Dear Coral-listers:

A little over a month ago I posted the message
below, asking if anyone knew the financial
cost of coral transplantation.  I received many
replies.  I apologize that I have not had time to
respond to each individually.

The cost figures that I received are
wide-ranging.  Depending on how I
extrapolate them, it seems that transplanting a
half-acre of coral heads could cost anywhere
from a few tens of thousands to over a million
dollars.  The most concrete response, from an
anonymous  source, was about $400,000
including five years of monitoring and room
and board for a team of four.  

Many respondents said that transplanting
coral is rather futile, and that it would be better
to put the money towards research or
protection of remaining, undamaged reefs. 
This contradicts other information that I have
previously obtained that describes high rates
of coral transplant success.  So the jury is still
deliberating regarding this issue.  

Thank you to all who responded.

>>> DAVID POHLE
<POHLE.DAVID@epamail.epa.gov> 05/21/99
05:36pm >>>
Greetings:

I am new to the List, and I am wondering if
anyone could provide information regarding
the estimated cost of transplanting coral.

My government agency is currently
conducting the environmental review for a
proposed port relocation project in the U.S.
Virgin Islands.  The proposed entrance
channel to the new port would unavoidably
cut through a rock/rubble shoreline fringe that
has numerous live corals and sponges. 
Specifically, if you were to sum up the bottom
coverage of each live coral or sponge, it
comes to a half acre.  The plan is for divers to
chisel off each coral head or sponge,
transport it about a few hundred meters to a
site with similar depth, water clarity, energy,
etc., and then glue it down.  Where corals are
attached to small boulders, the whole rock will
be transported with the coral intact.  Also, all
motile epifauna (sea urchins, etc.) will be
collected from the entrance channel area, and
also moved to the new location.

We imagine this will require extensive labor,
but little equipment.  Could anyone give a
rough estimate of the U.S. dollar cost of this
project?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave Pohle
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 2 (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico
& U.S. Virgin Islands)
Wetlands Protection Section
New York, NY


