Description

Nursery tables are at the core of our coral conservation efforts.

They are used to grow small rescued fragments of naturally broken coral into larger, more robust coral colonies that can be transplanted onto artificial reefs or back onto degraded natural reefs that require restoration. In a land-based garden, they would be the equivalent of the greenhouses that nurse small plants to a size where they can be safely planted outside.

Project REEFrame Oyster Shell Nursery Tables are constructed from ocean-friendly steel, measure 2.4m long and 1.2m wide and are equipped with a closed tray at the foot of the structure containing cleaned oyster shells. This provides extra weight and stability at the base of the structure, as well as providing additional habitat for marine life.

We can rescue and propagate up to 180 fragments of coral on each nursery table, and we typically replant each table once per year.

We generally expect to produce about 135 larger branching coral colonies per year from each table, these are then out-planted onto artificial reefs or onto areas of the natural reefs to repair areas that have degraded.

Once those coral colonies have matured over a few years, we would expect to end up with approximately 135m² of coral coverage from each year of propagation work we do on the table.

Each nursery table sponsorship includes:

• designing and building the structure and its installation on the Project REEFrame site;
• underwater collection and planting of ˜180 coral fragments (approximately 7 person hours of work);
• one year of maintenance (gardening work and repairs on the tables);
• one year of photographic and video footage (approximately 5 photos per month, as well as supporting videos when we have favorable water conditions);
• a 45 minute live online presentation to the audience of your choice about marine conservation and coral propagation; and
• a quarterly report showing the progress and impact of each structure as well as the overall Project REEFrame site.