Restore the Varadero Reef Hope Spot in Colombia

Over the past few months, our work in Varadero Reef has continued to gain momentum—restoring more reef habitat and building local capacity to care for it into the future.

Building Local Capacity in Bocachica

As part of the Costas Resilientes: Caribe project, led by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and funded by the Swedish Postcode Foundation, three Bocachica community members were trained by our allied dive centers as Open Water Divers with a buoyancy specialty. Together with two other certified divers from the community, they were then trained and certified by Corales de Paz as Reef Check EcoDivers.
This milestone leaves Varadero with a locally trained team capable of monitoring coral reefs and restoration sites—including our MARRS (Mars Assisted Reef Restoration System) installations—ensuring that long-term stewardship remains in community hands.

300 New Reef Stars Installed

Our second large-scale deployment in Varadero was a success. With the energy of more than 40 volunteers on land, freedivers, scuba divers, and the Corales de Paz team, we installed 300 Reef Stars in a new section of the reef.
This was the first installation led fully by Corales de Paz after completing training with Mars Sustainable Solutions earlier this year, and it proudly included the newly trained Bocachica divers. Together, we attached hundreds of coral fragments, carefully deployed the stars, and expanded the restored area significantly.

New results up to July 2025:

The MARRS restoration site shows positive early trends:

• Coral cover increased from 4.4% to 17.3%, with an additional 2.7% gain after two months.
• Fish richness and abundance improved significantly, with abundance nearly tripling and reaching levels comparable to the positive control site.
• Invertebrate richness increased, though abundance remains lower than in the positive control.
• Coral bleaching was detected (35.4% at restoration site vs. 57.2% at positive control), suggesting similar stress levels but with expected transplant-related mortality.

Overall, the site is showing encouraging ecological recovery with improved fish communities and coral cover, while coral stress and substrate changes will continue to be monitored to track their dynamics.

Thank you for helping us bring Varadero Reef back to life!

—
The Corales de Paz Team

In the last four months, our coral restoration work in Varadero has made exciting progress—both underwater and within the local community.

Engaging the Bocachica Community

We continue to work closely with the Bocachica community to ensure this project is built with and for local people. In February and March, we held two meetings with community members, the local council, and the Fishermen’s Association to present the project, answer questions, and coordinate logistics for our first coral installation. Several residents joined the effort as volunteers and divers.

100 Reef Stars Installed!

With support from Mars Sustainable Solutions and 19 dedicated volunteers, including some from the Bocachica Community, we successfully built and deployed 100 Reef Stars, restoring over 100 square meters of reef with 1,500 coral fragments. This pilot was conducted with the support of CARDIQUE, our regional environmental authority, and backed by DIMAR and the Mayor’s Office of Cartagena, showing strong institutional commitment to marine restoration.

Training Local Experts

Mars Sustainable Solutions visited Cartagena to train our team in the MARRS method. With this support, Corales de Paz is in the process of training to be able to replicate the technique across Colombia and the wider Caribbean, using best practices to restore degraded reef areas with Reef Stars—structures designed to stabilize rubble and promote coral growth.

Backed by Regional Partners

This pilot is part of the Costas Resilientes: Caribe project led by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and funded by the Swedish Postcode Foundation, with technical support from MARS Inc. It aims to demonstrate the viability of MARRS in Colombia and build capacity for future scaling.

Early Results

Just two months after installation:

• 13% increase in hard coral cover
  
  
• >95% coral survival
  
  
• 11 coral species growing on the structures
  
  
• Reef visitors like seahorses, parrotfish, and sea urchins
  
  

We’re proving that science, collaboration, and community can revive even the most threatened reefs. Thank you for helping us bring Varadero Reef back to life!

—
The Corales de Paz Team

• Donors Report (PDF)