Projects
Empowering community-led coral reef restoration and prioritization in the Maldives
A community-based larval coral restoration project that builds on the work of Professor Peter Harrison, who has developed a system which can improve larval production efficiencies by 40%. We are applying this system in 4 Atolls across the Maldives with the ultimate aim of dramatically increasing the scale and speed at which coral reefs can be restored.
Coral eggs and sperm are captured in fine mesh nets, with gametes then strategically crossed to generate hundreds of millions of robust, genetically diverse larvae that can be grown in ocean pontoons and are both released directly onto degraded reef as well as settled onto rubble and natural limestone tiles before being transported to degraded reefs, where they will grow into adult corals.
Supported By
K. Himmafushi Reef Coral Restoration
Low-lying coral atolls in the Maldives are under significant threat from rising sea levels and warming oceans, aggravated by destructive development practices. As a result, protective reefs have deteriorated, leaving local communities vulnerable to erosion and flooding. The Maldives Coral Institute (MCI) has launched a project aimed at restoring the K. Himmafushi Reef to address these post-degradation issues. MCI employs the Mars Accelerated Reef Restoration System (MARRS), a low-technology community-based method that rapidly rebuilds coral reefs. This project has been made possible by the kind support of Der Touristik.
We installed 100 Reef Stars during Phase I of the project in 2023, using approximately 1500 locally collected coral fragments, during which progress has been observed in terms of coral cover, coral health, and community involvement. Phase II will be carried out in 2025, expanding the restoration with a further 200-300 reefstars, enhancing the team's skills, and restoring a larger area.
Supported By
Contributors
Fulhadhoo Coral Restoration
A multi-stage community-based coral restoration project carried out in Fulhadhoo, Baa Atoll, in response to reef degredation following a harbour construction project. The project runs from 2021-2025, and is supported by MARS Global. The technique used is the Mars Assisted Restoration System (MARRS) — a low technology, community-based restoration system that is capable of rapidly rebuilding reefs in a relatively short period of time. The project has shown remarkable success, with over 400 m2 of reef grown representing 32 species of coral, marking a 40.24% increase in coral cover and 730.77% increase in fish abundance within 2 years.
Supported By
Contributors
Future Climate Coral Bank
The Maldives Coral Institute (MCI) is fortunate to be the first recipient of the Ocean Resilience Philanthropy Fund, a new global philanthropic fund launched by Deutsche Bank in November 2021, dedicated to ocean conservation and coastal resilience.
The Ocean Resilience Philanthropy Fund’s support to MCI is being used for a multi-year programme of research culminating in the creation of a ‘Future Climate Coral Bank.’
As part of the programme, MCI will identify and map areas of greater coral reef resilience to coral bleaching in the Maldives, including a country-wide survey to ground-truth the conditions of coral communities. Once the MCI has identified reefs with high levels of resilience to bleaching, it will collect, propagate, culture and field test the resilient corals, and create a Coral Gene Bank resource for future reef restoration and assisted evolution efforts in the Maldives.
Supported By
Fulhadhoo Coral Relocation
In 2020, Maldives Coral Institute, in collaboration with Save the Beach Maldives and the island community, installed a silt screen and relocated 5,000 colonies of coral in Fulhadhoo, Goidhoo Atoll that were in danger of being destroyed from a harbour development project. The screen and relocation project was supported by Virgin Unite.
