How Reef Without Borders Documents Reef Recovery: The Reef Archive Explained
How We Document Reef Recovery: The Reef Archive
By Clarisa Strohmeyer | May 29, 2026 | 6 min read
Most reef conservation organizations will tell you they are making a difference. Very few of them can show you exactly where, exactly how much, and exactly what the reef looked like before and after they worked on it. The Reef Archive is Reef Without Borders’ answer to that gap. It is a public, permanent, GPS-referenced record of every reef site we document and every restoration action we take.
The Reef Archive is Reef Without Borders’ publicly accessible database of reef health data collected at our restoration sites in Cebu, Philippines. For each site, we maintain baseline survey data collected before restoration begins, post-restoration documentation including GPS coordinates and photos for every planted coral, and 6-month and 12-month follow-up survival and growth data. This data is available to researchers, conservation managers, and the public.
What We Document on Every Mission
Baseline Survey
Before any restoration work begins at a new site, we conduct a systematic baseline survey. This includes photographic transects documenting current coral cover, species present, substrate condition, algae cover, and any visible signs of bleaching or disease. The baseline gives us a factual starting point to measure against in future surveys. It also guides our restoration planning by identifying where coral cover is lowest, which species were historically present, and what substrate is available for fragment attachment.
Restoration Documentation
During every planting dive, each coral fragment is photographed underwater alongside a slate showing the date, site name, and fragment ID if applicable. GPS coordinates are recorded for every planting location. This documentation creates the permanent record that links each coral to its origin, its planting date, and its specific location on the reef. Donors who fund planting through the Adopt-A-Coral program receive these photos and coordinates as part of their impact report.
6-Month and 12-Month Follow-Up
At 6 months and 12 months after planting, we return to every restoration site and document the survival status of planted corals at their recorded GPS locations. Surviving corals are photographed and measured for growth. Dead or missing fragments are recorded. These follow-up surveys generate the survival rate data that is both reported to donors and published in The Reef Archive.
Why We Film Everything
Underwater video is the most honest form of reef documentation available. Still photography can be carefully selected to show only the best-looking parts of a reef. A 20-minute mission video from entry to exit cannot easily be edited to misrepresent what was there. It shows the bleached sections alongside the healthy ones. It shows the coral that did not survive alongside the coral that is growing. It shows the actual conditions at the site rather than the idealized version.
Every Reef Without Borders mission video is published publicly on YouTube. We do not choose which missions to publish based on how photogenic the results are. If the dive happened, the video goes up. This is a commitment that is easy to make in theory and requires discipline to maintain in practice. We make it because we believe it is the only way to earn and keep donor trust over the long term.
The Reef Archive as Scientific Resource
The data we collect at Reef Without Borders restoration sites is not proprietary. It is published in The Reef Archive, where it is available to marine scientists, conservation organizations, and restoration practitioners working in the Coral Triangle. Good data does not belong to the organization that collected it. It belongs to the science.
Our science partner, the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, collaborates on the design of our survey methodologies to ensure that our data is scientifically valid and compatible with broader monitoring programs. Data from the Reef Archive will be submitted to regional and global reef monitoring networks as our program develops.
What The Reef Archive Will Look Like in Five Years
If Reef Without Borders achieves its operational goals for the first five years, The Reef Archive will contain baseline and follow-up survey data from reef sites across Moalboal, Malapascua, and Olango Island in Cebu, with GPS-referenced records for every coral planted at each site, survival and growth data from multiple time points, and a video record of every mission. This will represent one of the most granular public records of reef restoration outcomes in the Philippines.
Is The Reef Archive data available to researchers?
Yes. Researchers who want to access Reef Archive data for scientific purposes should contact info@reefwithoutborders.org.
How do I find the Reef Archive on your website?
The Reef Archive is accessible through the Impact and Transparency section of reefwithoutborders.org/.
Does filming every dive add significant cost?
Yes. Underwater camera equipment, housing maintenance, memory, and video editing add to mission costs. We include these costs in our science and documentation budget, which represents 25% of our total expenditure, because we believe the transparency they enable is worth the investment.
Every mission Reef Without Borders funds is documented, published, and available to anyone who wants to see what reef restoration looks like from the water.
Clarisa Strohmeyer is the Founder and Executive Director of Reef Without Borders, a Houston-based nonprofit dedicated to coral reef restoration in the Philippines and across the Indo-Pacific. Learn more at reefwithoutborders.org/
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