I spent a week at Paradise Cove, Grand Bahama Island, working on a Reef Ball coral propagation project. It was an incredible experience! It is a hands-on learning experience on why corals are so important (for food, for livelihoods, to prevent beach erosion) and the things we can do to help them survive in increasingly challenging environmental conditions such as climate change and storm impacts. I spent a week snorkeling to find imperiled coral (unattached coral fragments that will die within a year) and learning the technique to propagate corals.
This included fragmenting them, mixing and pouring cement into little pods, handling the corals very carefully when placing them into the cement in the correct orientation to maximize their survival. Then the coral 'plugs' are gently put back in the water-filled bucket and transported out to the reef balls. Marine putty is used to affix them to the coral plugs and they are good to go!