Over the past decade, a coalition of scientists and resource managers from academia, state agencies, non-government organizations, and community volunteers undertook a large-scale sponge restoration project in Florida Bay. While this effort has been very successful, the disadvantage is that dozens to hundreds or even thousands of healthy sponges are needed to supply cuttings for large-scale restoration, and this clonal process limits the proliferation of different genotypes and population resilience. Together with Dr. Shirley Pomponi we propose a complementary approach, a land-based nursery of stocks from the larvae of brooding sponges, sponge buds, and 3-D sponge cell aggregates. Our aim with this pilot restoration project is to increase genetic and ecosystem diversity, minimize risk of nursery damage from extreme weather events and harmful algal blooms, and supplement efforts to restore habitats and improve water quality in Florida Bay. The land-based sponge nursery is located at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute-Florida Atlantic University.