Craig Dahlgren, coral reef biologist, along with volunteers from The Bahamas National Trust, The Nature Conservancy, BREEF and Atlantis’ Water Features Department, teamed up to continue research on coral propagation at Atlantis.

Coral nurseries were set up in optimal areas around the Atlantis property with fragments of staghorn and elkhorn corals placed on grow-out “trees” and coral lines. The coral fragments will be closely monitored and data collected to determine growth rates and health of the corals.

New growth from the coral fragments will be transplanted to declining and damaged reefs in surrounding sea beds.

The coral propagation project is one of the initiatives of the Blue Project, whose aim is to preserve, conserve and restore the declining coral reef ecosystems within the Bahamas. The Blue Project is managed and funded by the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation.

Caption:(l-r) Craig Dahlgren, Coral reef biologist; Shelley Cant, BNT; Dave Wert, Atlantis; Felicity Burrows, TNC; Eddy Raphael, TNC; Anthony Knowles, TNC