As our planet grapples with the growing climate change crisis, which is affecting coral reefs, the urgency for solutions has never been greater.
According to the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), a staggering 84% of the world’s coral reefs experienced bleaching-level heat stress between January 2023 and March 2025, marking the most severe global event on record. This is a significant jump from the 68% that were affected during the last major bleaching events, prompting scientists to introduce new, more severe levels to their bleaching alert scale to indicate the heightened risk of mass coral death after bleaching. In certain regions, the risk of death may exceed 80%.
Given this unprecedented challenge, researchers and conservationists are increasingly exploring various strategies, such as land-based coral cultivation, to protect these fragile marine ecosystems.
Aquaculture is a key solution for healing our coral reef ecosystems
Last week, we officially opened our restorative coral aquaculture facility in Amitie, Praslin Island. It is Africa’s first land-based coral aquaculture for conservation and climate adaptation.
Known as the Assisted Recovery of Corals (ARC) Facility, it comes after 15 years of active coral reef restoration in the Cousin Island Special Reserve and builds on the experiences garnered in those years.
But what is coral aquaculture, why should we grow corals on land, and how will this help the reef?
“Coral aquaculture involves cultivating large numbers of healthy corals in specialized tanks by mimicking natural coral reproduction and growth processes,” says Dr Nirmal Shah, Chief Executive of Nature Seychelles. “The environment is fully controlled by the operator to re-create the best conditions for coral growth and survival.”
The facility allows the replication of both sexual and asexual coral reproduction to regenerate coral populations in the wild.
It will produce thousands of coral colonies to be planted in the wild
It will use micro-fragmentation, which was recently introduced to practitioners in the region through a workshop organized by the NGO. “This breaks corals into small fragments, allowing them to grow and fuse quickly. It can be used for all species, but is particularly useful for slow-growing species such as massive corals, which we have not used in restoration efforts as yet. This method is efficient for producing genetically identical corals,” Shah says.
Aquaculture can also include the collection of coral eggs and sperm during spawning events, which are fertilized in tanks and developed to form young corals. This process increases genetic diversity, making corals stronger and more adaptable.
The benefits are many, Shah states. “Growing corals on land helps us to overcome problems with ocean nurseries, which are labour-intensive and challenging. It makes it easier to control conditions for better coral growth and survival. Micro-fragmentation yields thousands of corals, faster, to boost restoration efforts. It safeguards rare and resilient corals through gene banking thus increasing species diversity for restoration,” he says.
The facility will provide an opportunity for education and awareness
The facility will also advance coral research, innovation, training, education, and tourism, and provide a platform to explore the commercial potential of corals.
Overall, aquaculture is a key solution for healing our coral reef ecosystems. It works alongside natural recovery efforts and also helps educate the public on how to reduce harmful impacts on coral reefs while increasing awareness of their importance, Shah concludes.
Construction of the ARC has been financially supported by the Adaptation Fund through UNDP and the Government of Seychelles, Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT), and CMA CGM.