SECORE International

06/02/2026

Happy World Reef Awareness Day!! 💙

Reef Renewal Curacao is always eager to assist our friends at SECORE in monitoring and helping collect gamete bundles during spawning events in Curacao.

Our team helped deploy SECORE's spawn collection nets during recent spawning of Diploria labyrinthiformis, commonly known as the grooved brain coral. (Hint: follow the butterfly fish) 🧠🪸

Over the course of a few nights, SECORE and their volunteers were able to collect enough gamete bundles to create a lab full of healthy brain coral embryos!!

We are thrilled to be able to collaborate with great coral conservation organizations in Curacao.

06/02/2026

From a scuba enthusiast to a SECORE ambassador

👋 Meet Rob Rokoff, our Board Chair, who has been with SECORE International for over three years.

"When I first encountered SECORE, I was a scuba diver who loved the underwater world and was searching for a meaningful way to give back. I became a SECORE ambassador because what Dirk and the team have built is scientifically proven to work. On this milestone birthday, I'm proud to say SECORE is one of the great chances we have to help give coral reefs a future."

🪸 Join us in making a difference. Your support allows us to breed more genetically diverse corals, further our development of sustainable restoration methods, and empower local communities to become stewards of their own reefs.
Donate today: 11$ for 11 years of SECORE.

📸: Paul Selvaggio & Rob

06/01/2026

11 Years of Giving Coral Reefs a Future 🪸

Today, , is SECORE’s anniversary! To kick us off, we have a toast from SECORE's Founder. 🥂👇

“We have been a registered nonprofit organization for 11 years, and our roots go back more than two decades to “Project SECORE.” Today, we are an international organization and a leader in our field.
Our team is our greatest asset; thanks to their expertise and dedication, we are able to carry out our work with excellence. We are doing our best to give coral reefs a future,” says Dr. Dirk Petersen, Founder and Executive Director.

Over the course of the week, you’ll hear from some of our team, explore key milestones, and get a closer look at what we do. 🤩
Celebrate with us by liking and interacting with our content! You can also get involved by making a donation of $11 for 11 years or by purchasing from our merch shop (link in bio)!
Every donation helps us continue where we excel: creating and sharing the tools and technologies to sustainably restore coral reefs worldwide! 🪸🌎

Thank you Paul Selvaggio for capturing our work over the years!

05/30/2026

Something exciting is happening next week! 🤩

In addition to the start of Ocean month and Reef Day, SECORE is turning 11! That’s right, it’s our anniversary and with it we want to celebrate just how far we’ve come! Eleven years of developing technologies, restoring reefs, and building a global network calls for a whole week of celebration!

Starting June 1st, we will be introducing you to some of our team, acknowledging a few milestones and reminding you what we are doing to protect the rainforests of our oceans. 🪸

Come celebrate the week with us!

👉📸Photos in this video were taken by Paul Selvaggio

05/27/2026

It’s off to the reef: outplanting coral babies in Mexico 🇲🇽🪸

Multiple times a year our Mexico team, with the support of students and volunteers, transport bred coral babies to their forever home on the reef. These outplanting trips differ depending on the size of the dive team, number of substrates and how they are attached to the reef. Paul Selvaggio recently captured our team outplanting baby corals using a couple of different attachment methods.

⭐🫳 Wedging the Seeding Unit into a nook or cranny on the reef
⭐🪨 Using cement to keep the Seeding Unit in place
⭐🔩 Bolting the Seeding Units into a hole drilled in the reef

Outplanting is not the end of the story. Our team and returning volunteers continue to monitor these baby corals, tracking their growth and health over time.
A huge thank you to those who have participated in outplanting & monitoring activities and in the training sessions on outplanting methods conducted by SECORE and Coralium: La Vida de un Coral staff in Mexico. Everyone involved has made tremendous contributions to our projects and, above all, to ensuring that more baby corals can be returned to the reef.

Which method do you think is the most challenging? Let us know below! 👇

UNAM Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

05/22/2026

Some corals, such as the Staghorn coral, reproduce in synchronized mass spawning events. Once a year, entire colonies release millions of gamete bundles, turning the ocean into an underwater snowstorm. The event is carefully timed and influenced by several environmental factors—the lunar cycle, temperature and the sunset. In the Caribbean, coral spawning season is just beginning.

Our team and partners will be monitoring these events and collecting gamete bundles for restoration. To do this, we’ll deploy our specially designed spawn collection nets. These nets funnel the buoyant gamete bundles into collection tubes for easy transportation above water. After successful fertilization, the embryos will develop into tiny coral larvae that will swim down and settle onto substrates before being brought back out onto the reef.

Our restoration approach focuses on rearing genetically diverse corals—boosting resilience and adaptability so they can thrive in changing ocean conditions.

A lot is happening in the coming months across the region so make sure you are following us for updates.

These shots were captured by the talented Vanessa Cara-Kerr, Reef Patrol

05/20/2026

How our Team Preps for Spawning Season 🪸✨

Hannah Ditzler, our Miami based Research Associate recently visited our team in Curaçao. She was there in the weeks leading up to (the start of this year's) spawning season and supported many of the preparatory tasks. ➡Together with Lars ter Horst, our Curaçao Research & Restoration Technician, they coated the settlement substrates and nursery infrastructure in anti-algal paint, deployed substrates for conditioning, prepared equipment, performed spawning monitoring, and while out on the reef, checked on coral outplants. ⭐

Hannah had not visited Curaçao since 2022. She commented, “The reefs were significantly more degraded. However, I noticed several different species and interactions I had not seen before. I also saw lots of recruits outplanted by SECORE that gave me hope!”
📸 The photos were captured by Hannah while out monitoring the reef with Lars.

Make sure you are following us for updates as the spawning season gets into full swing!

05/15/2026

Together for Survival 🫵

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 44% of the warm-water reef-building coral species are threatened by extinction. This is primarily due to increasing ocean temperatures and acidification, pollution and the severe impacts of coral diseases taking their toll on coral populations worldwide.

A study published in 2025 in Science, found widespread mortality of the Staghorn and Elkhorn corals in some areas of Florida following the 2023 heatwave that caused Caribbean-wide mass bleaching events. These Acropora species are essential reef building corals in the Caribbean but are now classified as functionally extinct in Florida’s Coral Reef.

Now more than ever, we need to come together in protecting life on this planet. 🌎🌊 At SECORE International we are actively pushing large scale coral restoration projects. Together we are giving corals a fighting chance for the future. Will you join us in protecting these underwater rainforests? 🪸

Check out our linktree to see how you can get involved today!

Photos by Photos by Paul Selvaggio

05/13/2026

Staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis) are part of the Acropora genus.
Made up of hundreds of species, this genus is one of the most expansive and architectural of the hard, reef-building corals. 🪸

👉Did you know?
Like the rest of the species in this genus, staghorn corals have fast growing rates. They grow approximately 4-8 inches per year and reach lengths of up to 6 feet (~2 m). 📏Their rapid growth allows them to form huge, branching colonies, especially in sheltered areas like lagoons that serve as home to many marine animals. In some places these thickets stretch so far across the seafloor that it’s almost impossible to tell where one colony ends and the next begins. 🕵

📸🪸The photos were taken in Bonaire by Tania Doblado Speck, our Caribbean Training Coordinator, at Joanne's Sunchi, Klein Bonaire and Jeff Davis, a fully restored restoration site by Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire. A truly incredible sight!

05/12/2026