During December 20-22, Conservation Opportunity (CO) began collaborating with Sociedad Ambiente Marino (SAM) to create a 360 video at Punta Soldado Beach in Culebra, where one of SAM's many coral nurseries is located.
Marieliz Dieppa cutting off excess of what ties the coral fragment to the stone.
The content was achieved in part through the contributions of Latino Conservation Week (LCW) and the Puerto Rican supermarket, Hatillo Kash N’ Karry. LCW is an initiative of the Hispanic Access Foundation that focuses on “supporting the Latino community interested in getting outdoors and encouraging them to participate in activities to protect our natural resources.
The video was made in 360-degree perspective to show the process of maintenance and planting of the gender coral nursery. Acropora.
The reason why it was recorded in this way was due to the Project 360 initiative. A dynamic created by CO that specializes in providing immersive videos so that students, and anyone interested, can have the experience of exploring aquatic ecosystems without the controversy of having to find the necessary resources to carry out the activity.
CO also focuses on ensuring that each activity dedicated to Project 360 can be carried out in collaboration with other organizations that share the same goals, in order to reach further afield and further unite the environmental conservation community.
New Acropora cervicornis colonies “seeded” on the reef.
During the course of the activity, members of the CO and SAM team were able to propagate some 530 coral colonies. These corals were collected from the farm and moved to different areas of the reef. In addition, dead coral fragments were removed and other organisms that negatively affect the nursery were cleaned up.
“Project 360 degrees is quite iconic, because everyone who doesn't have the opportunity to see what's underwater is going to be able to see it through the use of technology,’’ stated SAM Executive Director Samuel Suleiman.
In addition, Suleiman argued that activities such as Project 360 can help people learn about biodiversity and the aquatic ecosystem, causing them to develop a “little bit of affection’’ for marine life.
When asked about the experience of collaborating with CO, Suleiman was positive.
“We had a very good synergy and a very good collaboration, I have no doubt that at some point we will do something together again,’’ Suleiman said.
Diver checking young colonies of A. cervicornis not yet planted.