Captive coral raised and natrual reefs.

[AJ31655]

Is it possible to use captive raised corals to rebuild reefs that are in poor condition? Are any countries trying this to restock newly designated reserve waters? I am sure it is not a new thought but I have yet to hear of it actually being done, I would bet that many reef aquarists would be more than happy to donate frags to accomplish this. Does anyone know if this has been tried?

[oama]

In the United States, the laws are now such that when a ship is grounded on a protected reef, the owners have to pay to repair that section of the reef. This often includes the collection of broken corals. Some are re-cemented directly. Others are taken to labs for fragging and culture to be replaced over months.

Within the last couple of years, such projects have occured in the Florida Keys and in Puerto Rico.

But, As for hobbists donating corals, most scientists and ecologists would frown on it. Each reef is a different genepool of corals. And introduction of corals from other areas could leed to problems.

A better scenario would be, as above, collection from a damaged site to be replaced there or someplace within that reef system.

[MiddletonMark]

Exactly, the possibility of pests, foreign critters, or other problems being introduced from many captive setups poses a huge problem.

If `they' are going to try to re-seed reef areas, it's likely to only come from specific, highly controlled circumstances where the introduction of anything foreign can be ruled out.

For starters, that means most of our Pacific rock cannot be used ... and I'm sure that's just the beginning.

Interesting projects that are working on this [Eric B. gave a talk about such a project at IMAC] ... but given Caribbean corals are completely controlled, and this whole process is controlled ... sadly that means we don't really get to participate much

[Mike R King]

Just to inform you on what CORL is doing…..

The Coalition of Reef Lovers (CORL) isn't using “captive aquarium� corals to help restore damaged reefs, but instead we are using corals cultured locally both in raceways and in ocean coral farms to help restore damaged coral reef habitats. In American Samoa we have started a Community Based Coral Reef Restoration Project where we are teaching local villages how to start and maintain coral farms to grow corals for placement back onto their reefs. This project also has a large educational component that helps raise the community’s awareness to the problems that caused the reefs decline and promotes action to eliminate those stresses so restoration work can be started.
So far this program has been very well received and we will be taking it to Bali this fall for implementation there.
We have also started working on identifying and propagating temperature resistant colonies of Acropora species to help minimize the loss of coral cover due to temperature induced bleaching events. Bleaching in American Samoa is now a yearly event and some areas have lost 70-90% of the Acropora (staghorn types) coral cover. Acropora nobilis is being wiped out in many areas. These Staghorn corals provide critical habitat for the fisheries and also are the main coral that grows in sandy areas and is also critical for the stabilization of the sand beds.
The main problem in restoring the reefs isn’t putting corals back onto them but rather the correction of the problems that led to their destruction. Education is a first crucial step that must be taken in any restoration effort. Enforcement of the rules and regulations to protect the coastal resource is the second. Many villages cannot afford to have people patrol the coast 24hrs a day and even here in American Samoa the government’s enforcement personnel can’t do the job so enforcement must be a community effort. There’s no way around it the villages and their members are about the only choice to protect and restore their resources.
CORL’s Coastal Resource Center here is being created to help transfer the needed technologies from the scientific community to the village level and to support the communities and their projects long term.
CORL will be purchasing a percentage of the corals grown by the villages and selling them to the Marine Ornamental Industry through CORL’s Coastal Resource Centers. For every coral sold between 5 and 10 will be placed back onto reef restoration projects. The cost of producing these corals locally is much less (both in actual cost and in amount of energy input) than if they were grown in captive aquariums and transported to the restoration site. Also because the propagation is all local there is minimal chance of introducing exotic species, parasites, or diseases.
Community Based Coral Reef and Coastal Habitat restoration will be a very important tool in the future for the preservation of many of the world’s coral reefs. The captive culture of corals in aquariums may be how we save those species that are intolerant to temperature induced bleaching events from extinction and may be an important part in preserving many coral species in the future.

BTW the #1 way to get the Island communities to take action is to make sure they understand that “A healthy coral reef promotes a healthy fishery� as it’s the fishery that is a direct part of their life and is what they value the most.

Mike

[AJ31655]

Wow, thanks Mike. That is exactly the type of thing I was curious to know about. What was said about introducing parasites or other non-native species by Mark and oama makes alot of sense. But oama, is that really the law? That a company would be made to pay for grounding on a reef? Sounds too good to have come out of the US governmnet.

[oama]

My company did part of the work
The ship owners, in both cases, had to pay the bills

[DgenR8]

Originally posted by AJ31655
oama, is that really the law? That a company would be made to pay for grounding on a reef? Sounds too good to have come out of the US governmnet.

I have learned from someone on this very board that you do NOT want to get your boat stuck anywhere in the waters off Florida. The damage to the boat would be nothing compared to the fines.

[AJ31655]

What about private boaters? Some guy beaches his yacht off the keys?

[oama]

The Florida Keys site was from a commercial vessel. The Puerto Rico site was from a private yatch.