[Coral-List] Coral Fragging should be banned

[Chad Scott]

Hello Nicole,
Thank you for your reply. I have not heard of any such sites, but I think
that the industry must makes moves to self-regulate and prevent more groups
from doing this types of work. As far as I can tell, Oceanquest is the
worst one in my area, and they are backed by Sea Shepard so they think they
are the best, however they do absolutely no monitoring and have no
peer-reviewed publications on their results. Their only claim to notoriety
is their association with Sea Shepherd. They also offer a 3 day course for
people to become instructors in coral propagation, which I thin is
laughable when people spend the better part of a decade getting PhD. in the
field before beginning such endeavors.
Chad Scott



<http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Heaven-Reef-Conservation-Program/263941566997083>




On Thu, Apr 11, 2019 at 2:41 PM Nicole Crane <nicrane at cabrillo.edu> wrote:

> I very much appreciate and agree with this Chad.  I think this is actually
> a bigger problem than many of us might realize.  Our work has shown
> negative effects, especially on fish - which of course is important to the
> communities there, of 'weedy' corals that dominate a reef.  By propagating
> corals, especially those that grow quickly, well meaning people may well be
> causing problems.  Kind of like Junipero Serra spreading all his fast
> growing weedy european grasses and plants to mark his trail and fed
> livestock.  Wow, look what that did to California coastal communities!!! If
> you aren't a CA person - the short story is it wasn't good.
>
> I too have now seen several of these programs to propagate corals, and the
> idea seems to be spreading, especially marketed as a restoration program.
> Might be good to have a platform where people could add programs they are
> rare of and what region they are in??  Given that these people are well
> intentioned, pairing these with better information might be very effective?
> Does anyone have the bandwidth to do that?
>
> best
> Nicole
>
> Nicole L. Crane
> Faculty, Cabrillo College
> Natural and Applied Sciences
> www.cabrillo.edu/~ncrane
>
> Senior Conservation Scientist, Project co-lead
> One People One Reef
> onepeopleonereef.ucsc.edu
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 11, 2019 at 10:43 AM Chad Scott via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
>>  Hello coral-listers,
>> I am growing concerned about the number of so-called reef conservation
>> programs that are focused solely on coral fragging (propagation),
>> especially in SE Asia and the Indo-Pacific. These programs are well
>> intentioned, but extremely misguided. In one such prominent  program,
>> people are able to become 'Instructors' in just three days, with no
>> scientific traing. This agency does no monitoring or research, and as far
>> as I can tell has never published a peer reviewed paper. They are focused
>> on coral propagation because it is easy and looks good on social media,
>> yet
>> they do not have any understanding or consideration to the genetic affects
>> of their work, nor its long-term implications. They are not involved in
>> any
>> other activities to address the threats (other than clean-ups maybe), and
>> have not made any attempt to work with the local communities.
>> I have written an article concerning this growing trend, and would like to
>> hear the response of the scientific community. I know that many of you
>> have
>> been involved in related work for several decades, and think you are vital
>> in resolving this issue. I fear that if the reef restoration community
>> does
>> not take proactive steps to self-regulate then draconian top-down controls
>> will be implemented, and the vital work of so many will be stopped.
>> Thank you,
>> Chad Scott
>>
>> My arguments are summarized in the article is available here:
>> http://conservationdiver.com/coral-fragging-should-be-banned/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> <
>> http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Heaven-Reef-Conservation-Program/263941566997083
>> >
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>