• Site Investigation
• Development of a Mitigation Plan
• Onsite Training for Seagrass and Coral Relocation
• Harvesting and Transplantation of Seagrass and Coral
• Development of a Non-separable Mortar Mix for Coral Attachment

Project Summary

The Scrub Island project called for a marina basin on the sheltered western shore of the island. The area being considered contained areas of seagrass and coral that would be impacted by the project.

After consultation and site investigation, a plan for mitigation was developed with the client and presented to the Government. ATM’s mitigation plan not only provided mitigation alternatives, but met the Government goals for the preservation of the natural resources. ATM was able to mobilize a project team and complete major portions of this mitigation project within 6 weeks of initial consultations and planning.

The plan included transplanting the most dense and viable seagrass beds to adjacent barren areas of similar depth and conditions, as well as some offsite receiver areas. The coral in the work footprint was to be removed from two sites and relocated to three nearby sites.

ATM personnel experienced in successful coral and seagrass relocation techniques performed onsite training for the local workforce, who were assisted by other divers experienced in coral and seagrass restoration.

A system designed by ATM staff was used to harvest and transplant intact seagrass cores. To ensure establishment of the new seagrass beds, the cores were planted on a 1-meter grid. This technique has been proven on previous sites where complete coverage and coalescence of areas occurred.

Coral was removed carefully from the impacted areas and transported to nearby areas using existing, as well as new, and innovative techniques developed by the project team onsite. A special fast-setting, non-separable concrete mortar mix developed by ATM staff was used to reattach the relocated corals to existing barren substrate, thereby enhancing the habitat in those areas.

More than 1,200 sq. meters of seagrass beds were successfully planted, and approximately 450 corals were successfully relocated and reattached.

	Scrub Island information sheet
	Scrub Island Google Earth Overlay (requires Google Earth)
	Scrub Island Resort (ATM project)
	Scrub Island website
	BVI Beacon newspaper article on mitigation project
	Marina World magazine article on mitigation project