Our Conservation Work
conservation
Our Conservation Work
For nearly 50 years, Coral World has worked to protect the marine life and coastal waters of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Conservation Starts With Connection
For nearly 50 years, Coral World has worked to protect the marine life and coastal waters of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Every encounter, guided presentation, and educational experience is designed to bring people closer to the ocean and inspire lasting care for the life within it.
Lasting Conservation
Begins With You
When you come face-to-face with marine life through immersive encounters, expert presentations, and hands-on education, you’ll discover what it takes to safeguard our ocean. Your curiosity becomes stewardship. Your stewardship becomes action.
Inspiring Conservation Mindsets
Conservation cannot succeed without an informed and passionate community. At Coral World, every encounter, guided presentation, and educational experience is intentionally designed to bridge the gap between people and the sea.
Immersive Experiences & Perspective Shifts
Come face-to-face with ocean life, and watch how it changes the way you value nature. Whether observing non-releasable sea turtles in their seaside pool, wading in the Shark Shallows, or exploring the ocean in the Undersea Observatory, you’ll form direct personal connections with marine species.
Transforming Mindsets: Close encounters with often-misunderstood animals—like sharks and stingrays—help shift public perception from fear to fascination and respect.
Firsthand Awareness: You’ll learn directly from aquarists and care staff about species behavior, habitat needs, and pressing threats like plastic pollution, coastal development, and beachfront lighting.
Engaging Youth & Building Tomorrow’s Stewards
Our commitment to the U.S. Virgin Islands community centers on inspiring the next generation of ocean caretakers.
School Programs & Field Trips: We host thousands of local students each year, offering structured lessons aligned with marine science, reef ecology, and watershed protection.
Community Outreach: We work with local vendors, beachfront properties, and community members to
raise awareness about sea turtle nesting seasons, marine debris reduction, and responsible coastal practices.
Coral World Ocean & Reef Initiative
Expanding Our Impact: CWORI
To expand our research capabilities and deepen our field impact, we founded the Coral World Ocean & Reef Initiative (CWORI) in 2019 as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
How We Partner: Coral World Ocean Park provides the physical facilities, veterinary and administrative support, and daily educational outreach platforms, while CWORI leads non-profit field research, grant-funded conservation projects, and wildlife rescue programs.
Core Research Priorities: CWORI leads initiatives in coral restoration by propagating essential reef-building corals and outplanting the fragments at critically-degraded reef tracks around the territory. CWORI initiatives also include native wildlife rescue, particularly of turtles and birds, and studying the effect of sargassum inundation on nearshore areas across the USVI.
Direct Action & Wildlife Care
Our educational programs are rooted in the real-world conservation and animal care taking place across our park every day.
Sea Turtle Rescue
& Rehabilitation
Our nonprofit arm CWORI, in partnership with the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rescue (STAR) network, the USVI Division of Fish and Wildlife, and federal agencies, uses our facilities and our veterinary staff to provide a critical sanctuary for injured, sick, or stranded sea turtles.
Critical Care & Release: We provide specialize medical diagnostics, surgery, and long-term care to rehabilitate injured turtles and return them safety to the ocean.
Hatchling Assistance: When lost or stranded hatchlings wah ashore, our team assesses their health and transports them offshore to floating mats of Sargassum seaweed, giving them protection and a safe start in the wild.
Shark Head-Start
& Tagging
To help protect local shark populations threatened by overfishing and habitat loss, our aquarists rear juvenile sharks in a controlled environment until they reach a size far less vulnerable to natural predators. Before releasing them into local waters, our team tags each shark to provide researchers with vital data on species movement and habitat usage across the territory.
Sustainable Operations
& Legacy
We hold our facility to the same environmental standards we share with our visitors.
Rooftop Solar Energy: Solar panel arrays across the park’s rooftops directly offset demand for fossil fuel electricity, lowering our carbon footprint in the islands.
Water Self-Sufficiency & Circular Reuse: An on-site desalination plant produces 100% of the fresh water used throughout the property. Wastewater is then reclaimed and processed on-site to provide gray water for irrigating our native plant collections and Nature Trail.
Coastal Protection: Closed-loop filtration systems prevent silt and runoff from entering Coki Bay, safeguarding the adjacent reef ecosystems.
EPA Environmental Quality Award: In 2000, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored Coral World with the Environmental Quality Award for sustainable corporate design and environmental education—a legacy shared with respected Virgin Islands conservation leaders like Professor Olasee Davis.
Support Our Conservation Work
Every visit to Coral World directly funds our facility operations, educational programs, and resident animal care. Direct contributions to CWORI fuel non-profit research, coral restoration, and wildlife rescue across the Virgin Islands.
