Global Coral Reef Alliance
The Global Coral Reef Alliance is a small, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to scientific research and sustainable management of the most valuable and threatened of all ecosystems—coral reefs.
GCRA is a worldwide coalition of volunteer scientists, divers, environmentalists and other individuals and organizations, committed to coral reef preservation. We primarily focus on coral reef restoration, and cutting-edge research on impacts of coral bleaching, global warming, marine diseases, global sea level rise, and pollution on corals.
GCRA scientists work with community groups, environmental organizations, foundations, governments or private firms to build, restore and maintain coral reefs, nurseries and marine sanctuaries.
GCRA Projects include restoration of coral reefs and marine habitats for mariculture, tourism and shore protection.
GCRA invented and developed Mineral Accretion Technology™ and the Biorock™ method of electrical coral reef and marine ecosystem restoration, the HotSpot™ method to correctly predict coral bleaching from satellite sea surface temperatures, and integrated whole-watershed and coastal zone nutrient management (now commonly referred to as Ridge to Reef, or Hilltop to Ocean).
Founded in 1990, GCRA is the direct heir to a pioneering coral reef research tradition stretching back to the 1920s, and has the world’s largest collection of coral reef photographs from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
Restoring
Coral reefs and marine habitats all around the world
Protecting
Coastal shorelines from erosion and the effects of climate change.
Helping
Local communities develop sustainable maricuture practices.
CORAL GHOSTS
Filming of the full-length documentary film, Coral Ghosts, directed and produced by Andrew Nisker, continued through the year with major filming sessions in Jamaica and the Marshall Islands following through on last year’s filming in Indonesia, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Canadian Arctic.
The film, now undergoing final edits, will premiere in Toronto early next year, and be broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. This will be the first documentary film to show long term changes in coral reefs around the world since the first underwater photographs, the causes for their current catastrophic decline, and how to regenerate them for the future.
GCRA will be delighted to arrange showings of Coral Ghosts for public education and to support fund-raising efforts with our many partner environmental groups world-wide. The short promotional trailer, which covers only a small part of the content of the documentary film, is shown below:
RECENT UPDATES
Entire Caribbean Sea about to bleach
Coral reefs all across the Caribbean Sea are now at mass bleaching temperatures. Coral mortality will depend on how hot it gets in the coming weeks and for how long. Below is the latest daily Coral Bleaching HotSpot map for the Caribbean (Goreau & Hayes, 1994)....
Are Orcas eating Mediterranean migrants?
“Rough Play or Bad Intentions? Orca Encounters Off Iberia Baffle Experts”, New York Times, September 20, 2020 reports that a well known school of Orcas (killer whales) whose resident range is around both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar, have suddenly started...
Legendary underwater photographer Jerry Greenberg has just died peacefully at 92
Larger than life, he dived to the end, with sheer pleasure: https://keysweekly.com/42/at-93-diver-and-photographer-jerry-greenberg-goes-under-one-more-time/ Jerry personally documented the Florida Keys reefs for 70 years. His incredible photos tell the entire story of...
LATEST PAPERS
LATEST VIDEOS
Palmetto point development: potential impacts on Barbuda’s fisheries
Thomas J. F. Goreau, PhD President, Global Coral Reef Alliance Any development at Palmetto Point would cause significant, and probably irreversible, deterioration of water quality in Codrington Lagoon, Barbuda’s major fish nursery ground. Codrington...
Golf courses kill coral reefs and fisheries: harmful algae blooms and disease caused by nutrient runoff from golf course development on Guana Cay, Abaco, Bahamas
Thomas J. F. Goreau, PhD President, Global Coral Reef Alliance Introduction: Bahamas coral reef deterioration This study is thought the first ever to evaluate the health of coral reef ecosystems and fisheries before and after a golf course development....
Climate-proofing Coastlines with Biorock Technology
Climate Proofing Beaches and Coastlines with Biorock Technology https://youtu.be/cv2h8Uv-MEs Biorock Technology grows back severely eroded beaches at record rates by regenerating marine ecosystems and is the most cost-effective solution for protecting...
Close range underwater photogrammetry for high- resolution survey of a coral reef: A comparison between reconstructed 3-D point cloud models from still image and video data
A paper by Verena Vogler, original link here. Abstract Coral threat levels from climate change have increased around the globe. Coral reefs are nature’s best coastal protection device [MS48]. They dissipate portions of the wave energy through a system of...
High-Resolution Underwater 3-D Monitoring Methods to Reconstruct Artificial Coral Reefs in the Bali Sea: A Case Study of an Artificial Reef Prototype in Gili Trawangan
A paper by Verena Vogler, original link here. Intro This paper introduces new methods and techniques for artificial coral reef design and fabrication based on the Biorock(c) Technology to enable regrowth of damaged coral reefs and discusses state-...
UN Oceans: Regenerating the Sea of Cortes
https://youtu.be/rrGkfjM-1z8 United Nations Oceans Week talk on Regenerating the Canal del Infiernillo, Mar de Cortes, in Sonora, Mexico by Tom Goreau at the World Oceans Week Panel on Sustainable Blue Economy: New paradigm of action with emphasis on the Northwest of...
Climate-proofing Coastlines with Biorock Technology
Climate Proofing Beaches and Coastlines with Biorock Technology https://youtu.be/cv2h8Uv-MEs Biorock Technology grows back severely eroded beaches at record rates by regenerating marine ecosystems and is the most cost-effective solution for protecting...
HELP US SAVE CORALS
GCRA, is accepting donations to help fund our programs in 2019, training local communities in developing countries to use Biorock methods for large-scale marine ecosystem restoration and sustainable mariculture for the following projects:
Panama
Jamaica
Vanuatu
Grenada
Bahamas
Philippines
Palau
