on coral restoration and have come up with a unique idea of securing funding.
Taken from their website; It all starts with a baby coral fragment. Your adoption will enable us to collect a fragment from a resilient coral species in the lagoon and place it in our nursery, where it will grow big and strong. After a little over a year, your matured coral will be outplanted onto the natural reef to bring back life and biodiversity to the ocean.
At the time of writing, it’s said that they have managed to plant 30,980 corals which is an amazing achievement!
“The core of our work is built around coral reef restoration. Using the latest techniques and methods, our team of gardeners grow and plant resilient corals to revive reef ecosystems. Our aim is to expand restoration around the world and empower the local communities to become coral gardeners as part of a bluer economy”
There’s a host of photographs of the frags from you to choose from, and once you’ve done so, along with the number of fragments you’d like to adopt, you will receive a displayable card with the photo of your coral as your pledge to ocean conservation. The high-resolution card can be printed to give as part of your gift.
That’s not the end of it though, you will receive news of your coral according to its journey, from adoption to planting, along with real-time updates from our crew to learn more about how our gardens are doing.
The nursery is located off Paopao Bay, French Polynesia which also offers a truly amazing experience to visit the HQ, learn more about the project and then snorkel out to the nursery where you could even find your own adopted pieces!
Check out their website for more information https://coralgardeners.org/ or follow them on Instagram @coralgardeners
About author
Chris Nixon
When I was growing up, I always dreamed about being a Marine Biologist, but job opportunities and other factors led me down a very different path in Structural Engineering. I have therefore had to enjoy the marine world as a hobbyist instead and have passionately being involved in the reefing world for the last 10 years.
Whilst at University, I worked part time at a Garden Centre which had its own tropical fish section, this occupied me for a few years before wanting to make the move to the salty side. This appears to be the natural progression that most in the hobby go through.
My latest successes have been able to fill a 75l nano, and then a 250l system to the point where I was itching to upgrade. I struggle to choose a favourite type of coral and have therefore always opted for the challenges that come with having a mixed reef. I have recently upgraded to a 5ft, 500 litre system which is big as I can go without structurally modifying my home! I hope to keep this one for many years to come and turn it into a thriving mixed reef, but maybe I’ll try my luck with more SPS this time!
I love watching the tank first thing on a morning with a hot coffee as the lights ramp up and you see everything come to life, fish come from out of their hideouts and the polyps on the corals open up.
Hopefully you enjoy the pieces I write and learn plenty from Reefpedia on the whole.