[Coral-List] Last 3 days to apply for upcoming - REEF BUILDING WORKSHOP

Lisa Carne lisasinbelize at gmail.com
Thu Jul 15 02:00:46 UTC 2021


Many thanks Austin, for taking valuable time to respond on coral- list.

Agreed we need to encourage new efforts & steer them with collective years of experience.

Best from Belize,
Lisa

> On 14-Jul-2021, at 19:40, Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> 
> Dear Elizabeth and Mike,
> 
> With climate change, the same analogy of treating a patient who refuses to
> discontinue down a path leading to death, should also be applied to no-take
> areas and solving land based pollution and other threats.  The stark
> reality is that unless fossil fuels stay in the ground, ALL of these
> efforts are doomed to failure.  No-take areas without corals are not coral
> reefs at all.  Everything that we do to manage, conserve, and restore coral
> reefs is only buying time.  This is our stark reality.  We work under the
> assumption that somehow the human systems will find balance and the
> required solutions will be applied in time.  This is now becoming quite the
> leap of Faith.  It is a cancerous materialism that is killing the planet,
> and cancer can be cured, but the cure will take a unified systematic
> approach that is presently lacking.
> 
> My point has been that If we do not actively intervene to keep each coral
> species alive and in a diverse condition, we will begin to lose species
> after species of corals.  Extinction begins locally, so the best way to
> prevent global extinction of corals and to preserve genetic diversity is to
> prevent local extinction. Yet there is no widely recognized strategy or any
> significant  funding focused on doing that.  When I arrived in the
> Caribbean in 1993 to begin working with Acropora cervicornis restoration, I
> found a situation where the corals were continuing to decline.  Staghorn
> corals were not producing larvae, and their recruits were as rare as hen's
> teeth. The genotypic diversity was extremely low, and when I found a patch
> it was typically small and clearly of a single genotype.  With few
> genotypes, low biomass, and being widely separated, sexual processes were
> failing.  Many of these remnant populations throughout most of the
> Caribbean were under heavy predation pressure by snails and fireworms,
> continuing to decline in disturbed overfished circumstances.  So staghorn
> corals declined further, and in 2004, during a two-week scoping of the
> Punta Cana area of DR we could only find three small remnant populations.
> We collected from those, and although the source populations have since
> gone extinct, the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation has now succeeded in
> restoring sizable and diverse patches of the species, with multiple
> genotypes, so that sexual reproduction has been restored.  This
> preservation and long term maintenance of genetic diversity within
> declining coral species, and the restoration of sexual processes, so that
> natural recovery processes might be rebooted, is much more important than
> the size of the area restored through outplanting.
> 
> My experience is that Acropora continues to decline on most reefs in the
> Caribbean, and it is locally extinct in many areas.  No-take areas and
> solving land based threats will not prevent the corals from going extinct.
> Unfortunately, no regional strategy was ever implemented, to systematically
> collect and preserve as much of the remaining genetic diversity of this and
> other declining coral species.  However many local restoration
> practitioners have done this in their own areas, and for this I am
> thankful.  I do not see anyone else in our community doing so much for
> endangered corals, so please can everyone stop bashing restoration?!
> 
> With the onset of repetitive mass bleaching, the process that has happened
> in the Caribbean is now impacting reefs of the IndoPacific. The Line
> Islands, Phoenix Islands and Gilbert Islands are particularly impacted,with
> very few Acropora remnants remaining.  Acropora as a group seems to be the
> most sensitive.  Several Acropora species are now locally extinct on
> islands that do not have any upcurrent source of recruits. What worries me
> most is that in 30 years this will likely be the situation everywhere.
> 
> Now back to your point:  I too am concerned that the reef building website
> https://www.rrreefs.com/  does not mention anything about the causes of
> coral reef decline, nor that their technology does not address any root
> causes of decline.  Most strikingly there is no mention of climate change.
> I think that this needs to be corrected before any of us partner with
> them.  However, this is a wonderful opportunity to educate willing recruits
> to the cause of saving the coral reefs!   These people are engineers and
> are not marine biologists, but they are educated people and I am sure they
> are receptive to input.  I think what many on this list need to realize is
