Biorock coral reef restoration and shore protection projects in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands: preliminary report

Abstract

The Marshall Islands are critically dependent on the health of their coral reefs: every rock and sand grain on the islands are the remains of coral reef organisms. Only actively growing coral reefs can protect the islands against ocean waves and global sea level rise, and provide fish to feed the people. These crucial services are rapidly deteriorating because global warming is bleaching and killing corals, while also accelerating the spread and virulence of coral-killing diseases. As a result every atoll island has a serious erosion problem, which will get much worse as global sea level rise and storm intensity accelerate, unless the reefs that protect the islands can be grown back. The solutions now being used to protect the shoreline are both costly and ineffective. In order to demonstrate practical solutions to these problems we started three pilot coral reef restoration projects and one pilot shore protection project in Majuro using Bjorock® Technology in early 2007.