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

[Greg Challenger]

We've had a lot of success relocating corals after ship groundings.  Not much published.  Acroporids and Porites do very well.  In the case of ship groundings, its obviously unplanned and coral relocation/reattachment is the only option.  Avoidance would be preferred.

Precht, W. Challenger G., Warrender T., Rogers K., Hudson H., McCoy, C., Chin P. and T. Austin. 2018
Cooperative Natural Resource Damage Assessment Leads to Successful Restoration of Injured Coral
Resources. 71st annual conference of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, San Andres, Colombia

If possible I would relocate reef chunks instead of individual corals but that may be impractical given the type of reef and corals at the site. I would also look at other mitigation opportunities such as restoring degraded sites, aids to navigation, mooring buoys,  nursery funding, citizen science, and more.


Greg


Greg E. Challenger M.S.
Marine Scientist - President
Mobile: (206) 369-5686 | Office: (425) 823-4841
111232 120th Ave NE, Suite 200
Kirkland, WA 98033
www.polarisappliedsciences.com





 

-----Original Message-----
From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> On Behalf Of Todd Barber via Coral-List
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2023 8:32 AM
To: Sebastian Szereday <seb.szereday at gmail.com>
Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Request for input on coral relocation studies

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
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-a
> irport
> >
>
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Sebastian
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> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
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