Dominican Republic

Bayahibe, Dominican Republic is a unique spot to study and conserve coastal-marine ecosystems, where marine protected areas, artisanal fishing, and tourism overlap.

FUNDEMAR has been working on coastal-marine ecosystem conservation since 2006 in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic. Five marine protected areas exist in the Bayahibe area within the Southeastern Reefs Marine Sanctuary which harbors coral reef, seagrass, and mangrove ecosystems. FUNDEMAR has two main departments: Megafauna and Biodiversity. Within the biodiversity department, our strongest program is the coral reef conservation program. Coral reef monitoring and restoration efforts started in 2011, using the AGRRA methodology for monitoring and establishing Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata coral nurseries capable of holding over 3 km of tissue. The A. cervicornis nursery serves as an artificial reef, providing habitat and refuge for marine organisms and functioning 75% as the adjacent reef and is continuously being expanded. In the A. palmata nursery, we grow tissue to produce micro fragments in-situ and outplant 1,000 fragments to the reef annually.  

In 2015, we implemented coral assisted fertilization efforts for the first time in the Dominican Republic, established the first Lab for these efforts in the country in 2019 and currently have the highest recruit production rates in the Caribbean, annually seeding over 18,000 substrates with recruits from 7 different coral species. We are spearheading a national coastal-ecosystem monitoring methodology called MONITOREA, integrating coral reef, seagrass and mangrove ecosystems considering their interconnectivity. One of our most important programs is the community integration program, where we have actively trained over 20 local community youth as restoration technicians which in turn raises awareness in the community and increases our impact.

In 2023, we formalized our partnership with MarineGEO and have received training to implement the Squidpop and Reef Life Survey methodologies to contribute to the network. We are interested in becoming a hub to test innovative technology to advance the monitoring, conservation, and restoration of coastal-marine ecosystems.

MarineGEO Team

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