Underwater Habitat Restoration

Underwater habitat restoration is the active rehabilitation of degraded subtidal habitats, including coral reefs, oyster and mussel beds, seagrass meadows, kelp forests, and saltmarsh fringe, to rebuild the biogenic structure that supports fisheries and biodiversity. Methods include coral gardening and outplanting of nursery-grown fragments, deploying cultch or reef substrate for oyster recruitment, replanting seagrass plugs or seeds, and reseeding kelp. Restoration targets nursery and refuge function, water-filtration capacity, and coastal protection; oyster reefs alone once filtered estuary volumes that took decades to lose. It complements rather than replaces fishing controls and marine protected areas, and outcomes depend on first removing the stressor that caused the loss.