At the Coral Restoration Foundation™, we are always seeking new ways to engage audiences far and wide. This month, Interns Victoria Cassar and Erin Bowman took to the skies, traveling to Secaucus, NJ. There they participated in Aquatic Experience, an exposition which brings together marine enthusiasts from across the country and around the world to talk about fish, invertebrates, and coral.
Erin and Victoria set up an information booth, complete with life-sized Coral Trees™ and a virtual reality tour of CRF' s Tavernier Nursery which shows divers hanging corals. For the first time ever, event-goers got a chance to experience CRF' s restoration practice on LAND! Children and adults alike were excited to paint and hang their very own coral cutouts, which were prepped prior to the show with upcycled cardboard. The Coral Trees™ began completely bare, but by the end of day 3 were overflowing with brightly colored corals which sparked many educational conversations.
We caught up with Erin to find out how she felt about the exposition and what it means for CRF:
"I enjoyed Aquatic Experience because it was a chance to talk to people who had never heard of us and were unfamiliar with the idea of coral restoration. Many of them were shocked to hear about the state of the reefs in the Keys but walked away excited about our mission and eager to help."
Thank you, Erin!
If you would like to schedule an educational or outreach event, please visit our website.
About the Author:
Kasen Wally graduated from Western Carolina University with a B.S. in Environmental Science. Shortly afterward he discovered a passion for scuba diving and marine conservation during an internship with Reef Doctor in Madagascar. Upon returning home, Kasen has pursued that passion by joining us to learn more about Caribbean Reef restoration and to approach project development from a creative angle.
"I couldn't be more excited to work with the plethora of resources available to CRF, while helping to preserve a magnificent and critical ecosystem." -Kasen Wally