Featured Artist: Jennifer Keck, Coral Restoration

“Thanks to your product, we have been able to successfully outplant 1000s of corals onto the reef!”

My name is Jennifer Keck and I am the Education and Research Coordinator for the Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences on the island of Roatan, Honduras.  We have been running a coral restoration program for 9 years and we use your Apoxie Sculpt for outplanting corals onto the reef to enhance the threatened reef in our region.  I am sure that you are aware that your product is the preferred medium for outplanting corals because it is nontoxic to the environment and easy to work with under water.

The Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences (RIMS) is a private marine science facility established in 1989. Our mission is to preserve Roatán’s marine resources through education and research. We achieve this through hands-on field experiences and marine science programs for both local and international educational groups that highlight the significance of Roatan’s marine ecosystems.  Our goal is to be a leader in marine research and conservation on Roatan, implementing practical solutions to restore and protect our declining reef ecosystems. I am the Education and Research Coordinator and also oversee our Coral Nursery and Restoration Program. I have been working here for 28 years. Coral nurseries and out-planting programs accelerate reef recovery by growing resilient coral fragments in protected settings and transplanting them onto degraded reefs, boosting live coral cover, habitat complexity, and biodiversity. We establish our coral nursery and restoration program in 2016. After the success of our pilot project we invited the Coral Restoration Foundation (a non profit organization in the Florida Keys) to come down to consult and help us with expansion.  We were introduced to Apoxie Sculpt from them and have only ever used your product in our out-planting efforts.  We use it because of its ease in working with it underwater and the fact that it is nontoxic to the corals and the environment.  Thanks to your product, we have been able to successfully outplant 1000s of corals onto the reef! Thanks for helping us with our future plans to outplant many 1000’s more.

Photo credits can be given RIMS (Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences)

Jennifer Keck
Education & Research Coordinator
Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences
www.roatanims.org