Eastern Tropical Pacific Regional Group

Coral reefs in the region occur from the Baja Peninsula (México), south to Ecuador and are more or less oceanographically isolated from the rest of the Pacific. Unlike most other reef provinces where reef framework produces barrier reefs, reefs here form small subsurface, dispersed patches yet support high biodiversity. The reef building corals are considered to be highly resilient due to extreme environmental conditions, which is reflected in their genetics and life history strategies.

Concerted restoration efforts in the Eastern Tropical Pacific began as early as 2013 in the Mexican Central Pacific, with additional projects becoming established in Costa Rica (2016). There are also multiple ongoing projects on the Pacific coasts of Panama and El Salvador.  Most of these efforts have focused on species in the genus Pocillopora, although species in the genuses Pavona, Porites, and Gardinoseris species are also being propagated. Some projects regularly monitor environmental conditions and biological/ecological metrics. Most of the work has relied on in situ coral propagation followed by transplantation, or with Mars reef stars or similar structures. At least one ex-situ cultivation facility is active and others are in the planning stages. Regional challenges along the Eastern Tropical Pacific derive from tourism, and poor land use practices associated with coastal development and agriculture, causing sedimentation and nutrient loading. Climate change caused widespread coral bleaching in 2023, at least in Costa Rica, and red tides also caused localized coral mortality for several recent years.