Corals 4 Conservation

Corals for Conservation focuses on coral reef restoration and community-driven marine conservation. They collaborate with local communities and the tourism sector to enhance MPAs, plant heat-resistant corals, and restore fish habitats. With support from PADI AWARE, their work aims to build climate resilience, promote eco-tourism, and empower local communities, ensuring long-term sustainability for the region's coral reefs.

Corals 4 Conservation works to empower communities to multiply MPAs with coral restoration to accelerate coral and fish recovery.

“In Fiji indigenous communities are in the forefront of marine conservation, with over 400 locally managed MPAs established,” said. Austin Bowden-Kerby, managing director of Corals for Conservation. “We must now maintain these gains in the face of climate change.”  

Coastal villages in Fiji are dependent coral reefs for food and livelihood. However, there has been a decrease in the availability of fish due illegal fishing practices, increased nutrient flows, and climate change.  

The coastal community of Naidiri, along the coral coast of Fiji, is a key coral reef habitat. The local community established an MPA in 2009 to restore fish and corals. Beyond basic no-fishing rules, coral planting, crown-of-thorns starfish removal, and clam breeding projects have created a positive relationship between the fish and corals that has significantly restored populations in Naidiri’s MPA.  

By planting heat-adapted corals and enhancing fish habitats, Corals for Conservation is equipping the Naidiri Youth Marine Park to withstand warming seas and protect biodiversity. The PADI AWARE grant enables Corals for Conservation to prepare the marine park with greater resilience for anticipated coral bleaching events and continue its role as a model site for sustainable marine management in Fiji.  

Corals for Conservation aims for long term sustainability by empowering the community, particularly youth and women, through training, awareness, and opportunities to accelerate coral reef and fish recovery. It will be carried out through restoration and bleaching resistance, revenue generation via ecotourism, and education and outreach.  

The program will serve to stimulate and multiply MPA effectiveness throughout Fiji via coral restoration, fish habitat recovery, and other measures to increase the stability and climate adaptation of coral reefs and, in turn, the availability of fish for local communities. 

Want to see more of Corals 4 Conservation in action?

You can follow along with Corals 4 Conservation on their website, Instagram, Facebook, or on https://www.padi.com/aware.