Belize community group regrows coral on a storm-damaged reef
After a 2001 storm cut coral cover at Belize's Laughing Bird Caye to less than six percent, the community group Fragments of Hope began replanting the reef. It has outplanted 82,879 nursery-grown corals, and over a hectare of shallow reef has been restored.
In 2001 Hurricane Iris, a category 4 storm, smashed the fringing reefs of southern Belize. At Laughing Bird Caye National Park, part of the Belize Barrier Reef World Heritage Site, coral cover fell to less than six percent.
Fragments of Hope, a community-based non-profit, began restoring the reef there in 2006, the first restoration site in Belize. The team began with acroporid corals such as elkhorn coral, fast-growing branching species that shelter hundreds of other animals, including spiny lobster, and protect the shore. Caribbean acroporids are listed as critically endangered.
The group grows coral fragments in nurseries and plants them back on the reef, choosing corals that have tolerated warm water and checking their genetics so the restored population is diverse enough to reproduce. According to a Commonwealth case study, 82,879 nursery-grown corals have been outplanted at Laughing Bird Caye. Coral cover has risen by 10 to 20 percent a year after planting, over a hectare of shallow reef has been restored, and 89 percent of outplanted corals survived after 13 years. The planted corals have also spawned.
Local people are central to the work. Fishers, tour operators and the Belize Fisheries Department take part, and a local tour company shares its profits with the restoration. There are now 23 coral nurseries across Belize, and the group has trained people across the Caribbean.
The group says the challenges are real: steady funding, stronger storms and warming seas.
A local team has shown that a reef wrecked by a storm can be brought back, coral by coral.
Source: Case Study: Fragments of Hope, Community-Led Coral Reef Restoration, Laughing Bird Caye National Park, Belize (The Commonwealth).
Written by the HappyGood desk from the primary source linked above and checked against it. Every story links its source. Corrections: [email protected].
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