[Coral-List] Views on Coral Garden Projects

[Stephen Box]

Dear Coral List,

The "Coral Gardens Project" is currently running pilot projects around the Bay 
Islands in Honduras and doing a big promotional drive within the dive tourism 
and resort sector.

They are attempting to regenerate Acropora and Porites species by attaching 
cuttings from adult colonies to bare reef substratum following a period of 
"growing up" of the cuttings on racks or wires.

Since there is little information in the literature about the validity of such 
a scheme and their pilot on Roatan seems to have produced few viable results, 
I was hoping that list subscribers may have personal anecdotes about whether 
similar projects (across the Caribbean or the Pacific) have actually had any 
measurable success, or if they just take resources and attention away from 
other reef conservation initiatives.

List subscribers views on other aspects recently promoted by the Coral Gardens 
Project in Honduras such as; 
the killing of Damsel fish and fire worms to prevent the spread of coral 
disease and the killing of Trigger fish to allow urchin numbers to recover, 
would also be appreciated.

Regards,
Steve

Steve Box
PhD Candidate
Roatan
Honduras

Steve Box
Marine Spatial Ecology Lab
School of Biological Sciences
University of Exeter
Prince of Wales Rd
Exeter   
EX4 4PS