> that science will not save the planet- but that people will!  And yes, some
> of these people will be scientists.  There is no technological quick fix,
> but technology may have a role. It is important to recognize the importance
> of all who desire to help, and rather than cutting them off or
> criticizing them,  to do our best to work with them to help  channel the
> positive energy and creativity into something that is more science based
> and supportive of the wider goal to save coral reefs from continued
> decline. Be careful with your judgments and who you discourage.  We need
> everyone on deck, working together in our diverse ways.
> 
> I think that the coral reef community is not adapting to a recurring
> opportunity in these sorts of rogue efforts.  Such efforts emerge again and
> again, so better to jump in and mould them into something relevant.  I see
> all efforts as a positive sign and as a potential resource, with the
> challenge being to reach out to encompass these energetic people and bring
> them into our circle of friends, to recognize that everyone has the right
> to do their best to make a difference and to contribute, and rather than
> criticising such efforts as unworthy and hoarding our knowledge, we had
> better focus on helping these valiant (mostly young) people to become
> better educated and effective, and in line with an overall strategy to save
> coral reefs.  What saddens me is that every time a scientist criticises
> efforts at coral restoration, that it harms our field and prevents
> progress.   Again: Science will not save the world, people will save the
> world, and scientists must become the facilitators of change.
> 
> Kind Regards,
> 
> Austin
> 
> 
> Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
> Corals for Conservation
> Sustainable Environmental Livelihoods for the Future
> P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
> https://www.corals4conservation.org
> https://www.facebook.com/C4Conservation
> https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009j6wb
> <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/>
> 
> 
> Teitei Livelihoods Centre
> Km 20 Sigatoka Valley Road, Fiji Islands
> (679) 938-6437
> http:/www.
> <http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1759-sustainable-environmental-livelihoods-farm-Fiji>
> teiteifiji.org
> http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1759-sustainable-environmental-livelihoods-farm-Fiji
> https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/happy-chickens-for-food-security-and-environment-1/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 8:18 AM Elizabeth Sherman via Coral-List <
>> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>> 
>> Mike,
>> You say exactly what I have been saying (on this site--where I have been
>> shouted down--and others). I liken reef restoration projects to cleaning
>> out the coronary arteries of someone with heart disease. If you clean out
>> the arteries but the patient continues to smoke (or continues to pollute,
>> warm and acidify the reefs), you've just kicked the can down the road for a
>> bit but haven't changed the outcome (i.e. dead patient, dead reefs). The
>> only way this might be a reasonable strategy (for both patient and reef) is
>> if it buys a little more time so the patient can stop smoking. But in spite
>> of 40 years of clamoring from the scientific community, reefs continue to
>> be degraded due to both local assaults and global assaults. So what is a
>> Jeremiah to do???
>> 
>> On Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 7:59 AM Risk, Michael via Coral-List <
>> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>> 
>>>   I don't know what depresses me more, observing the trajectory of my
>>>   favourite ecosystem, or watching earnest, committed young people
>>>   wasting their time in futile ventures.
>>> 
>>>   The process rrreefs use, 3-D printing of modules, is very cool, very
>>>   21st century. (Personally, I have a ton of questions about this. What
>>>   "clay?" Illite? Montmorillonite? Organics? Baked? Tests? Longevity?
>> etc
>>>   etc-like, where's the science?.).
>>> 
>>>   But of course, we shouldn't need any of that. Many, many years ago, I
>>>   built some reefs in Discovery Bay (Atoll Res Bull 255, 1981). Various
>>>   iterations of concrete blocks, rubble, etc, to find the "best"
>>>   configuration. The reefs were all covered with corals and other
>>>   epizoans within a few months. All corals need is a surface to settle,
>>>   and clean water.
>>> 
>>>   Before any reef rehab efforts are undertaken, anywhere, we must ask
>>>   "why did they leave in the first place?" because if those stresses are
>>>   not rectified, any and all reef rehab efforts are costly wastes of
>>>   time. In the vast majority of cases, the cause of the original
>>>   extirpation will be some land-based threat. The one lesson we (I mean
>>>   YOU) seem to forget is, if you clean up the water, they will come
>> back.
