Coral Nursery at Eden Beach

Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF) Bonaire joined forces with Wannadive to create and build a CRF coral nursery at Eden Beach. Five coral nursery trees are located just north of the dock of Eden Beach, making space for 500 new corals. With the help of a handful of committed coral lovers, no less than 80 Staghorn and Elkhorn coral colonies were relocated from another coral production nursery in Bonaire. Special thanks to WNF for sponsoring the trees and Wannadive’s crew Linda, Kim and Alex for their support and efforts in realizing this nursery!

With the launch of the newest coral nursery we are happy to welcome Wannadive as the third dive shop member joining the team and supporting CRF Bonaire. Wannadive will proceed as the newest center of outreach and education for CRF Bonaire, meaning they will offer guided dives in their own coral nursery, sell unique CRF merchandise and will sponsor volunteer dives. Meanwhile the corals will grow accustomed to their new home at Eden Beach and soon be transplanted to the reefs of Bonaire.  Over time Wannadive will also start offering Coral Restoration Diver courses. So Wanna-divers, get ready to become a Coral Restoration Diver and dive for a worthy cause!

Restoring The Shallow Reefs Of Bonaire

By growing corals in offshore nurseries and transplanting mature Staghorn and Elkhorn coral onto degraded reefs, Coral Restoration Foundation Bonaire aims to restore the coastal coral reefs of Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. To date, more than 9000 coral fragments are growing in the nurseries and over 8000 have already been transplanted.

Why Coral Restoration?

Since 1980, populations of staghorn and elkhorn corals have collapsed throughout the Caribbean from disease outbreaks with losses compounded locally by hurricanes, increased predation, bleaching, elevated temperatures, algae overgrowth and other factors.

Once found in continuous stands that extended along the front side of most coral reefs, today these areas have been largely transformed into rubble fields with few, isolated living colonies facing local extinction.

In the 2006 NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) listed elkhorn and staghorn coral as “threatened” species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and in December 2012, NMFS proposed reclassifying the elkhorn and staghorn corals as endangered.

Get Involved

Have you ever wished you could give something back to the reef that has provided you with beautiful and fun experiences since the moment you learned to dive? Now you get the chance to dive for a worthy cause.

Become a coral restoration diver and be part of the team!

Volunteers are the heart and soul of achievements and CRF could not thrive without hard working and energetic volunteers. The Coral Restoration Foundation is actively restoring the reefs around Bonaire and is looking for volunteer scuba divers who want to help and give back to our coral reefs.

To become a volunteer and get involved, divers have to complete the training course and become a certified PADI Coral Restoration Diver. Volunteer divers assist the CRF staff in the coral nurseries, helping with maintenance activities and transplanting corals to the designated restoration sites around Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. Dive volunteers are notified on a week by week basis; all tasks are carried out under supervision and with full instructions for a required period of time.

For more information please visit www.crfbonaire.org

Donate To CRF Bonaire

When you donate to Coral Restoration Foundation Bonaire you are directly funding Bonaire’s reef restoration efforts. Your donation ensures the sustainability and growth of our programs.

With your gift, we are able to keep producing and maintaining corals in our innovative nurseries. We strive to make your gift work as hard as we do, cleaning trees, transplanting corals, and monitoring thickets. Your support makes it possible for all of us to continue actively restoring Bonaire’s coral reefs, helping restore coral reef ecosystems, advocating for marine wildlife, and being an integral part of preserving these aquatic treasures for future generations.