[Coral-List] Coral relocation

Tue Oct 1 00:46:16 EDT 2013

Guilty as charged. We have been doing some experimentation with coral
"rehabilitation" in the last couple of years, and I suppose one could
characterise it as having our own little aquarium.

However...we have learned a few interesting things that others might find
useful along the way. The most important one is that when constructing a
coral nursery it is better to use "corals of opportunity" (ie, broken bits
rolling around on the sea bed that would otherwise have died after a while
of being abraded by sand, etc) than to use fragments harvested from other,
more distant, "healthy" reef sites. Seems those bits rolling around on the
bottom are precisely adapted to local conditions. They show better growth
and lower mortality than "imported" corals. They just need something to
attach to.

Seems obvious? Maybe to coral scientists, but not to the man on the street,
or more appropriately local dive operators, until it is explained to them
simply. So now, when a storm hits a beach (as happened recently) and creates
lots of "corals of opportunity" we can advise lots of individual dive
operators on how to use those fragments to start putting some of the pieces
back together. Not all, I am not pretending that we are putting humpty
dumpty back together again, but little parts. And it is a great opportunity
to teach them and their customers about reefs, raise awareness, all that
stuff.

Surely better than leaving all those coral fragments just rolling
around...or am I now going to be told that that's where sand comes from?

Julian Hyde
General Manager
Reef Check Malaysia Bhd
03 2161 5948
www.reefcheck.org.my
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-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Roy Ducote
Sent: Tuesday, 1 October, 2013 3:54 AM
To: Robert Bourke
Cc: Dennis Hubbard; Iain Macdonald; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Coral relocation

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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>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
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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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