Geneva, Switzerland – 16 October 2024 – The MSC Foundation looks forward to expanding its coral research efforts, with the first construction phase of its new Marine Conservation Center at Ocean Cay just weeks from completion. This flagship endeavour, centres around a thriving coral nursery with fragments growing from five distinct species and 13 genotypes of reef-building coral.
Phase Two of the construction and equipping of the state-of-the-art research facility is scheduled to be complete by April 2025 and will significantly accelerate restoration efforts under its Super Coral Programme at Ocean Cay — a Mission Blue Hope Spot in The Bahamas. The Marine Conservation Center will also include educational facilities for raising public awareness surrounding the critical need to save coral reefs and help the Foundation scale up the reach and impact of its public engagement efforts – a core element of the programme.
During a three-day expert workshop held on board MSC Seashore and at Ocean Cay, the MSC Foundation set the frame for its 2030 Roadmap for Coral Conservation based on discussions with 20 national and international conservationists, and other experts. The plan will represent a significant update to the Foundation’s original Roadmap for the Super Coral Programme, which was validated at an expert meeting held in Bimini, The Bahamas, in 2019.
“I’m heartened by the progress made under the Super Coral Programme. We have identified high thermal resilience in some genetic populations of corals, developed techniques to grow corals in open-water nurseries, started to trial methods to outplant these corals and 100% of our nursery corals survived the last marine heatwave,” said Dr David Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of the MSC Foundation Advisory Board.
“With renewed commitments coming out of three days of fruitful discussions with Bahamian stakeholders, partners and other experts, the opening of the research lab at the Marine Conservation Center will support the scale-up of our coral nursery and outplanting work, and serve the community as a hub of scientific collaboration and education.”
Since 2022, the Super Coral Programme has been focusing on identifying hardy species of coral, conducting research and propagating such types of coral species, mainly focusing on critically endangered elkhorn coral. The work builds upon MSC Cruises’ multi-year restoration of Ocean Cay’s marine ecosystem, which began when the company began redeveloping the former sand-mining site. The 64 square miles of waters around the island have since flourished and with the charted roadmap and the new Marine Conservation Center, the programme is entering a promising new phase of development.
Among the Super Coral Programme’s successes to date:
• Identifying high thermal resilience in some genetic populations of corals
• Developing techniques to grow corals in open-water nurseries
• Successfully exploring methods for outplanting resilient corals
• 100% survival of nursery corals during the last summer marine heatwave
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