On September 15, 2024, the first 8 D-CRBN coral spider were installed. A first monitoring round was executed on October 31, 2024. When using the spider technique, individual metal structures are welded together by local villagers. Once the spider is created, a coat of cement paint is applied. This prevents the leaching of iron into the ecosystem and acts as an attractive base of attachment for the coral. On the upward-facing part of the spider, an engraved name tag made from bamboo is placed. After that, it’s time to go into the ocean, for the first time at least. The spiders are left in the ocean for 4 - 6 weeks to become coated in coralline algae. Once the spiders are coated in algae, mixed reef planting techniques are carried out. The reef is carefully combed to find naturally broken, yet still living coral fragments from a variety of coral genera. These fragments are then attached to the spiders using zip ties. As the zip ties become overgrown, excess material is carefully removed to avoid harming wildlife. We attach 16 coral fragments to one coral spider and each spider occupies 0,35 square meters of seafloor. Through the customization of a spider with a name tag, the spider technique allows for transparent monitoring of the coral growth and reef health. This tailored approach ensures transparent and effortless reporting on the progress of restoration efforts.

In this project, Sea Rangers — young people who are vocationally trained and employed as full-time restoration professionals — are actively restoring seagrass meadows across a 21-hectare area in the Eastern Scheldt, Netherlands. Since the development of the Southwestern Delta, and specifically the creation of the Zandkreekdam (1960), Oosterscheldekering (1986) and the Oesterdam (1987), the hydrodynamics of the Eastern Scheldt have been heavily modified. This change resulted in a decline in seagrass extent from over 1000ha in 1984 to just under 200ha by 2000. Since the estuaries’ designation as a National Park in 2002, and a Special Area of Conservation in 2010, there has been a slight recovery in seagrass extent. The ambition through our active restoration programme is to accelerate the recovery of seagrass within the Eastern Scheldt Seagrass meadows support high biodiversity by providing habitat and nursery grounds for a wide range of organisms. Seagrass also has the capacity to absorb CO₂ and store it in its structure and in the sediment, a process known as carbon sequestration. Some species can store more CO₂ per hectare than forests — making it remarkable how such a small plant holds such significant potential for mitigating the effects of climate change. The restoration activities in the Eastern Scheldt focus on testing methods across more than three sites, with the aim of identifying which techniques are effective and which are not. At a single location, six different restoration methods are being tested side by side to see what works best. The primary outcome of these activities is therefore the monitoring and research findings themselves — and, in locations where restoration is proving successful, and seagrass growth is taking hold, the full range of ecosystem benefits that a healthy seagrass meadow can deliver in the years to come. Understanding how the transplants and seedlings develop over time requires consistent, long-term monitoring. Only then can we understand the suitability of the sites and methods. To meet this challenge, new monitoring approaches are being explored alongside traditional methods. Technologies such as drones and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are being investigated to support large-scale monitoring, offering new ways to track growth, density, and resilience more efficiently in the future.