Through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, Rolex supports Coral Gardeners, a collective of young ocean advocates with one mission: save the reefs. Titouan Bernicot grew up on a small atoll in French Polynesia, where his parents cultivated beautiful Tahitian pearls. From a young age he was fascinated by the underwater world, learning to swim before he could walk, surrounded by sharks and the expansive coral reefs. In 2015, aged 16, he noticed the underwater landscape changing, the corals beneath him were turning white, and he made it his mission to understand and fight coral bleaching.

Since 2017, Bernicot and Coral Gardeners have been rewriting the rules of conservation, bringing a new approach to raising awareness and inspiring younger audiences to see the difference that we can make by restoring our coral reefs, and in turn the wider environment. They are hoping that their innovative concepts have a lasting impact on the conservation of coral reefs and the ocean’s health.

Their passion and ambition have garnered international support, including from Rolex, who for nearly a century has supported individuals and organizations harnessing science and technology to solve the Earth’s environmental challenges.

Coral Gardeners are on a mission to develop coral conservation and create a global movement to save the world’s reefs through active restoration, awareness activities and innovation. Channeling Bernicot’s passion, love of the sea, and admiration for tech entrepreneurs, Coral Gardeners are working tirelessly towards reef restoration.

“WE ARE NOT ALL MARINE BIOLOGISTS BUT WE HAVE SPENT THOUSANDS OF HOURS UNDER THE SURFACE. WE SEE THINGS, WE OBSERVE THINGS, WE LEARN THINGS.” 
Titouan Bernicot, Founder and CEO, Coral Gardeners

The gardeners seek advice from experts and scientists on reef restoration methods. They clip fragments of coral to cultivate in coral nurseries over 12-18 months, before “gluing” them back on to nearby reefs using marine cement, and monitoring their growth. Titouan can already see the tangible impact their gardening has had on the reef, as colours and life return.

Coral Gardeners currently have about 10,000 corals growing underwater in 6 nursery sites scattered across French Polynesia.

Today, they have reached their initial goal of 30,000 corals planted, doubling the number of plantings in the preceding five years.

But their focus extends beyond French Polynesia. Coral Gardeners have the largest social media presences of any reef conservation company telling the story of the reef online. Their videos and images have reached over 200 million people in just over five years, with over half a million followers on their Instagram account. Their stunning imagery and informative videos are geared towards a young audience, looking to the future of conservation, and hoping to spark passions around ocean protection.

Through CG Labs they are exploring the potential of technology in more widely sharing and mining information. They are developing a new platform, ReefOS, to connect the reef to smartphones and computers to be able to monitor the work they are doing more efficiently. Their engineers are continually working together to optimize and scale up coral reef conservation in an open-source, collaborative, and effective way; a philosophy of continuous refinement that resonates with Rolex.

“THE IDEA OF CG LABS IS TO DEVELOP TOMORROW’S SOLUTIONS FOR SCIENTISTS AND CORAL REEF RESTORATION PRACTITIONERS. IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO USE MODERN TOOLS TO SPEED UP WHAT WE’RE DOING. I WOULD LOVE TO CONNECT CONSERVATION PROJECTS TOGETHER JUST THE SAME WAY THAT THE [OCEANS ARE] CONNECTED.”
Titouan Bernicot, Founder and CEO, Coral Gardeners

The artificial intelligence system is a combination of hardware and software that documents every aspect of the growing process. This includes underwater cameras that help identify fish species as they repopulate the reef, 3D mapping of reefs and outplant sites to improve monitoring, and developing an app to pool data across restoration sites. The aim is that this technology will aid their global expansion, with plans to open next a Coral Gardeners site in Fiji.

In 2023, they will be working with community leaders, fishermen and surfers in Fiji, to build the right reef restoration and conservation programme in a new country. The initial site visits with scientists and wider team were successful and all partners are excited to see where the gardeners’ approach to conservation can take them.

Titouan is focused on finding the right people to work with, ensuring they understand the ocean and are as passionate about its health and vibrancy as his current team. He has huge ambitions for Coral Gardeners.

“IT’S AN HONOUR TO BE JOINING THE LEGACY OF PEOPLE FROM THE ROLEX PERPETUAL PLANET INITIATIVE, FOLLOWING THE PATH OF INSPIRING SCIENTISTS AND EXPLORERS LIKE SYLVIA EARLE. IT MAKES ME WANT TO GET INTO THE WATER AND DO MORE.” 
Titouan Bernicot, Founder and CEO, Coral Gardeners

ABOUT THE PERPETUAL PLANET INITIATIVE

For nearly a century, Rolex has supported pioneering explorers pushing back the boundaries of human endeavor. The company has moved from championing exploration for the sake of discovery to protecting the planet, committing for the long term to support individuals and organizations using science to understand and devise solutions to today’s environmental challenges.

This engagement was reinforced with the launch of the Perpetual Planet Initiative in 2019, which initially focused on individuals who contribute to a better world through the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, on safeguarding the oceans as part of an established association with Mission Blue and on understanding climate change via its long-standing partnership with the National Geographic Society.

The initiative’s portfolio continues to expand with more than 20 partners including:

Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen in their work as conservation photographers; Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, offspring organizations of Tompkins Conservation, which are protecting landscapes in South America; Coral Gardeners, transplanting resilient corals to reefs; the Under The Pole expeditions, pushing the boundaries of underwater exploration; and Steve Boyes and the Great Spine of Africa series of expeditions, exploring the continent’s major river basins.

Rolex also supports organizations and initiatives fostering the next generations of explorers, scientists and conservationists through scholarships and grants, such as Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society and The Rolex Explorers Club Grants.