The coral reef restoration project on Union Island got underway on Thursday 10 February, 2022.
According to Sustainable Grenadines Inc (SusGren), the coral nursery sites will be at Ashton Lagoon and the Tobago Cays Marine Park.
The coral restoration project aims to grow about 20,000 corals (elkhorn & staghorn) throughout the two years of the project implementation.
SusGren says the project lead is CLEAR Caribbean Limited. Its partners are SusGren and Richmond Vale Academy, with other stakeholders including the Tobago Cay Marine Park (TCMP), the Mayreau and SVG Fisheries Division.
SusGren said community youths were trained in coral restoration and were educated on coral reefs’ biology and ecology.
The youths also got a go at making “cookies” for which the coral fragments will be attached, according to SusGren.
The project is titled “Expansion and Replication of Successful Models of Community-based Coral Restoration in St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Sustainable Grenadines Inc.’s (SusGren) goal is to strengthen and empower local communities from Carriacou to Bequia in protecting their environment and livelihoods in the Grenadines.
SusGren evolved from an eight-year initiative (2002 – 2010) of the University of the West Indies (UWI) with core funding from the Lighthouse Foundation.
