Part V: How to “Blue” Your Business and Make More Green – The CORAL Interview by Gil Zeimer

It takes a village to save a coral reef. As one of the largest global NGOs focused exclusively on protecting coral reefs, the Coral Reef Alliance has used cutting-edge science and community engagement for more than 30 years. It’s worked at local, regional, and global levels to reduce direct threats to reefs, as well as to promote scalable and effective solutions for their protection.

CORAL’s team of passionate conservationists envisions a world where coral reefs are healthy enough to adapt to climate change and survive for generations to come. They advance this mission through four core strategies that:

1) Establish well-managed marine protected areas.

2) Reduce land-based pollution, especially wastewater that harms reefs.

3) Protect and strengthen networks of climate-resilient coral reefs.

4) Advance science-based conservation at regional and global scales. 

Here’s what dive-related businesses can do to help save more coral reefs in more places worldwide:

1) Become a CORAL Corporate Partner by making a tax-deductible donation. You can support CORAL in a variety of ways, with a donation through your workplace or by a matching donation. For example, a $100 donation helps support reef monitoring and water quality sampling to detect pollution and coral stress early, while a $500 donation funds community workshops and technical planning for wastewater solutions and watershed restoration.

2) Volunteer to host a fundraiser or plan your own: A dive club in Texas pooled its donations to raise about $32,000 a few years ago. This helped the Roatan Marine Park hire a ranger and purchase a dive boat to patrol the area along the island’s east side to curtail illegal fishing and protect its reef areas. This fundraiser covered two years of operational costs.

3) Collaborate on a local beach debris or an ocean clean-up. For example, Sun Divers Roatan participated in a PADI Dive Against Debris last year on Blue Friday, a beach clean-up that pulled 94.48 lbs. of trash out of the waters of Half Moon Bay.

4) “Jump on The Blue Friday Bandwagon” to “Don’t Shop… Dive” on Black Friday. Coordinate with CORAL’s efforts to expand Blue Friday to rethink how our choices impact the planet. By dedicating a day to diving, exploring, or even cleaning up our waters instead of consuming more, Blue Friday reminds us that the best gifts we can give are our time, awareness, and action for the ocean.

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5) Order CORAL-branded reef-safe rash guards, water bottles, and other Earth-friendly gear that support healthy reefs and prevent plastic pollution. I’ve been using my own water bottle on my last two dive trips vs. single-use plastic bottles that fall overboard to threaten our coral reefs.

6) Stock only reef-safe sunscreens that do not contain oxybenzone, octinoxate, or octocrylene, which are chemicals that are known to harm coral reefs and pose a threat to human health. Instead, sell “marine safe”, non-nano mineral-based sunscreens like Stream2Sea products.

7) Tackle the primary threats that contribute to reef decline, such as pollution, overfishing, coral disease, marine heatwaves, and stronger hurricanes. The solutions are to protect shorelines from powerful storms; support livelihoods through fishing and tourism; and hold deep cultural significance for coastal communities.

8) Support Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to deliver real results for reefs, populations, and local communities. CORAL has four hubs worldwide: The Hawaiian Islands (where 85% of the United States’ coral reefs reside); the Western Caribbean (Belize, Honduras (Roatan), and Mexico); the Coral Triangle (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste), and now, the Eastern Caribbean, which is home to some of the most ecologically connected reef systems on Earth, spanning islands like Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, and Dominica.

9) Promote becoming a more reef-safe traveler. Look for sustainability in your hotel, liveaboard, or dive resort, especially how it uses wastewater, recycles its gently used water, landscapes with native plants, hires local staff, conserves energy and water, and serves sustainable seafood.

10) Coordinate dive trips with local scuba retailers or clubs for coral conservation. Because CORAL was founded by scuba divers, it has several CORAL Connections dive trips planned this year and next for its partners. These include:

• Raja Ampat & Halmahera, Indonesia, March 23-April 3, 2026 (sold out).
• Soufriere, Dominica, October 3-9, 2026, for 8-16 attendees.
• Roatan, Honduras, April 4-9, 2027, for 8-16 attendees. Join the CORAL team for a land-based dive adventure when its Center for Coral Reef Conservation will outplant corals and help more resilient reefs spawn and repopulate at Roatan Marine Park. Divers on the trip can dive, meet CORAL partners like this one in Honduras, and learn more about its programs.

In the near future, dive shops, liveaboards, and dive resort management will be able to partner with CORAL.org to organize a dive trip with your staff and/or local scuba clubs for coral conservation worldwide.

To donate to CORAL, email Logan Gerber, Associate Director of Corporate Giving (lgerber@coral.org). To find out more ways that you can “Blue” your business and make more “Green”, please contact me today: gil@zeimer.com.