Let’s Grow. Reefs. Together.
At BRANCH we don’t just grow coral, we grow a movement – one where YOU can dive in and help us save the reef.
Join our caring community!
Why We Fight for Reefs
Founded in 2022 by marine biologist Max van Aalst, BRANCH stands for Building Reefs and Nurseries for Coral Habitats. With restoration, education, and community at our core, we are on a mission to restore coral reefs.
Max, a passionate dive instructor and underwater lover, returned to his childhood home of Curaçao to protect the coral reefs he fell in love with. Since then, thanks to loads of motivation, love for our work and our fantastic volunteers and interns, we are helping regrow Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) & Brain coral (Diploria labyrinthiformis).
And we are just getting started: We plan to scale up our coral restoration efforts, open even more nurseries, and launch a dedicated coral research laboratory.
Our board -
The Faces Behind the Foundation
Meet the BRANCH Board, four fully committed reef restoration heroes.
Max van Aalst
The MSc. marine biology graduate returned to the island he grow up on to fight for the coral reefs he loves. He loves to work in and with nature and can be found frequently under water following his passion – diving.
Noëlla Bérénos-Ruivenkamp
As a strategy planner, vision developer, organizational developer and HR manager Noëlla provides a variety of expertise to BRANCH. She is passionate and brings high positive energy to the team.
Max van Aalst Senior
The Master of Informatics and experienced business consultant and manager lives on Curacao since 2006 where he owned a diving school and worked as a consultant and director of a government entity. He believes that a combination of passion and business acumen leads to best results.
Natascha Borgstein
Being a MSc in Marine Biology Natascha started off conducting research on the island in 2022, which eventually lead her to moving permanently to Curaçao in 2023 and quickly becoming involved in Coral Conservation. She is a dedicated and published researcher in the field of coral reef ecosystems. Her photography and videography skills are an important asset of BRANCH and she believes in the power of optimism.
Our interns
Together, we can protect our oceans and ensure a thriving underwater ecosystem.
Paul van Loon
Paul van Loon is a Coastal Marine Management student at Van Hall Larenstein in Leeuwarden. His research is about the effects of specific environmental conditions on the growth of Acropora cervicornis, the staghorn corals in our nurseries.
Jip Veeman
Jip is a marine animal ecology student in the final year of her master’s degree. Currently working with the BRANCH Coral Foundation on the education side, spending the days learning, teaching and getting the next generation passionate about our oceans. With a deep fascination of life underwater, a lot of the time is spent observing how life moves under the surface, diving and swimming around.
Gianni Gambassi
Gianni is a half Kiwi, half Italian Master’s Student, studying Marine Science in France. With an avid dislike for winter and a love for surfing, diving, and all things ocean, he is angling himself well for a career in tropical marine research. While conducting the Brain Coral project, secretly (or very vocally) he is hoping to see sharks.
Storm Henkus
Storm Henkus is a 24-year-old Applied Biology student from The Netherlands. Last year, he spent nine months interning in Curaçao, where he fell in love with the island and its coral reefs. He has now returned for another four-month internship to complete his bachelor thesis. His research focuses on the effects of different benthic compositions around the nurseries on the growth of staghorn corals.
Noa Jongkees
Noa, 22, studies Landscape & Environment Management in Delft. She is currently interning at BRANCH, researching coral and exploring the different restoration methods applied to support coral recovery and conservation.
Tessa Breedveld
Tessa Breedveld, 21, studies Communication at HAN University in Nijmegen. This year, she is managing BRANCH’s website, social media, and events, bringing creativity and energy to the team to help share BRANCH’s story..
Our volunteer(s) of the month - Donny & Gerard
Donny and Gerard have been a part of BRANCH since day one! Even though they no longer live on the island, they recently returned for a holiday and joined us on almost every dive, bringing the same dedication, enthusiasm, and support we’ve always counted on.
We appreciate you Donny and Gerard, and hope to see you back on the island soon again!
Our volunteers
Together, we can protect our oceans and ensure a thriving underwater ecosystem.
Financial reports
We are proud to share our financial report from 2025. Because of our fantastic community of partners, volunteers, interns and sponsors, we have already reached a lot – and there is more to come.
You want to become part of our team?
Are you interested to intern or volunteer with us? Check out the prerequisites an apply now.