CORAL RESTORATION FOUNDATION INC

The Coral Restoration Foundation™ believes that large-scale, massive action is required to save the world's coral reefs. Our mission is three-fold: restore our coral reefs, use science to further our research and monitoring techniques and to educate others on the importance of our oceans.

The restoration program seeks to restore reefs by outplanting ecologically relevant species of hard corals, following principles defined by conservation biology and genetics, to help restore populations. For this sustainable reef restoration to occur, we must preserve genetic diversity of the species. Thus, we hope to maintain a nursery-based "ark" of genetic diversity for key hard coral species.

As the largest coral restoration group in the world, we hope to be the epicenter of collaborative research on coral growth, reef restoration and non-profit management (of reef/ocean NGOs) via facilitated collaboration, promotion of presentations/publications and direct funding. In addition, our science program monitors our coral outplants, develops new and innovative techniques to increase coral survivorship, and works to further reduce CRF's ecological footprint and increase CRF's overall cost-effectiveness. In particular, our monitoring program is a key component in our work as we quantify the survivorship of our outplanted corals and can therefore produce tangible results to scientifically prove Coral Restoration Foundation methodology for reef restoration.

Finally, we aim to inspire others to take action and improve the health of the world's reefs, using our work as an example. By engaging communities in both passive and active-learning programs, participants become an essential part of CRF's network, taking our message to the world through their personal experience. Our Education program promotes environmental hope through personal action, helping CRF address the global problems facing coral reefs.

Restoration
Over the last decade, CRF has developed the techniques and infrastructure to execute large-scale restoration: support staffing, volunteer and community engagement, nursery design and management, and novel outplanting techniques and subsequent monitoring.

Our in-situ coral nurseries are the world's largest, capable of producing over 50,000 reef-ready corals each year. We maintain four in-water production coral nurseries throughout the Keys, and several special-use nurseries, including one off Fort Lauderdale, managed through a collaboration with Nova Southeastern University. The species and genotypes we move into production are carefully selected to ensure we are restoring both diversity and functionality to the wild.

Science
Our science program tracks the progress of our restoration work, supports the development and use of best practices, and provides a vital knowledge base resource for restoration practitioners around the world.

Monitoring
Goals of the short-term monitoring effort (one month after outplanting) are to document the number of colonies found to be loose or detached and to assess the general condition of colonies. This establishes baselines from which long-term (measured 6-12 months after outplanting, then annually) performance can be measured. To keep pace with our restoration efforts, photomosaics - large, high resolution images of reef sites created by stitching together thousands of smaller images - have been implemented as our primary method of monitoring outplanted corals.

Education/Outreach:
Outreach is achieved through educational programs, intern programs, volunteer efforts, an interactive website, newsletter distribution, and participation nationally and internationally at industry (aquarium) and scientific meetings. CRF also has a public education center where the public may receive information on CRF practices and coral reef health.

With over a decade of experience in large-scale reef restoration, Coral Restoration Foundation has a proven track record for impactful restoration efforts. We operate 8 offshore coral nurseries throughout the Florida Keys, including 4 principle production nurseries. These nurseries house corals from 23 unique species and over 660 different genotypes. Our largest nursery has more than 500 coral trees and covers 1.5 square acres of the ocean floor.

Since 2012, CRF has returned more than 230,000 endangered corals to our targeted restoration sites from Key Largo to Key West, restoring more than more than 34,800m2 of Florida’s Coral Reef. This work is carried out by a small team of staff, interns, and countless volunteers.

In Florida, CRF is an integral collaborator in the planning, design, implementation, and monitoring of large-scale projects such as Mission: Iconic Reefs; a restoration partner with MOTE, TNC, Nova Southeastern University, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and FWC; and a sub-awardee for various restoration and research activities. CRF supports 10+ academic collaborations annually, furthering research in the fields of coral biology and reef restoration. Internationally, CRF is involved in the design and planning of large-scale restoration in Saudi Arabia; has advised groups in Hawaii, Indonesia, the Maldives, and Mexico; has supported the development of restoration efforts in Cuba, Australia, and the Philippines; has helped establish programs in Bonaire, Curaçao, Mustique, and Jamaica; and has trained restoration staff from Mexico, Hawaii, the Dominican Republic, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

In support of the larger international coral restoration community, CRF co-founded, co-leads, and provides administrative infrastructure to the Coral Restoration Consortium (CRC); developed and supports the Coral Sample Registry and the web-based photomosaic pipeline, Cerulean AI; and has staff members serving on working committees and boards for the CRC, Society for Ecological Restoration, FKNMS Water Quality Protection Program, and the UN CORDAP initiative. Additionally, CRF's leadership team includes internationally recognized leaders in science and coral restoration through the publication of peer-reviewed papers, serving on journal editorial boards, participating in regional management working groups, and sitting on international boards for research and implementation of tropical coral reef restoration.

In 2022, CRF restored 9,000m2 of reef within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary by returning over 45,000 staghorn, elkhorn, and boulder corals to the wild. While we returned a record number of corals to the reef last year, we will slightly reduce that goal for 2023 so we can rebuild our coral stock and execute much need maintenance and repairs across our four production nurseries. This year we will outplant approximately 28,000 corals to our targeted restoration sites spanning Key Largo to Key West. We are on track to meet this goal.

To support our growing restoration efforts, we recently expanded two of our existing coral nurseries – Key West and Carysfort – and installed a brand-new coral nursery at Looe Key. This year, we will be replacing 500 of our duck bill anchors, which secure the Coral Trees to the seafloor, across our many coral nurseries to maintain a strong infrastructure. All told we have over 800 coral trees in our nurseries throughout the Florida Keys.

We will also be expanding our restoration focus to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, working closely with local partners – already identified – to support the revitalization of their reefs. Performance and outcomes will be measured in terms of acres of reef restored. We capture this measurement via large-scale photomosaics.