Coral Story
About Mote Marine Laboratory
Originally established in 1955, Mote Marine Laboratory has been a leader in coral restoration since 2008, and has outplanted over 200,000 coral fragments to date. Mote currently holds over 6,400 coral genotypes, which is the largest holding of genetics outside Mother Nature herself. Mote uses a unique science-based, resiliency-focused approach to coral reef restoration, focusing of sexual and asexual reproduction on land-based and in-water nurseries, assisting coral sexual reproduction in labs, researching genetic resiliencies and focusing on diversity of species and genotypes, and recently adding herbivory to help with holistic ecosystem management.
In 2020, Mote documented, for the first time ever, massive-species of restored coral spawning in the wild, proving that their science-based methods are revolutionizing coral reef restoration.
Establishing the Reef Restoration Program
Johnson Outdoors and SCUBAPRO joined Mote Marine Laboratory to fragment and outplant corals in April 2023, taking an already-existing partnership to the next level. The team participated in land-based education, coral fragmenting, outplant techniques, helped clean a coral tree nursery off Islamorada, and outplanted staghorn and mounding coral. Learn more about how this Reef Restoration Program came to life by watching the video below. We also tagged our first outplanted corals “001”, hoping that we can rapidly grow the program into the thousands, providing an opportunity for thousands of divers around the country to participate in meaningful reef restoration.
What happens next?
You do! We will continue to document coral planted through the program, creating generation after generation as new divers participate in coming months and years. Those photos will be shared here!
