Coral Reef Restoration
Counterpart International is working with local NGOs and communities in the Caribbean and Pacific to establish community-based marine protected areas (MPAs) to restore degraded coral reefs and enhance reef-based fisheries. Counterpart accelerates this process by re-stocking depleted shellfish, including trochus and giant clams; and planting corals on rubble zone areas to create reef patches, strengthening coral regeneration and juvenile fish recruitment.
Counterpart has also successfully tested green coral aquaculture methods for the aquarium and curio trades, small-scale seaweed farming and reef-based tourism in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Puerto Rico, as sources of reef-based "alternative income generation" for fishing communities. Communities can benefit from culturing and selling approved Coral Gardens products as an alternative to current wild-harvest or high-tech greenhouse-cultured corals. Through the involvement of indigenous communities in cultivation, the Coral Gardens model encourages a sustainable ornamental industry and provides incentives for the protection of reefs through creation of marine reserves and community-based management plans.
Low-tech coral transplantation can also be an educational reef restoration tool in community managed reef areas, thereby increasing fish habitats and accelerating reef recovery. By transplanting unattached coral fragments to these lower-energy reef areas, the coral growth can recover rapidly, and thus boost fish populations, both integral to healthy reefs. Communities can also plant isolated coral colonies in selected areas of barren lagoon sand and seagrass beds to create habitats ideal for the recruitment, survival and growth of fish larvae into juvenile fish. This "bottom up" aspect of the Coral Gardens approach can be a major contribution to fisheries management, particularly if coupled with no-fishing protected areas. More fish species attracted to the reef enhance reef health, curbing algal overgrowth and help maintain the natural balance of reef organisms that is often upset by overfishing.
