At the Marine Innovation Center, we lead coral reef restoration initiatives - essential ecosystems that provide shelter, food, and breeding grounds for a wide variety of marine species. Our approach combines science, field experience, and innovative techniques to promote the recovery of these habitats.

Marine operations: we maintain the oldest coral nursery in the Dominican Republic, established in 2004. Using ocean gardening techniques with metal structures, we cultivate branching corals that reproduce asexually and grow quickly, forming habitats that provide refuge for fish and other organisms. In addition, our team transplants land-grown corals, carries out monitoring to collect gametes for assisted sexual reproduction, and evaluates reef health and the progress of restoration actions.

Land-based coral nurseries: in our land nursery we care for different coral species, preserving their genetic diversity. We reproduce them using both asexual and sexual methods. One of these methods is microfragmentation, which consists of cutting large, slow-growing corals into smaller pieces so they can grow faster. We also use assisted fertilization, a process in which we combine coral reproductive cells, collected in the sea or in the laboratory, to create new corals and increase their diversity.

We work with strategic partners such as The Nature Conservancy, Oceankind, Sea Foundry, Rutgers University, Coral Gardeners, Queensland University of Technology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, and Fudemar.