The Reef Generation St. Martins project is an Indiegogo crowdfunding project whose aim is to build an artificial coral reef off the coast of St. Martin’s Grand Case to grow coral for reef restoration and develop educational programs. This project will be unique as the project’s team includes a diverse mix of reef experts with the capability and goal to replace the entire reef structure.
The team will place each of the interdependent species at the appropriate depth to create extinct or damaged reefs as a whole, not as an aggregation of a few species. They are also aiming to create larger coral colonies to help speed the recovery of the reef by using what they describe as “our newly discovered technologies to enhance coral growth and culture a multiplicity of coral species.” We know this statement has some muscle behind it, because this is no ordinary crew that includes some of the sharpest minds in the industry including Dr. Eugene Kaplan, Joe Yaiullo, Justin Credabel, Laura Birenbaum and Todd Gardner.
The fundraising goal for this project is $45,000 and there are 51 more days left in the campaign. The funds are earmarked for the legal costs associated with creating a non-profit organization to administer the reef restoration and education programs. It will also go to help ensure sustained support of the project that includes developing three different artificial reef structures to provide a suitable substrate to grow coral, as well as a habitat for certain types of larval and juvenile fish.
For your donations, there are a slew of great goodies the team is putting up including some popular ReefGen corals as well as some special project corals that haven’t even been released yet. Head on over to the Indiegogo page and make your donation today.
