rrreefs

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rrreefs With a strong interdisciplinary team, rrreefs' mission is to rethink, rebuild and regenerate coral reefs to restore their ecosystem functions.

Two years ago, we built Ecuador's first clay reef at Islote Sucre, together with 🪸What has changed since? Fish numbers...
30/10/2026

Two years ago, we built Ecuador's first clay reef at Islote Sucre, together with 🪸

What has changed since? Fish numbers at the reef grew about fourfold within the first year, it now hosts the highest invertebrate diversity of all our survey sites, and new coral colonies reached 6.5 cm after just one year 🐠

But the change goes beyond the reef itself: 35 local Reef Protectors from Los Ciriales now monitor it with our partner .ec, and for many fishers, protecting the reef has become a new source of income and pride.

👉 Discover the full 2026 Impact Report: Islote Sucre, Ecuador 🔗 Link in bio.

Happy 6th birthday to us! 🎂🪸In 2019, a marine scientist and an artist at ETH Zürich asked one question: how can we save...
29/10/2026

Happy 6th birthday to us! 🎂🪸

In 2019, a marine scientist and an artist at ETH Zürich asked one question: how can we save coral reefs? That was the start of rrreefs. Dr. Ulrike Pfreundt brought the science, Marie Griesmar the material and the design. Hanna Kuhfuss joined with her field experience and diving know-how, Josephine Graf with the skills to turn an idea into partnerships. Four female co-founders with very different backgrounds, and that mix carried us through prototypes that did not work the first time, getting the first permits, and a lot of learning.

And there is so much more! 6 years, in a few lines:
🌍 8 reef projects in five countries: Colombia, Ecuador, the British Virgin Islands, the Maldives and the Philippines
🪸 Almost 800 m² of new homes for corals, fish, invertebrates and everything else that moves in
👩‍🔬 A team of 12 across Switzerland, Germany and the Philippines, held together by a shared love for coral reefs
🏭 Building a 3D-printing clay facility in the Philippines Oriental State University, where our modules are made close to the reef they will become
🤝 A successful crowdinvesting round with Oomnium raising CHF 900k
🤿 12 local reef builders who now build reefs in their own waters (and more in the making!)
🧭 Next up: Panama and Mexico, and every reef we have not built yet

Behind every reef is a team from around the world, as well as local and global partners who believe in a future with healthy coral reefs. Thank you to everyone building this with us. Here is to year 7 of rethinking, rebuilding and regenerating coral reefs!

Photos: ©Aldahir Cervantes, Mohamed Saarim Abdulla, Rahel Roth, rrreefs

Happy International Sea Slug Day! 🐌🌊 This observance day is celebrated on the birthday of Terry Gosliner, one of the wor...
29/10/2026

Happy International Sea Slug Day! 🐌🌊 This observance day is celebrated on the birthday of Terry Gosliner, one of the world’s leading nudibranch experts, whose research has revealed many new species in the Philippines.

Did you know that all nudibranchs are sea slugs, but not all sea slugs are nudibranchs? The name means “naked gills”: look closely at the feathery tuft on the back of the Goniobranchus nudibranch on the second visual. The two orange “antennae” on its head are sensory organs it uses to smell its surroundings!

Borrowed weapons ⚔️: some nudibranchs feed on stinging animals such as anemones, jellyfish and corals. Instead of digesting the stinging cells, they store them in their own body and reuse them for defence. How cool is that.

Powered by corals: Some species feed on soft corals and keep the coral’s microscopic algae alive inside their bodies. The algae keep photosynthesising, supplying the slug with energy ☀️

Sea slugs are Climate indicators: Because they react quickly to changes in temperature and currents, nudibranchs are considered good indicators of ocean health. Nudibranchs depend on healthy, structurally complex reefs. The star of our last visual was spotted on our reef in Tamisan, Philippines. A reminder that when you rebuild habitat, life moves in.

