Growing Coral in a Lab to Rebuild Caribbean Reefs

FUNDEMAR, founded in 1991 and based in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic, works to protect and restore the country's coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass meadows. Since 2011 it has grown staghorn coral in underwater nurseries holding over 3 km of coral tissue, and since 2015 it has run assisted coral reproduction, seeding thousands of lab-raised coral recruits from seven species onto degraded reefs each year. In 2024 alone the program outplanted roughly 293,760 coral recruits across nearly 6,030 restoration substrates, while training local youth as reef restoration technicians.