Coral Vita, a company based in Bahama, was founded by Sam Teicher and Gator Halpern. They met at Yale School of Forestry & Environment where they found they shared a mutual interest and conern for the corals.
"I grew up in San Diego, California, where I spent as much time as I could in the ocean and in the waves and my co-founder Sam's been a scuba diver since he was 13 years old," says Coral Vita co-founder, Gator Halpern to euronews.green.
"Even in our relatively short lifetimes, we've been able to see how drastically the ocean environments have changed, especially coral reefs, which have collapsed all around the world."
Corals are very important ecosystems and one billion people rely on them for livelihood. Over 25 percent of all marine species live in coral reefs. Also, they provide coastal protection from floods, storms and waves.
"Coral reefs are really the cornerstone of life in our oceans, and therefore in many ways life on our entire planet," says Gator.
"With our love for the environment, and for the ocean, we decided we couldn't just study the science and watch what was happening. We wanted to try to create a mission-driven company doing our best to address this issue we care so much about."
Coral Vita was launched in May 2019 and it is the first land based commercial coral farm in Freeport, Grand Bahamas. The pair have since developed high-tech farming solutions that can grow more diverse and resilient corals, later used to restore reefs. Coral Vita grow 24 types of indigneous corals 50 times faster than in the wild. Their corals are bred to withstand the effects of climate change better than corals grown in the wild.
The company recently received both the Earthshot Prize and will receive £1 million (€1.2 million) in prize money. Thanks to the prize the company will be able to establish a global network of coral farms and grow a billion corals every year.
Taking better care of our earth with the help of innovations and entrepreneurship will make the future come sooner.
