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A new startup in the Bahamas hopes to farm coral from land up to 50 times faster than in a natural ocean environment.

Coral Vita’s new land-based coral farm is the first of its kind and aims to speed up the process of coral restoration—as climate change increases the frequency and severity of coral bleaching events. Currently, most coral farming is done hyper-locally and in the ocean. 

“The traditional grant-funded, small-scale model, while it’s doing amazing work around the world in localized settings, isn’t scalable for the threat of 90% of reefs dead by 2050,” Coral Vita co-founder Sam Teicher told Fast Company.

The new process uses micro-fragmenting to split corals into tiny pieces and speed up growth. As well, the scientists are able to manipulate the evolutionary process of the coral to make it more resistant to warming oceans.

“Within our tanks, we can crank up the heat and crank up the acidity levels to mimic what ocean projections are supposed to be here in the Bahamas in 2050 or 2100,” says the other Coral Vita co-founder, Gator Halpern. 

Read more about this fascinating project in this article published in Fast Company.