Every year, we are learning more about corals, how they live, and how they replenish their numbers. This knowledge will help in preserving these precious resources, as well as allow us to improve the opportunities for recovery when damage occurs. However, we can already say, beyond any doubt, that prevention is the key. No matter how successful reseeding is, we cannot speed up the growth rate of corals. Large coral colonies cannot be replaced in less than the several hundred years it took them to attain that size.
Coral reefs are economically, culturally and aesthetically important to the Islands of Micronesia.
Through a better understanding of how they work, we can do a better job of protecting them from unnecessary damage.