[Coral-List] Request for input on coral relocation studies

Sat Jul 1 18:24:04 UTC 2023

Dear Sebastian,
There is sometimes a strong divide between people who apply technology and
ideas and those who investigate the implications, although there shouldn’t
be. I don’t know of any, and I really mean any, human engineered mitigation
effort to solve a human caused environmental problem that has stood the
test of time, and many have caused harm. Witness introducing mongoose in
Hawaii, rabbits in Australia (for hunting) and on and on. The problem with
most of these efforts is that good rigorous science to investigate the
outcomes was not performed. Much like the Titan disaster, where the CEO was
impatient with regulations and testing, not doing so can lead to problems.

This of course is MOST important on reefs where people depend on the
resource. I would be careful letting western run ideas and programs where
people (notably consulting and applied engineering groups) can make good
money doing something they (genuinely I believe) feel will help. But if it
fails in the long term they have less to lose. More importantly is the
definition of success and failure in this example. Someone’s idea of
success might be that corals stick and grow, leading to new coral covered
reef. But your idea may be a reef that has fish and provides food. Those
two things, as our research has found, are not always the same.

We have found that just planting corals that are fast growing can lead to
unintended consequences. Some fish don’t like some corals, and won’t
recruit to those reefs. I would certainly be careful of sanctioning coral
outplants from other areas, and if local corals, to carefully assess
potential trajectory. Monocultures are generally not good for fish, and
even if someone plants different species, there is little evidence they can
predict if all will grow, or if a mini specific reef will develop.

My advice is to be careful here and seek multiple voices on the science and
efficacy of coral restoration. It is NOT as simple as planting corals on
bare substrate and they will grow and bring back a reef. As has been
mentioned, genetics, growth, diversity and ecology are all a part of that
story.

Happy to discuss, and to put you in contact with some people who are
tackling this.  One possible step forward is to form a science committee
that includes local people and coral scientists to inform the decision
making, and to think carefully about the outcomes.

All my best
Nicole

On Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 9:46 PM Todd Barber via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Steven,
>
> You are absolutely right NGOs are not necessarily "better" (or worse) from
> the actual doing perspective, I meant only to imply they are more
> transparent (which you pointed out as important).  And when I said NGO I
> probably should have defined that as Public Non-Profits (as opposed to
> private NGOs) which is the case for the organization I represent as public
> NGOs have fiduciary duties to transparency. .
>
> Thanks,
>
> Todd R Barber
> Chairman, Reef Ball Foundation
> 712 Portia Street North, Nokomis, FL 34275
> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/712+Portia+Street+North,+Nokomis,+FL+34275?entry=gmail&source=g>
> 941-720-7549 (Cell & Google Voice)
> www.reefballfoundation.org
> www.reefbeach.com (Reefs for Beach Erosion)
> Reef Ball World Mapping System
> <
> https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1KrENaH-kJn_LCDrzCbgtW_1aW-ciY-M&usp=sharing
> >
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 11:51 AM Steven Miller <smiller52 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Todd
> >
> > NGOs are not necessarily better than private companies. That sounds right
> > but is a fallacy. Transparency is paramount. So we mostly agree. My
> > experience is that there is nothing about NGOs that makes them better
> > suited to do the work. Indeed, they can be worse without oversight
> because
> > they have few constraints. Accountability also matters.
> >
> > Best Regards
> >
> > Steven
> >
> > On Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 11:38 AM Todd Barber via Coral-List <
> > coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Sebastian,
> >>
> >> I am not suggesting that building the airport over coral is a good
> >> idea.....all other alternatives should always be considered.  However in
> >> the case that coral relocation is chosen, there are ways of achieving at
> >> least mitigation of the loss using a combination of coral rescue, coral
> >> propagation, genetic rescue, and habitat reconstruction.  We have done
> >> this
> >> successfully many times in many countries although you won't find much
> >> scientific work on projects like these because they are almost always
> >> conducted under non-disclosure agreements as is typical for most
> >> mitigation
> >> projects.
> >>
> >> I can tell you that because they are usually under NDAs, the quality of
> >> the
> >> work (and restoration results) are highly variable and often
> substandard.
> >> If they do choose mitigation, your community would be well suited to
> make
> >> SURE they use reputable and transparent folks to perform the mitigation.
> >> Because a good restoration is multi-goaled, it normally requires
> >> partnerships with multiple organizations to achieve good results.  NGOs
> >> (that are typically required to be transparent) with university
> oversight
> >> partners (that are rigorous in evaluating goal achievements) are much
> >> better suited than private firms that are tied to engineering or
> >> development of the project.
> >>
> >>
> >> I hope that helps in your approach.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> Todd R Barber
> >> Chairman, Reef Ball Foundation
> >> 712 Portia Street North, Nokomis, FL 34275
> >> <
> https://www.google.com/maps/search/712+Portia+Street+North,+Nokomis,+FL+34275?entry=gmail&source=g
> >
> >> 941-720-7549 (Cell & Google Voice)
> >> www.reefballfoundation.org
> >> www.reefbeach.com (Reefs for Beach Erosion)
> >> Reef Ball World Mapping System
> >> <
> >>
> https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1KrENaH-kJn_LCDrzCbgtW_1aW-ciY-M&usp=sharing
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 4:14 AM Sebastian Szereday via Coral-List <
> >> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Dear Coral List,
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > For many years a new airport in Tioman Island (Malaysia) has been in
> the
> >> > discussion and planning. The proposed runway would result in
> significant
> >> > damage to the adjacent coral reefs, as the runway construction would
> >> > require substantial land reclamation and it would be built on top of
> an
> >> > existing coral reef. The airport would also negatively impact the
> >> > livelihood of the local communities and result in many further
> >> > socio-economic and sustainability challenges - all in all it is safe
> to
> >> say
> >> > that the airport does not benefit the people nor the environment.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Last week, the EIA report was released for public review, and members
> of
> >> > the public are invited to give feedback on the proposed project and
> >> > mitigation measures. One such measure is to (quote) ‘relocate and
> >> > rehabilitate the corals’. This is of course by no means a viable
> option,
> >> > and the EIA has not gone to lengths to identify suitable sites based
> on
> >> > common site selection criteria.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > I was hoping that members of this list could point out specific case
> >> > studies that detail the efficacy of relocating coral colonies to
> >> mitigate
> >> > the impacts of large infra-structure construction projects. Although
> my
> >> > organisation is not involved in the direct opposition of the project,
> >> > summarizing existing studies would help to put together a 1-2 pager
> for
> >> > further circulation with the media, stakeholders, and the public, to
> >> > ultimately provide a summary of existing studies and data.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Any input would be much appreciated. There is also a petition
> >> circulating
> >> > against the proposed airport, please do sign and share:
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Petition · Reject the Proposed Tioman Airport · Change.org
> >> > <
> >> >
> >>
> https://www.change.org/p/tioman-villagers-reject-the-proposed-tioman-airport
> >> > >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Best wishes,
> >> >
> >> > Sebastian
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Coral-List mailing list
> >> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >> > https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
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-- 
*Nicole L. Crane*
Executive Director, Smith Fellows Program
<https://conbio.org/mini-sites/smith-fellows>, Society for Conservation
Biology
Senior Conservation Scientist, Project co-lead, One People One Reef
<https://onepeopleonereef.org>
Faculty, Cabrillo College, Natural and Applied Sciences