Reviving the Reef: Coral Transplants Thrive with 70% Survival Rate

The Mesoamerican reef, despite suffering significant damage over the past four decades, still has the potential for successful restoration. This is according to the Akumal Ecological Center (CEA), which reports a survival rate of 70 percent for transplanted corals.

The reef has unfortunately been plagued by a series of diseases, including bleaching. It has also experienced direct damage from the impacts of hurricanes. Last year, for example, Hurricane Beryl inflicted substantial harm on the reef formations.

However, the CEA is making significant strides in the recovery of living coral fragments. These fragments are placed in various locations where their growth can be monitored and maintained until they reach a certain size. Once they've grown sufficiently, they are transferred to the coral massif to continue growing naturally.

The CEA reports that approximately 70 percent of these fragments survive the transplantation process. Additionally, they have observed growth rates of one centimeter in length per month.

This project, which has been underway for more than five years in Akumal Bay, has allies such as the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology of the UNAM, the Fishing Institute of Puerto Morelos, the diving shops and hotels of Akumal and volunteers who help with maintenance work and in monitoring the health condition of the reef.

The CEA collaborate with the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People initiative, where they exchange information on the health status of nine sites in Akumal, but they also collect data in the four countries that make up the Mesoamerican reef, which are Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, and they publish an annual report on the status of these ecosystems through a traffic light-type indicator system.

Lizárraga Cubedo added that the data show that unfortunately many sites along this international system show deterioration, other points report a little recovery but in general terms it is a constant deterioration, which is why it is very important to support restoration efforts.

He pointed out that the risk of further deterioration is associated with the lack of wastewater treatment, in a very specific case the municipality of Tulum, where we are below 50 percent of sanitation coverage. He said that there is a large contribution of nutrient organic matter to the aquifer, which allows the proliferation of microalgae that are toxic and permanently deteriorate the reef, which is suffocated until it dies.

They cannot do much on a larger scale either, due to global climate conditions such as El Niño and La Niña phenomena, which can cause abrupt increases in sea surface temperature or the presence of hurricanes. However, the specific work they do, which has yielded good results, makes them optimistic about at least maintaining the genetic flow of the species.

“We think that they may become increasingly resistant to these changes, which would in some way guarantee the survival of these species, although there is a high risk,” concluded the director of the CEA.