>>> 
>>>   Yeah, I know-same old same old.
>>> 
>>>   Mike
>>>     __________________________________________________________________
>>> 
>>>   From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf
>> of
>>>   Lisa Carne via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>>>   Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2021 6:57 PM
>>>   To: Sarah Frias-Torres <sfrias_torres at hotmail.com>
>>>   Cc: Hanna Kuhfuss <hanna.kuhfuss at gmail.com>; coral list
>>>   <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>>>   Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Last 3 days to apply for upcoming - REEF
>>>   BUILDING WORKSHOP
>>> 
>>>   Per Sarah's email:
>>>   That `something else' is normally called artificial reefs.
>>>   While it may have a role/function in certain places, it is not to be
>>>   confused with ecosystem restoration.
>>>   Also curious about the choice and source of `clay'
>>>   Best from Belize,
>>>   Lisa Carne
>>>> On 13-Jul-2021, at 16:32, Sarah Frias-Torres via Coral-List
>>>   <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hanna
>>>> Just trying to understand more about the thinking process here.
>>>> 
>>>> On the website, you have a statement on "Dive into the science",
>>>   where you mention "scientific investigations" on this system of clay
>>>   3-D printed modules. Are there any published peer-reviewed scientific
>>>   papers, that demonstrate these clay blocks you talk about are
>> achieving
>>>   coral reef rehabilitation?
>>>> I could not find any links on the website, only a video and a
>>>   crowdfunding page
>>>> Can you explain what you mean by rehabilitation? because this is not
>>>   coral reef restoration, but something else.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> <><...<><...<><...
>>>> 
>>>> Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D.
>>>> Twitter: @GrouperDoc
>>>> Science Blog: [1]https://grouperluna.com/
>>>> Art Blog: [2]https://oceanbestiary.com/
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ________________________________
>>>> From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf
>>>   of Hanna Kuhfuss via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2021 5:16 AM
>>>> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>>>> Subject: [Coral-List] Last 3 days to apply for upcoming - REEF
>>>   BUILDING WORKSHOP
>>>> 
>>>> *Last 3 days to apply for upcoming* - *REEF BUILDING WORKSHOP -
>>>   LIVING
>>>> SHORELINES: Green Engineering Methods for Coral Reef Rehabilitation*
>>>> 
>>>> *10 - 20 Sep 2021*
>>>> 
>>>> Registration deadline: *15th of July 2021*
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Hi coral-listers,
>>>> 
>>>> *Registration for the workshop is open for only 3 more days.* Please
>>>   feel
>>>> free to spread it to anyone who might be interested.
>>>> 
>>>> We, rrreefs <[3]https://www.rrreefs.com/> (a german/swiss not for
>>>   profit
>>>> initiative) are excited to announce *our first-ever *international
>>>> *reef-building
>>>> workshop *in partnership with Corales de Paz
>>>   <[4]https://www.coralesdepaz.org/>
>>>> , taking place *this September* in *San Andres, Colombia*.
>>>> 
>>>> This goes out to everyone interested in joining us in building the
>>>   first
>>>> pilot reef with rrreefs' easy-to-handle 3D-printed stackable brick
>>>   system.
>>>> It is a *10-day intensive full-time 100 hours hands-on, and in-water
>>>> practical workshop* (incl. 14 SCUBA dives). The workshop touches on
>>>   coral
>>>> ecology, newest approaches to coral restoration and ecosystem
>>>> rehabilitation, appropriate design, logistics, and evaluation of a
>>>> restoration project. We will showcase the feasibility of
>> construction
>>>   and
>>>> customization, with a subsequent multi-year monitoring program. This
>>>   new
>>>> approach of passive, structure-based reef regeneration will be
>>>   combined
>>>> with proven active reef restoration approaches such as coral
>>>   fragmentation,
>>>> gardening, and transplantation techniques perfected by Corales de
>>>   Paz.
>>>> 
>>>> The program will be divided into a series of classroom lessons and
>>>   field
>>>> activities. Lessons will be held in English. All in-water field
>>>   activities
>>>> will be carried out with SCUBA diving equipment.
>>>> 
>>>> To download the full program for more details, costs, and other
>>>   practical
>>>> information, please check out the Workshop brochure and flyer or
>>>   visit our
>>>> homepage rrreefs.com <[5]https://www.rrreefs.com/>
>>>> 
>>>> For any additional information, feel free to send an email to
>>>> info at rrreefs.com
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> 
>>>> your rrreefs team
>>>> 
>>>> Hanna Kuhfuss
>>>> 
>>>> Marie Griesmar
>>>> 
>>>> Ulrike Pfreundt
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> *HANNA KUHFUSS*
>>>> 
>>>> *Co-Founder at rrreefs (NGO)*
>>>> rethinking-rebuilding-regenerating coral reefs
>> 
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