Progress report for
Restoration of the Mexican Pacific coral reefs using natural remediation techniques
Achievement at a glance
To date, over 2,000 coral have been "planted", giving a second oportunity to this coral colonies, all of them of the branching coral of Pocillopora genera, considered the one with the highest coverage and distribution in the region. We have presente a high survival rate (90%), an attachment rate of 2-3 months (depending on the sea water temperature) and an average annual growth of 5 cm. The monitoring program showed that at ecosystem level, the restoration program have contribute to increase 2% of the coral coverage in the last five years, with a spill over effect in coral community key groups such as fishes and echinoderms. Finally is important to emphasize that these corals are an specific population with high resistance and resiliance, as during the El Nio event 2015-2016, considered the most intense in the last 25 years, the area present a bleaching of 20% of the population but with evidence of mortality in other coral genera, not Pocillopora. Also we lauch the program adopt a coral, an inciative to involve the tourism in the restoration program.Challenges faced in implementation
The technique is easy to implement, however we have a constant problem to have enough people to help with it. We have tried to train providers of tourist services, however we have noticed that they are not very careful during the plantation, and they have little interest in training. Another important challenge was to observe that the population that is being used is not only resistant to stress events, as it was the El Nio 2015-2016, where all our new corals survive.Beneficiaries
1. The local community. Islas Marietas National Park is located in an area with high tourist visitation. And especially this site is highly visited and the services are provided by people from the region. Contributing directly to the local economy.
2. Ecological services.In addition to the tourist attraction and the economic impact generated by the program, it must be considered that maintaining this ecosystem in turn benefits to maintain the ecosystem services it provides.
3. National and International Policies. One of the components of the management plan of any natural protected area is to implement a monitoring and restoration program for protected resources. Therefore, this program contributes to both national and international commitments in the area of conservation and management.