[Coral-List] Coral relocation

[Roy Ducote]

I don't understand the concept of coral nurseries/ transplant sites. It seems to me that these are no more than pet projects or hobbies much like a home aquarium. They make the owner feel good and they may look nice but I can't fathom that they will have an effect on the fate of coral reefs other than in their own tiny microcosm. To me it is like planting a tree in my back yard to help stop global deforestation. It may make me feel like I'm helping but I'd be kidding myself.
Given the scale of coral reefs compared to these transplant sites, what is the thinking here? 
And aren't transplanted corals subject to the same environmental stressors?
Is this just a case of people wanting their own little coral gardens to tend?

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 30, 2013, at 1:02 PM, Robert Bourke <rbourke at OCEANIT.COM> wrote:
> 
> Dennis;
>    There are likely as many ways to poorly transplant corals as there are ways to poorly transplant tomato plants, pine trees, or polar bears.  The fact that your team successfully found one of the ways that doesn't work should not discourage others, but rather provide a valuable lesson.  With hind-sight perhaps you should have wondered "Hummm... why are there no corals on these raised ledges?" and placed some of the colonies in more sheltered positions.   To act as effective stewards of the environment it is our responsibility to learn how to manage these resources.  Humankind learned how to manage tomato plants a few thousand years ago, and over the past two hundred years we've done a pretty good job in learning how to grow and manage pine tree forests - while still allowing you to build your house out of lumber.  The polar bears and the coral reefs we've still got to figure out.  
> 
> Bob Bourke
> Environmental Scientist
> Hawaii
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Dennis Hubbard
> Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 3:42 AM
> To: Iain Macdonald
> Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Coral relocation
> 
> I'll be interested to see what this "reef" looks like in 10 years. We transplanted a bunch of corals years ago in conjunction with a beach nourishment project. In the short run (~5 years), the transplants did better than the natural ones nearby that were not moved - owing largely to the fact that we perched them up a little higher and away from day-to-day sediment stresses.. But over time, that pattern reversed and now they are all dead from storms, not climate change.
> 
> The harsh reality is that moving corals into an area they do not already inhabit is the equivalent of moving poor folks into a really plush but burning building - and the only thing that flourishes is the bank account of the consultant who got the gig for the transplantation. In the VI, there is a consultant who built a house with gold faucets (literally) on their profits....... the consultant was jokingly but appropriately referred to by local environmentalists as the "biostitute".
> 
> Dennis
> 
> 
> On Sun, Sep 29, 2013 at 6:49 AM, Iain Macdonald
> <dr_iamacdonald at yahoo.co.uk>wrote:
> 
>> Interesting bbc video on Dubai's efforts. Perhaps there is data 
>> published on it aswell. Is this the aquarium with the Whale Shark?
>> 
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24297821
>> 
>> Iain Macd.
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> 
> 
> 
> --
> Dennis Hubbard
> Chair, Dept of Geology-Oberlin College Oberlin OH 44074
> (440) 775-8346
> 
> * "When you get on the wrong train.... every stop is the wrong stop"*  Benjamin Stein: "*Ludes, A Ballad of the Drug and the Dream*"
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