Turning the Tide: Sediment-Trap & Coral Rehabilitation of Aruba's Spaans Lagoen

Spaans Lagoen, on Aruba's southeast coast near Savaneta, has been a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance since 1980, home to four mangrove species and serving as habitat for Ospreys, sandpipers, egrets, herons and a nursery for reef fish and crustaceans. Decades of sediment run-off from upstream watercourses (rooien) choked tidal channels and killed mangroves.

Intercept sediment before it reaches the mangroves, reopen tidal channels, and rehabilitate coral alongside the mangrove restoration.

Beginning with preparation in 2022, the EU RESEMBID-funded 'Turning the Tide' pilot — led by Fundacion Parke Nacional Aruba with the Aruba Conservation Foundation, ScubbleBubbles Foundation, University of Aruba and Wageningen University & Research — installed three 500m3 sediment traps at named watercourses and deployed 13 artificial 'Moses Reef' structures (400 concrete blocks) for coral outplanting. A parallel government-led planting event (Earth Day 2025) added White Mangrove and Fofoti trees.

After one year of monitoring, researchers observed that outplanted corals had already doubled in size and survived at two metres depth despite regional bleaching and Hurricane Beryl.

Project leads have been explicit that one year of monitoring is insufficient to declare ecological success and that three to five years are needed to see significant results — an honest evidence-maturity caveat. No independently verified figure for total trees planted or hectares restored under 'Turning the Tide' could be confirmed from primary sources.