[Coral-List] Coral Gardener's Guide to Ecologically Relevant Strategies

[Victor Bonito]

Bula vinaka and hello Coral Listers,

There has been quite a bit of dialogue here on Coral List about coral restoration recently. Certainly coral restoration is not a stand-alone solution to addressing coral community decline, and I am in no way advocating that position. However, I think it is becoming a more relevant tool that if strategically applied in an ecologically relevant manner can compliment other local management activities. Of course even local management should not preclude addressing climate change.

In recent years, coral gardening efforts have become much more common in Fiji with many resorts undertaking efforts on their house reefs and quite a number of communities beginning or interested in beginning efforts as part of their ongoing community-based marine management efforts. To support the integration of ecologically relevant strategies into these efforts, we at Reef Explorer Fiji conducted some week long trainings last year for resort staff and communities that are currently undertaking coral gardening efforts at their sites. Apart from the hands-on activities we undertook at our nurseries and restoration sites, I also put together a PDF guide to support the classroom aspect of the trainings. The motivation behind this PDF doc (A Coral Gardener's Guide to Implementing Ecologically Relevant Coral Restoration Strategies) was not to make another 'how to' methods guide, but rather to help synthesize the latest science into a simple document without all the scientific jargon in order to support the integration of strategies that promote coral community resilience into ongoing efforts in Fiji (and other locations). The guide highlights how restoration practitioners can manipulate key factors in the coral gardening process such as the sites selected for restoration, the identity of the coral used, and the transplant design used in the restoration effort in order to harness ecological processes that promote the establishment and persistence of coral communities.

For those who are interested, the guide can be downloaded here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g4hsc7MWcVfCVzbIGOXSjE8kW61LY_dr/view?usp=sharing

Certainly welcome and appreciate any feedback people have after looking at the guide, and hope others involved with coral gardening efforts outside of Fiji also find it useful.

Vinaka and thanks!

Victor BonitoDirector, Reef Explorer Fiji