Santo Domingo.- The Puntacana Ecological Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank, through the Multilateral Investment Fund (FOMIN) will protect reefs by developing “coral gardens” at a cost of more than US$1.0 million.

The project’s main target is to use coral gardening techniques to encourage the local communities and foreign visitors to protect the coastal-marine resources, and spurring development opportunities for the micro and small businesses around a new tourism product, “Coral Gardens.”

The 3-year project aims to experiment with gardening techniques to restore coral varieties in danger of extinction, conducted at the seafloor prior to transplant into degraded reefs. The technique protects corals, improves the health of reefs and the water quality by lowering the pressure of overfishing.

The Puntacana Ecological Foundation has been a pioneer in using that technique in Dominican Republic since 2004, when it started its first experimental regeneration of staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis).