Coral Vita: Scientific, Scalable and Economical Reef Restoration

The state of the world’s coral reefs is one of the most visible and distressing signs of the crisis unfolding in our oceans. These unique ecosystems support up to a billion livelihoods, sustain 25% of the world’s marine life, and – through tourism, fisheries and coastal protection – conservatively generate some $30 billion in economic value every year.

But today, the future of coral is hanging by a thread: half of global reefs are dead, and if current trends continue, 90% of will be gone by 2050. It’s hard to imagine quite how devastating that would be.

Coral Vita isn’t planning just to stand by and let it happen: the Bahamas-based operation aims to establish a global network of land-based farms to grow diverse corals that will thrive in a changing ocean. Using a commercial model, they sell restoration services to customers who depend on reefs’ valuable benefits and turn their coral farms into eco-tourism attractions. By doing so, they hope to galvanize a new industry to unlock the sustainable financing needed to support large-scale coral reef restoration.

Scalable and accessible land-based coral farming.

At Our Ocean in 2017, Coral Vita announced plans to launch its first large-scale coral farm by 2021. Raising over $2 million in support of this work – and creating strong partnerships with the Bahamian government, the University of the Bahamas, the Bahamas National Trust, the Grand Bahamas Port Authority, as well as marine institutes like the Gates Coral Lab and Mote Marine Lab – it successfully launched a pilot farm in Grand Bahama in May 2019.

The farm is the base for an innovative reef restoration project, advised by some of the world’s leading coral scientists. These experts have discovered how to grow corals up to 50 times faster than usual (in a process taking months as opposed to decades), unlocking the potential of many of the slower growing corals and contributing to greater diversity, both of which are critical for reef health. They also use a land-based farming model which allows them to adjust growing conditions to mimic predicted future ocean conditions, helping strengthen coral resiliency to climate change.

“We started growing the coral in May 2019,” explains Sam Teicher, co-founder of Coral Vita, “and it takes 6-12 months to grow corals before we can plant them. As far as we know, we have more species of coral growing on our farm than in any other project in the Caribbean. Usually there are only a few species which are all fast-growing; we have nearly two dozen species growing, of varying diversity, which are all native to the Bahamas.”

Growing diverse and resilient corals.

As well as growing and planting new corals, Coral Vita engages with the local community, from schools to businesses. Teicher sees the benefits first-hand: “The farm is also an education centre, where we deliver tours and workshops for local kids. With the kids, there have been moments of smiles and screaming and absolute joy, as they hold sea stars and sea cucumbers and learn about how those get to be there because of healthy coral reefs. This enthusiasm has also led to local dive shops looking at ways of setting up PADI reef restoration courses, so that it’s a new thing that people can do when they’re visiting the island.”

Sam at the touch tank with Chinese partners from Bahamian NGO Save the Bays.

The ecological benefits of the coral farm will take time to manifest but Teicher is keen to take the lessons of the pilot and replicate the successes and partnership models established in Grand Bahama.

“Eventually we do want to do this everywhere. Our long-term vision is coral farms everywhere with reefs around the world, working with local communities, fellow restoration practitioners, financiers and scientists, having the support of government – and ultimately customers who are willing to pay so we can unlock large-scale restoration so reefs can be alive for the future. We’re already talking to potential government partners, investors and customers about where those farms might be, including other parts of the Caribbean and as far afield as the Indian Ocean, Red Sea and South East Asia.”

Taking this vision to its limits would be an enormous achievement for two university friends who started their company with a $1,000 grant. Teicher sometimes recalls the early days:

“Gator [other co-founder of Coral Vita] and I…were sleeping in our rental car on our first business trip meeting with members of the US government and scientific partners, because we couldn’t afford to stay in a hotel. But we managed to raise $2 million and raise these partnerships for the first farm, and we have corals growing. We’ve been talking about doing this since 2014 so I’m really proud we were able to make our vision a reality. There are still plenty of big challenges ahead but I’m really excited for how far we’ve come and what’s ahead of us.”

‘What’s ahead?’ is the most exciting question for Coral Vita, and this year Our Ocean provides the perfect opportunity for the company to regroup, refocus and recommit. As Teicher concludes:

“The commitments are a good way to state an intention and set a goal internally. We have been working towards fulfilling our commitment for some time now. The commitments set an intention not just to the Our Ocean community and beyond but also to yourself, to work towards something that can make a difference.”

Post-script: After conducting this interview with Sam, he and the Coral Vita team were in Grand Bahama during Hurricane Dorian, once of the most powerful Atlantic storms in recorded history. Dorian devastated Northern Bahamian islands, exacting a heavy death toll and inflicting billions of dollars of damages.

Catastrophic destruction in Mclean’s Town, Grand Bahama.

Many homes don’t exist anymore in the Abacos and Grand Bahama after Dorian.

Coral Vita staff survived the storm, but unfortunately their farm experienced heavy damages. Consciously built more than twice the height above the hundred-year-flood-event of five feet over high tide, Dorian’s storm surge reached nearly twenty feet at the coral farm. In addition to damage to farm infrastructure, all of the corals perished from the cataclysmic event.

Coral Vita’s coral tanks was found over thirty miles away from the farm in towns like High Rock, Grand Bahama.

Reflecting on the storm, Teicher remains determined to carry forward despite the setback. “The people of The Bahamas will continue to need help. The devastation and tragedy are massive. If there’s one opportunity from this catastrophe, it’s for the international community to rally together and use the post-Dorian rebuild as a test case for how climate-smart and resilient homes and infrastructure should be developed. It can save lives for future disasters.

Eastern Grand Bahama was cut off from relief by land from Freeport for days.

As for Coral Vita, we were planning on building more than one hundred coral farms around the world. Now it’ll have to be one more. What other choice do we have? Dorian’s unnatural and outsized wrath crystallizes the clear and present danger that climate change poses to humanity and the natural world. During rescue and relief work, we spoke to residents and friends who live out east on Sweetings Cay, and one person after another said that the mangroves surrounding the village helped everyone there survive. A short boat ride away in Mclean’s Town, a heart-breaking number of people died, and the mangroves there don’t exist in large numbers anymore. Healthy ecosystems not only sustain livelihoods but save lives. We must protect and restore them. Government, industry, and media leaders must step up now. Until they do, Coral Vita will continue to work with partners around the world to do so. Failure is not an option.”

Coral reefs have been dying since the 1970s, and without immediate and meaningful interventions over 90% will be gone within the next thirty years.

Photo credit: Coral Vita