Boats4Corals
Part of the Whitsunday Reef Islands Initiative program
Project Lead: Australian Institute of Marine Science
Key project partners: Southern Cross University and tourism operators including Ocean Rafting, Red Cat Adventures, SV Whitehaven and Kiana Sail and Dive.
Overview: A promising approach to the restoration of reefs has been ‘coral IVF’, the collection and strategic relocation of coral larvae to re-seed damaged reefs. Using this methodology, coral spawn is collected, incubated in floating larval pools for 5-7 days and then deployed onto target reefs. Studies indicate that this improves the chance of coral spawn surviving to adulthood from approximately 1 in 1 million, to 1 in 10,000. Researchers and scientists alone have limited ability to implement this approach at scale. The Boats4Corals project shares knowledge and develops the skills of local tourism operators and Traditional Owners to lead this restoration activity.
Key Achievements
- 6 tourism partners engaged, with more than 50 people trained in Coral IVF techniques.
- Over 300 million coral larvae released at degraded reef sites to support reed recovery
- 2,000 coral re-seeding devices that protect coral larvae deployed in 2024-2025
- A range of deployment methods trialled on multiple habitat types
