[Coral-List] Advice on fragment stabilization

[Isabella sim]

Hello Coral listeners,

I have an urgent matter and I truly hope some of you, restoration
practitioners, can give me some advice.

I represent the Whale Shark and Oceanic Research Center, an NGO based in
Utila, Honduras and we are currently in the initial phase of our Coral
Restoration Project. I'm working on proposals and permits to deploy more
nurseries (we currently have two Christmas trees nurseries at a site), so
these are within our long term goals.

However, there were a lot of loose fragments (that have broken off from the
reefs and are being overgrown by algae) seen last week and I was thinking
of acting now. I'm treating it as an urgent matter as those loose fragments
won't last long. Both *Acropora cervicornis* and *A. palmata*. We will
collect these loose fragments, clean it and cut off any dead parts and
attach them back to the reef using cement/epoxy at the same
location (making use of the functionality they're still able to provide -
considering their reasonable size).

I would truly appreciate brief assistance on how I could
efficiently reattach the loose fragments, regarding the use of cement or
epoxy (considering this is a small island and have limited access to
specific materials) and also regarding substrate selection and related
procedures. I'm aware that using nails and cable ties is also an effective
option but I would like to avoid using cable ties.

Kind regards,

Isabella Simões
Biologist and Scuba Instructor
Whale Shark and Oceanic Research Center
bella at wsorc.org