For a great introduction to what these tiny animals can tell us about our changing oceans, we recommend this article by Cape RADD: https://www.caperadd.com/news/tiny-slugs-big-clues-what-nudibranchs-tell-us-about-our-changing-oceans/

©: 1, 2 & 3: Hanna Kuhfuss 4: Che Adlawan

A visit to our very first reef 🪸Welcome to psychedelic underwater magic at our very first reef El Castillo, built 5 year...
27/10/2026

A visit to our very first reef 🪸

Welcome to psychedelic underwater magic at our very first reef El Castillo, built 5 years ago on the Caribbean island of San Andrés, Colombia.

Back in 2021, Götschi and Götschi were in the water with us, helping to place the very first clay bricks of El Castillo. They have supported rrreefs since the early days, and this October they traveled back to San Andrés to see what had become of the reef they helped build.

And look what they found: the clay bricks have almost disappeared under layers of color. Corals have settled on the structure, sea urchins hide in its gaps, a boxfish peeks through a window and cleaner shrimp have moved in. The reef has become a home for reef life.

Olivia and Stefan, thank you for believing in us from the start, for coming back, and for capturing this reef so beautifully.

© Stefan Götschi

First visual: same spot, about 3 months apart. 🪸When we installed our first Clay Reef Modules in Pujada Bay, Philippines...
19/10/2026

First visual: same spot, about 3 months apart. 🪸
When we installed our first Clay Reef Modules in Pujada Bay, Philippines, in early 2024, the seafloor was mostly rubble, with little for corals to settle on and few places for fish to hide.
Since then, corals are growing over the bricks and young corals are settling inside them. Two clownfish have even moved into an anemone right on the structure (pictures from the 2 past years). 🐠
That is the idea behind our 3D-printed clay bricks: they give coral a solid foundation and a structure full of nooks and crannies, so nature can take it from there. We do not plant the reef. We build the home, and reef life moves in.
And we are not done. Our team keeps monitoring the reef every six months to see how it develops.
We are very grateful to our partners Davao Oriental State University and Gruppe Deutschland who made this reef possible.

🪸 Want to help build the next one? Build a home for corals → link in bio.

© DOrSU and Hanna Kuhfuss

Meet the team behind rrreefs. 💙Our team and local partners work across several countries, bringing together marine scien...
15/10/2026

Meet the team behind rrreefs. 💙

Our team and local partners work across several countries, bringing together marine scientists, engineers, designers and field experts with one goal: regenerating vital coral reefs! 🪸
This photo was taken on the last day of our team retreat this summer, and we were especially happy to have some of our Philippines team members with us in Zurich. Working across continents, moments like this one mean a lot to us. 🌍

Get to know the people behind our work 🔗 link in bio

📸 .roth Roth Photography

09/10/2026

Our investor evening in a minute!
"Thanks for joining the crowd, for becoming part of the rrreefs family." Networking bingo on Advestra's Zurich rooftop, a look back at a big year, and plenty of fruitful conversations.
Congratulations to our two bingo winners, and to the winner of our investor raffle, who will join us on a trip to our next reef build or monitoring site! 🤿

🪸 Our crowdinvesting round on OOMNIUM raised nearly CHF 900k and welcomed 200+ new investors to the rrreefs community
🏝️ Our first resort reef is in the water: 150 m² at Anantara Maldives, together with Edelweiss and help alliance
🏭 Our 3D-printing facility in Mati, Pujada Bay, is up and running, and our Philippines team is already very active in the local market
🇵🇭 Our latest reef with the Hannover Re Foundation, over 300 m² in Pujada Bay, was produced locally and built entirely by trained reef builders from the community, a first for us
🔍 rrreef-care, our new service for the tourism sector, kicks off with a first project in Panama

And from Cédric Wichert of OOMNIUM, on our crowdinvesting campaign: "rrreefs really nailed this combination of impact and proof that they can build a business."

Coming up next: two more reefs in the Philippines, an experimental reef in Akumal, Mexico, and our new office in Zurich.

A special and heartfelt thank you goes to Lidia Zabala, who, beyond being a rrreefs investor, played a key role in organising this wonderful investor event.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, and to our whole investor community for being part of the journey!

