Rebuilding Jamaica's Reefs, One Coral Fragment at a Time

The Alligator Head Foundation runs a marine lab, coral nursery, and mangrove restoration program on Jamaica's east coast, working alongside the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary that fishers and the local community established in 2010. Its coral team grows Critically Endangered staghorn and elkhorn coral fragments on rope and tree-style nurseries before outplanting them onto East Portland's degraded reefs, with 1,500 coral pieces transplanted to date. The foundation also protects nesting hawksbill turtles on Oracabessa's beaches, a program that now records more than 100 nests and releases over 16,000 hatchlings into the Caribbean Sea each year. The no-take sanctuary's protection has let fish populations rebound dramatically since 2010.