The abundance of corals has declined significantly over past decades, to the point where several reef-building species in the Caribbean are now listed as threatened. In the past decade, however, active reef restoration has expanded exponentially to help recover degraded coral populations and the ecological services associated with healthy and complex reefs.
This methodology focuses on propagating coral stocks within in- and ex-situ coral nurseries, where individuals are then outplanted onto degraded reefs (Rinkevich, 1995). By maximizing the growth of corals within nursery environments and using low-cost, low-tech methods for transplanting, coral gardening is now commonly used around the world by a growing number of restoration practitioners with high success (Rinkevich, 2014).