An octopus has three hearts and blue blood, and it is highly intelligent: octopuses have been seen opening jars and even...
08/10/2026

An octopus has three hearts and blue blood, and it is highly intelligent: octopuses have been seen opening jars and even using tools. They can also change colour and skin texture in a fraction of a second to blend into their surroundings. But even a master of disguise needs a safe place to hide. 🐙

In Ecuador, for example, octopuses moved into our reef bricks from day one, even while we were still building the reef. They collected coral rubble from the surrounding reef to build their own shelters inside the bricks and stay safe from predators. Since then, we have spotted them regularly in the reef.

We do not have quantitative data on octopuses yet, but the frequent sightings suggest the bricks make a good habitat for them, most likely because of the many different hiding spots they offer. And octopuses are picky about where they live. 🏡

With this story from our reef, we wish you a happy World Octopus Day!

Want to help give an octopus (and many other reef animals) a place to live? Adopt a reef brick. 👉 https://www.rrreefs.com/get-involved/

📷 Angela Alegria

Last Thursday, we hosted our annual investor event in Zurich, on the amazing rooftop of our partner Advestra. Thank you ...
07/10/2026

Last Thursday, we hosted our annual investor event in Zurich, on the amazing rooftop of our partner Advestra. Thank you to everyone who joined us, and to all of you supporting us from afar.

We kicked off with a round of networking bingo to break the ice, and congratulations to our two bingo winners! We also drew the winner of our investor raffle, who will join us on a trip to our next reef build. 🤿

Cedric Wichert from OOMNIUM then shared his perspective on what set our crowdinvesting campaign apart and made it such a success.

It was a wonderful evening to look back on a big year together, where we are happy to share again some of the key highlights:
🪸 Crowdinvesting: nearly CHF 900k raised on OOMNIUM, welcoming 200+ new investors to the rrreefs community
🏝️ Our first resort reef: 150 m² at Anantara Maldives, together with Edelweiss and help alliance
🇵🇭 Pujada Bay, Philippines: a 300+ m² reef with the Hannover Re Foundation, produced at our facility in Mati and built entirely by trained local reef builders from the community, a first for us!
🔍 rrreef-care: our new reef assessment and consulting service, starting with a project in Panama

Coming up: two more reefs in the Philippines, an experimental reef in Akumal, Mexico, and a new office for our team in Zurich.

A special and heartfelt thank you goes to Lidia Zabala, who, beyond being a rrreefs investor, played a key role in organising this wonderful investor event.

None of this would be possible without the people who believe in our mission. Thank you for being part of the journey! 🌊

Some good news for our ocean! 🌊 The UN High Seas Treaty, officially the BBNJ Agreement (Biodiversity Beyond National Jur...
06/10/2026

Some good news for our ocean! 🌊

The UN High Seas Treaty, officially the BBNJ Agreement (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction), just reached 100 parties. Two-thirds of the ocean lies outside any country's waters, and until now there was no legal way to protect large areas of it. That changed in January 2026, when the treaty became international law. During the recent UN General Assembly, six more countries ratified: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Germany, Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe. Countries can now propose new protected zones on the high seas. The treaty's first Conference of the Parties (COP1) is expected by January 2027, and it will help shape ocean protection for years to come. Healthy reefs need a healthy ocean around them, so this is a hopeful step forward.

Read the full articles here:
🔗 (DE): ZDFheute: Deutschland im UN-Hochseeschutzabkommen: Was das bedeutet: https://www.zdfheute.de/politik/deutschland/hochseeabkommen-deutschland-un-beitritt-100.html
🔗 (EN): The High Seas Treaty reaches 100 parties, cementing momentum ahead of its first conference - High Seas Alliance: https://highseasalliance.org/2026/09/23/the-high-seas-treaty-reaches-100-parties-cementing-momentum-ahead-of-its-first-conference/

©: 1 & 3: Hanna Kuhfuss, rrreefs 2: Hannah Reding, Unsplash

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