Every morning, the first thing aquaculturist Jackson Pornpitayalert does is check the water levels and temperature and then he feeds his fish, underwater plants, and coral. Usually a mixture of dry flakes, Larry’s reef frenzy, and oyster roe, all the sea creatures come alive at once.   

“We focus on using man-made rock,” says Pornpitayalert. “All this is just crushed corals from skeletons that are actually compressed into rock and this way we're actually not taking from the environment. We're not taking away from nature.”  

And not taking from nature is something he takes seriously, especially when it comes to coral. A billion dollar a year industry, America’s coral obsession has severely damaged the world’s reef ecosystems.

But climate change is the real threat, an issue Pornpitayalert has seen right in his store. When the power went out and the back-up generator failed, the temperature in the tanks raised 5 degrees.

“The coral started bleaching, We can see the skeletal area right over here where it separates from the flesh, the purple and the green,” explains Pornpitayalert.

What happens in the wild most certainly happens at home too. So how can Pornpitayalert sell marine livestock particularly coral without actually taking from nature? Well, he propagates them.

With just a band-saw, he cuts existing coral into smaller pieces and attachs them to ceramic bases. In the wild, coral grows about an inch a year, but here, they grow much faster under the right UV light. This way, he can sell coral to customers without plundering the oceans.

“Underneath you could actually see their calcified bone,” says Pornpitayalert.

Biodiversity is the key to success.

“And these are also the coral plugs in which we used to actually make fragments of corals so that we can propagate them.”

The practice is called fragging and it’s how aquaculturists are restoring our reefs. By attaching fragments, coral can grow once again.

A family business, Pornpitayalert and his brother have managed this store for over 30 years. Their hope is that in the future, there’s still marine life left to enjoy for the next generation.