Plant a Million Corals Foundation

The Plant a Million Corals Foundation (PAMCF) is an organization based in Summerland Key, Florida whose mission is “to turn the tide of our oceans by saving our coral reefs”. Founded by Dr. David E Vaughan in 2019, PAMCF is focused on active restoration and the transfer of coral restoration technology.  Using micro-fragmentation, a technique discovered by Dr. Vaughan where corals are cut using a specialized saw to increase growth 25-40 times faster than usual, PAMCF aims to demonstrate that large scale coral restoration is not only achievable, but can eb done in a cost-efficient manner, making it accessible to organizations and communities of all resource levels. 

 Our land-based nursery at Summerland Farms has set our goal of producing 1 million corals per year, both for coral restoration and as an example of how these techniques can be used at a large scale. Another aspect of PAMCF’s missions is to use technology transfer to ensure that coral restoration is successful and available at a global level. The Coral Restoration workshops are attended by students, coral restoration scientists, and technicians from all over the world and participants have brought what they learned back to programs that have been recognized at the international level. Knowledge is not the only tool that PAMCF uses to expand coral restoration. Our Coral Restoration Unit program (CRU) makes land based coral restoration available to organizations that do not have the technology for a facility by providing a turnkey transportable nursery packaged in a shipping container.