Oceans & Turtles · Pacific and Caribbean coasts, Costa Rica

Costa Rica Coral Reef Campaign Rallies Coasts Ahead of El Niño

In July 2026 a coalition of environmental groups launched Unidos por los Arrecifes de Costa Rica, an open national campaign asking coastal communities, fishers, divers and tour operators to cut everyday pressures on coral reefs before El Niño's peak heat. By October, El Niño was strong and still growing, and UNED scientists had moved 2,700 nursery corals into deeper, cooler water off Isla Tortuga.

By Pura-Verde.com Editors · Published October 30, 2026 · Updated October 31, 2026
Original report: The Tico Times: Costa Rica Mobilizes Communities to Protect Threatened Coral Reefs (2026-07-18)

You can't turn down the temperature of the ocean, but you can stop dropping an anchor on a coral head. That's the idea behind Unidos por los Arrecifes de Costa Rica, a national campaign launched in mid-July 2026 to help the country's coral reefs get through what forecasters now expect to be a strong to very strong El Niño. It asks the people who use the sea every day to take some of the load off reefs that are already stressed.

What the campaign is

The campaign, which uses the slogan "Life Is Better in Color," was first reported by Delfino.cr on July 16, and The Tico Times reported on July 18 that it was launched by a coalition of environmental organizations. Neither report named a lead group or spokesperson. Organizers describe it as an open platform rather than one organization's project: conservation groups, tourism businesses and community associations can sign on, share educational material and make their own commitments.

Its audience is broad: coastal towns, fishers, surfers, dive shops, tour operators, scientists and ordinary beachgoers. The coordinators told Delfino.cr they aren't asking for money, only for people and real commitments. Its focus period runs from October 2026 through February 2027, when ocean heat is expected to peak.

"We are in a critical window," organizers said, as quoted by The Tico Times.

What it asks people to do

The requests are practical and mostly free:

• Keep boat anchors off reefs and use moorings or sand where possible.
• Respect fishing closures and minimum catch sizes.
• Cut single-use plastics and keep trash out of the water.
• Don't touch, stand on or kick coral while swimming, snorkeling or diving.
• Tour and dive operators should review daily routines, brief visitors and avoid anchoring on sensitive habitat.

The logic is simple. Heat is the main threat, but corals fighting off pollution, sediment, broken branches and overfishing have less in reserve when the water warms. Removing those local stresses won't stop bleaching, but it may help more colonies survive it.

Why reefs are so vulnerable this year

Bleaching happens when hot water makes corals expel the tiny algae that live in their tissue and feed them. The coral turns white. It isn't dead yet, but it's starving, and if the heat lasts too long colonies can die or fall to disease.

Many Costa Rican reefs are still recovering from the mass bleaching of 2023 and 2024. NOAA's Coral Reef Watch said in June 2026 that the world's fourth global bleaching event likely ended in 2025, and The Tico Times reported that NOAA had warned El Niño could set off a fifth, with the eastern Pacific at greatest risk.

The forecast has only gotten more serious since the campaign launched. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said in its Oct. 8 El Niño update that El Niño was still strengthening, with sea temperatures more than 4°C above normal in parts of the eastern equatorial Pacific, and that a strong to very strong event is likely through early 2027.

What scientists are already doing

On Oct. 14, the State Distance University (UNED) said El Niño was already putting Costa Rican corals under heat stress and causing bleaching. At its restoration project at Isla Tortuga in the Gulf of Nicoya, run with the National Learning Institute (INA) and the tour operator Bay Island Cruises, the team moved 2,700 nursery corals from about 5 meters to 13 meters deep, where the water is cooler. Coral gardening and new nursery structures are on hold, and monitoring of temperature, salinity and bleaching has stepped up.

Project lead Yeison Lizano Rojas said some corals can recover if temperatures return to normal, according to UNED. That's the hopeful part of bleaching: it's a warning, not a death sentence, as long as the heat breaks in time.

What it means for visitors

If you're snorkeling or diving in Costa Rica this season, the campaign's checklist is a good personal code. Choose operators that use moorings and brief guests on reef etiquette, keep your fins off the bottom, and skip any tour that lets people touch or stand on coral. Community groups are part of this work too: in Sámara, the Proyecto Corales association grows coral fragments in underwater nurseries, transplants them and tracks how they survive, alongside school programs and volunteer days. Our guide to marine conservation in Costa Rica lists reef projects you can visit or support. Ocean stress along the coast doesn't stop at reefs, as our coverage of sargassum on the Caribbean coast and warmer weather earlier this year shows.

A note of caution: a campaign is a plan, not a result. There's no data yet on how many groups have joined or whether reef damage has eased, and the real test comes over the next few months.

Frequently asked questions

What is Unidos por los Arrecifes de Costa Rica?

It's an open national campaign launched in July 2026 by a coalition of environmental groups. It asks coastal communities, fishers, divers and tour operators to reduce local pressures on coral reefs during El Niño 2026 to 2027.

Is coral bleaching happening in Costa Rica now?

Yes. UNED said on Oct. 14, 2026, that El Niño was already causing heat stress and bleaching in Costa Rican corals, and it moved 2,700 nursery corals deeper at Isla Tortuga.

Does bleached coral mean the reef is dead?

No. Bleached coral is weakened, not dead. It can recover if water temperatures drop in time, but long heat waves can kill colonies.

How can snorkelers help Costa Rica's reefs?

Don't touch or stand on coral, keep fins off the bottom, avoid single-use plastics and pick operators that use moorings instead of anchoring on reefs.

Sources and original reporting

1. The Tico Times: Costa Rica Mobilizes Communities to Protect Threatened Coral Reefs (2026-07-18)
2. Delfino.cr: Nace campaña nacional para reducir presión humana sobre arrecifes ante nuevo evento de El Niño (2026-07-16)
3. UNED Acontecer: Fenómeno de El Niño ya provoca blanqueamiento en corales costarricenses (2026-10-14)
4. The Tico Times: Costa Rica Moves 2,700 Corals Deeper to Escape El Niño Heat (2026-10-14)
5. NOAA Climate Prediction Center: ENSO Diagnostic Discussion (2026-10-08)
6. NOAA Coral Reef Watch
7. Proyecto Corales (Asociación Proyecto Corales, Sámara)

We wrote this story from the published reports and official sources above. We didn't interview the people named unless the story says so.