A mixed-restoration approach in the Caribbean
This March, the MSS team visited Caribbean-based partners, FUNDEMAR, to trial a mixed-restoration approach on degraded coral reefs in the Dominican Republic.
Over 2024, a partnership was initiated between Mars Sustainable Solutions and Caribbean-based NGO, Fundación Dominicana de Estudios Marinos (FUNDEMAR) to trial a mixed restoration approach of reef stars and coral larvae settlement structures within Dominican Republic waters.
Fundación Dominicana de Estudios Marinos (FUNDEMAR)
In March 2025, two members of the MSS team visited the FUNDEMAR team in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic to assist in the first installation of MARRS reef stars on degraded reefs in the country. During this visit, 4 members of the FUNDEMAR team were trained in Reef Star fabrication and installation. The team then set out to install 50 Reef Stars at the Sombrero site, North of Bayahibe bay, where 100 secore settlement structures were attached utilising a mixture of brain coral and staghorn coral, with a further 50 Reef Stars being installed at Cervicornis Boulevard, South of Bayahibe bay, which will have settlement structures attached at a later date.
During this one-week visit, the FUNDEMAR and MSS teams deployed a total of 100 Reef Stars across the chosen coral rubble sites, outplanting over 1,500 coral fragments, taken from local coral nurseries or previously identified parental colonies.
The FUNDEMAR team now plan to expand these efforts to install a further 50 Reef Stars at the Sombrero site during a second build later this year. In addition to the use of MARRS Reef Stars, FUNDEMAR's restoration efforts will also involve trialing larval seeding enclosures to maximise coral recruitment, survival and overall restoration success in the region. During this experiment, coral spawn of the species Diploria labyrinthiformis will be collected between May/June and introduced onto secore ceramic structures placed on the reef stars within these enclosures. The team aim to introduce 6 seeding tents with 1 reef star per enclosure and procedural controls to test survival over time.
The visit was successful in allowing the MSS team to deliver MARRS competency training and science-led restoration practices, facilitating the expansion of Mars’ collaborating scientific community and research program within the Caribbean. In collaboration with Ocean Culture Life, the first Reef Stars in the Dominican Republic and the pilot mixed restoration approach were documented and shared with the FUNDEMAR team.
