An international business is donating $300,000 over the next three years to help preserve the island’s reefs.

Chubb’s charitable foundation will pay out the grant to the Living Reefs Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving Bermuda’s coral reefs and marine ecosystems.

This grant will support reef conservation efforts for the new Causeway Blue Barrier project, including integrating live corals into coastal infrastructure to enhance shoreline resilience.

Lori Dunstan, vice-president of the foundation, said: “This partnership exemplifies Chubb’s unwavering commitment to fostering solutions that tackle climate-related challenges.

“We’re proud to help implement a nature-based strategy that fortifies our shoreline against storm damage and strengthens long-term coastal resilience."

The grant will fund initiatives including sustainable coral sourcing, transplantation research and the implementation of state-of-the-art monitoring technologies to assess reef health and resilience.

Samia Sarkis, the director of research and development at the Living Reefs Foundation, described the donation as “a turning point”.

Dr Sarkis said: “With this substantial multiyear commitment, we can ensure continuity in our research by securing permanent staffing and extend our coral culture operation beyond the summer months.

“It is a huge step forward which will contribute to accelerate our progress in developing coral restoration techniques and investigate the application of a coral-based solution to protect Bermuda's coastline.”

The foundation has had success through its Coral Garden initiative, which strategically incorporates live corals into man-made barriers. This was recently demonstrated with the successful planting of 200 coral colonies, achieving a 98 per cent survival rate over a 12-month period.