Salva los arrecifes de coral de Las Terrenas

As we know today, the natural ecosystems of our planet are in trouble. Scientific advances in "big data" and prediction tools today affirm that collective human impacts considerably reduce the places still intact on the planet, only 15% of the Earth's landmass is officially protected.

Coral reefs, these underwater ecosystems that support 4,000 species of reef fish and around 25% of marine life, are severely affected by human activities. It is estimated that 50% of this ecosystem has already been lost and up to 90% could be lost by 2050, according to recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The case of Las Terrenas is not an exception to the global case of the disappearance of coral reefs. In recent years, these submerged structures have been gradually altered by local pollution, climate change, illegal fishing, and coastal developments. However, these coral reefs do more for Las Terrenas than provide underwater beauty. Coral structures are made up of colonies of animals called polyps that build their own skeleton out of calcium carbonate. The polyps live in the exoskeletons of their ancestors and add their own exoskeleton to the existing structure.

Over the centuries, the coral gradually developed and gave rise to these huge coral reefs of the marine world. Growing in shallow water, coral reefs protect coastlines from storms and erosion by mitigating currents and waves that crash on the shore, creating jobs for local communities, and providing recreation for these inhabitants and tourism. It is estimated that more than 500 million people depend on reefs for food, income, and protection.

The net economic value of the world's coral reefs is estimated to be nearly tens of billions of US dollars per year.

Here, in Las Terrenas, we especially feel the loss of reefs due to the loss of fishing resources. For 10 years, local fishermen have had to deal with declining catches. The concern for the future of these Dominicans is becoming stronger than for the state of health of their sea. For this reason, an association called Corales Las Terrenas was created to preserve the seabed and restore local reefs [4].

With the help of Dominican institutions, the association was able to create the first nursery in the waters of Las Terrenas. Ten metallic structures were placed on Islas Ballenas, a group of islands two kilometers from the coast, on which coral fragments have been hung. This location has the advantage of being remote from human activities and protected by rock structures from storms. The objective of this nursery is to allow the development of new fragments in a healthy environment to be replanted in natural reefs when they have reached a sufficient size to combat environmental stresses due to pollution, etc. In recent years, this nursery has received special attention from various organizations.

Corales Las Terrenas as a promoter of the project, the Turtle Dive Center participated in the installation and maintenance of the nursery with many Dominican divers but also divers passing through Las Terrenas. In 2020, Fundación Aldeas de Paz through its Marine Conservation Program and its volunteers actively participated in the project and committed to the construction of 10 new structures to increase the coral reef restoration area.