[Coral-List] Restoration rationale (Steve Mussman) (Andrew Ross)

[Austin Bowden-Kerby]

Thanks Andrew,

I completely agree that we can and must restore reproductive patches of
corals back to the reefs, in spite of rather "crummy" over-fished or
polluted, or warming conditions- if we can.  If coral gardening can succeed
in keeping pockets of our threatened corals alive, especially the bleaching
resistant ones, it will give us more time to work on the bigger picture
problems.  At least there is hope for the future restoration of the wider
system if we can keep enough genotypes of each coral species alive.

However, I think that what we are doing is actually more endangered species
management than restoration.  The restoration will come later, after the
severe problems are lessened. As such, I am against widespread out-planting
unless and until the underlying reasons for coral decline have been
reasonably solved, otherwise Gene's borrowed analogy applies-  it is like
sending a family back into a burning house before the fires have been put
out!   Maybe the resilient corals like Porites could be sent in, but
definitely not the Acroporas.

This same reality now exists for some Pacific reefs, and phase shifts are
occurring due to mass bleaching- away from Acropora dominance to
Pocillopora dominance- based on observations at least.  I have a new
hypothesis based on what I have seen in the field several times now,
dumping it here, in case someon wants to work on it.  Pacific parrotfish
like to eat living Acropora corals as well as dead ones, and when Acroporas
become rare after bleaching, not only do the surviving bleaching resistant
corals face near certain death from COTS and Drupela snails, but they can
be devoured by parrotfish as well. Pocillopora corals on the other hand
have a very dense skeleton and resist the damage.  I have out-planted a
cubic meter of Acropora transplants, only to have them completely eaten-
virtual nothingness within only 24 hours. The Stegastes damselfish
territories in such cases become the last places with Acropora holdouts-
the fish actively defend the corals from the parrotfish, and COTS, and the
snails don't seem to make it into the thicket either, perhaps due to the
hairy seaweeds planted by the fish?

Back to shared realities: as tourism is the biggest industry that depends
on coral reefs globally, we really must give tourism a role in the
salvation of coral reefs, globally- let them fund the manpower that can
help keep the corals alive-  through gardening interventions: predator
removal, algal removal, damage repair, care for our gene bank coral
nurseries, whatever is needed to counteract coral demise on limited patches
of reef. The heat adapted survivors of the Acropora corals are replanted
into these well-gardened reefs. But that's not all- the resorts become more
highly engaged, and so they work harder to clean up their act.  We also
find that communities and governments when made aware of the importance of
the work, support the establishment of no-take areas around the restored
coral patches-  so restoration can provide a local incentive for no-take
areas.  That is what is happening over here in the Pacific islands at
least.  Up-scaling to me means increasing the numbers of resorts with
trained coral gardeners and with small no-take areas where bleaching
resistant corals thrive. Here in Fiji we are posed for a hundred-fold
up-scaling over the coming years.  Not only are we saving the corals, but
we are transforming an industry from the bottom up.

But of course we are only buying time, time for a transformation of energy
production systems and the global economic order.

Time to mobilize and get more audacious!

Austin

Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
Corals for Conservation
Sustainable Environmental Livelihoods for the Future
P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
https://www.facebook.com/C4Conservation
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009j6wb
TEDx talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PRLJ8zDm0U
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
<https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/>


Sustainable Environmental Livelihoods Farm
Km 20 Sigatoka Valley Road, Fiji Islands
(679) 938-6437
http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1759-sustainable-environmental-livelihoods-farm-Fiji
https://www.facebook.com/teiteifarmstay
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/happy-chickens-for-food-security-and-environment-
<https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/happy-chickens-for-food-security-and-environment-1/>


> Message: 12
> Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2019 16:41:42 -0500
> From:Andrew Ross <ross.andrew at mac.com>
> To: Austin Bowden-Kerby <abowdenkerby at gmail.com>
> Cc: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Restoration rationale (Steve Mussman)
> Message-ID: <F9D276C3-44C4-4A03-AF5F-1C2C69EF217D at mac.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=utf-8
>
> Good afternoon Austin, Steve & List,
> Austin, you have suggested that the remaining corals of the modern
> Caribbean are those that are somewhat adapted to the (crumby?) conditions
> of their bay or of the region. As such, the conditions have not been
> addressed, but things have changed that may be helpful and may be helped
> along.
>
> Even if a site is erring towards awful, we can often overwhelm the bad for
> a net-positive trajectory. This is enhanced (or maybe allowed) through
> careful curating of the material to tolerant and/or stronger lineages,
> head-starting in the nursery and setting the proverbial shedload of such
> high-test material* (with fingers crossed). This would be amongst the
> differences between a horticultural approach, in which every polyp is
> sacred, and a silvicultural approach where one factors for losses.
> Better, employ a body to visit the site twice per week with trusty pliers
> to chop-up worms/snails/COTS, upright blow-downs & snip away dead bits and
> disease: a reef gardener. Better still, set an MPA in parallel including,
> as Austin also has long suggested and we?ve implemented here and there,
> using the coral culture/enhancement programme as interest springboard to
> some sort of local management. It is absolutely putting the cart before the
> horse, and sometimes the horse can use the nudge.
>
> *Head-started microfragments/nubbins seem to be the best option for
> ?overwhelming? numbers. I agree that wee corals appear to be less tasty,
> smelly or generally findable to marauders, giving them a few months to get
> established.
>
> Apologies for my response lag & best regards,
>
>
> Andrew M. Ross, Ph.D.
> Seascape Caribbean
> +1-876-363-8850
>
>
>
> > On Sep 14, 2019, at 5:42 AM, Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >
> > Bula from Fiji,
> >
> > I agree with Steve that it is impossible or at least very difficult to
> > restore corals to reefs where the root causes of coral decline have not
> yet
> > been properly addressed.  Massive out-planting like the sort proposed can
> > be done, but most of the out-plants will likely fail - unless small pilot
> > outplants are done beforehand to test the survival risks and potentials
> of
> > each sites. Otherwise the transplants will likely become food for snails
> > and fire worms, at least on unbalanced, over-fished reefs. That was my
> > experience in much of the Caribbean.
> >
> > However, if a good ecological balance exists. like in the no-take areas
> of
> > Belize, where the corals are missing due to acute problems now mostly
> past,
> > and where lack of recovery was related to a lack of sexual reproduction
> as
> > Acropora coral populations had become widely dispersed, mono-genetic, or
> > Stegastes damselfish infested.  Fragments of Hope in Belize has had great
> > success restoring sexually reproductive populations of Acropora to these
> > reefs, and fish abundance has increased greatly due to the vastly
> improved
> > habitat structure the coral provide.  Pretty amazing actually.
> >
> > Over here in the Pacific, there are some reefs with pristine waters and
> > with amazing numbers of fish, but the corals are mostly gone due to mass
> > bleaching.  For such reefs, the abundant parrotfish become the biggest
> > challenge, as they can devour the outplants.  I see the branching corals
> on
> > these reefs shifting from Acropora dominance to Pocillopora dominance and
> > then to Porites or massive Pavona dominance.  On Christmas Island
> Kiribati,
> > all of the Acropora species are now locally extinct or represented by a
> > handful of surviving genotypes, The most important thing now is to
> restore
> > sexual reproduction and larval recruitment processes to these remaining
> > Acropora species, and that is what we are doing. Micro-fragmenting seems
> to
> > be the best way to avoid parrotfish predation and the total death of
> > transplants. Fortunately after five trips, I have not yet seen a single
> > predatory snail or COTS.
> >
> > Regards to all,
> >
> > Austin
> >
>
>