Title: Corals for Conservation: Integrating Coral Farming Into Coral Reef Management Austin BowdenKerby, Ph
1Corals for Conservation Integrating Coral
Farming Into Coral Reef Management Austin
Bowden-Kerby, PhDCounterpart Internationals
Coral Gardens Initiative bowdenkerby_at_yahoo.com
2- Corals and Coral Reefs Are Vital
- to National and Local Economies!
3- Corals have been Subjected to Human Utilization
and Destruction for Centuries - Harvested for use in construction and landfill
- Harvested to produce lime for betel nut or for
cement - Broken by fish traps, trampling, anchors
Live Corals Harvested for the Traditional Lime
Trade
4Coral Harvesting for Construction Near Suva, Fiji
5- Pressures on Reef Corals
- Siltation from deforestation, agriculture,
dredging - Nutrient enrichment from sewage and farming
- Over fishing and associated ecological
imbalances - (COTS, Coraliophila and Drupela Snails,
Stegastes Damselfish, etc.) - Coral Disease (associated with the above three)
- Destructive fishing using dynamite and poisons
- Coral bleaching associated with global warming
- Coral harvesting for lime, cement, and building
- Coral harvesting for the curio and aquarium
trades - Comparatively, coral harvesting for the export
trades is a relatively minor problem
6- If coral harvesting for export is a relatively
minor problem then why all the fuss? - Coral harvesting conflicts with reef-based
- tourism by removing the most colorful
- juvenile corals from reefs
- Coral harvesting is more highly visible than
- chronic causes of reef decline and touches a
- nerve with conservationists
- Coral harvesting sends the wrong message to
- communities about caring for coral reefs
7- Is Banning the Coral Trades Helpful?
- A ban may give a false sense that major
progress- - to combat reef decline is being made
- A ban could make things worse by depriving poor
- communities of vital income, forcing them into
- more desperate measures to make ends meet
- Rather than banning the wild coral trades
- Work to convert the trades into sustainable
second- - generation mariculture enterprises
- Tie coral farming to community-based management
- and restoration of coral reefs
- But dont support greenhouse culture overseas
- Allow indigenous communities to benefit from
their own biodiversity (COB) - Prevent emissions of CO2
8Maintaining Perspective
- Crown of thorns starfish (COTS) also target the
colorful - coral species, leaving behind drab Porites
and Montipora - A single COTS can kill one fist-sized coral per
day - The Fiji aquarium trade represents less than
200,000 corals - per year, so removing only 650 COTS per year
would save - more corals per year than banning the Fiji
trades! - The global aquarium trade represents some
2,000,000 - corals per year, which is roughly the
equivalent to the - damage from about 7,000 COTS
- In 2002, we removed 5,000 COTS from Cuvu
District alone - Removing COTS may be a more efficient
restoration - strategy than replanting corals for many reef
systems
9Participatory Coral Reef Management Workshops
Addressing Poverty to Save Coral Reefs Resource
depletion is a major source of poverty
10Establishment of Community-Supported Marine
Protected Areas
11INVOLVING AND EDUCATING COMMUNITIES
ABOUT CORALS
12Marine Management Poster Curriculum
13Hands-on Activities to Accelerate Reef Recovery
Coral Predator Removal to Create Pockets of
Coral Health
14Education and Community Involvement Planting
Corals on Non-Recovering Reefs
15Replanting Corals Destroyed by Coral Harvesting
and Dynamite Fishing Solomon Islands
16Hands-on Involvement of the Youth
Sons of Fishermen Making Fish Houses, Honduras
2005
17Economic incentives for ConservationCoral
Tourism and Coral Farming
18Corals Planted on Fish HousesFor awareness, reef
conservation, enhanced guest experience, and
community employment!
Fiji
Samoa
19Coral Gardeners A new
profession for resorts!
20CORAL FARMING METHODS Culturing Mother Colonies
21Selection of mother corals for color, skeletal
strength, growth form, and survivability
Colonies crowd each other on the table if not
trimmed often enough
22SECOND GENERATION CORAL CULTURE
Trimming rates depend on species and mother coral
size. A single coral like those pictured above
can produce dozens of seed fragments per year.
23Coral fragments secured to solid base with
fishing line attach themselves within one month
24Coral Cookie Method Cement disk, monofilament
line, woven onto a heavy wire mesh tray
25Tables made of 5/8 steel bars
26Trays Placed Directly on Rubble
27AT PLANTING
_at_ 14 MONTHS SOME READY TO BECOME SECOND
GENERATION MOTHERS
AT 6 MONTHS READY FOR MARKET
28NEWLY REPLANTED SECOND GENERATION MOTHER COLONIES
5cm wire mesh
Established 14 months after planting and ready
for trimming in 3-4 months From finger-sized
fragments it takes less than two years to get
full-sized mother colonies!
29RESTORATION SITE REQUIRED AT EACH CORAL FARM TO
RECEIVE SURPLUS CORAL FRAGMENTS
30(No Transcript)
31SELECTION PROCESS FOR SUPERIOR CORAL STOCK
32Aquarium industry marketing trials began in
September 2006 through an existing exporting
company
33Corals for Conservation Farmed curio corals to
possibly raise funds for conservation?
Bleached and painted corals
34Tying the marine ornamental trades to sustainable
financing for coral reef conservation?
35Main Objectives of the Caribbean Coral Farming
Project
- Building partnerships for coral reef management
- Hands-on activities to educate communities and
tourism operators - Involving fishermen, teachers, youth, and dive
shops in the active restoration of Acropora corals
Threatened Coral Species Actopora cervicornis
36COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN EXPERIMENTATION
37(No Transcript)
38Guanaja, Honduras
39Guanaja, January, 2005
Guanaja, Honduras
40Caribbean staghorn corals like to be planted
upright only!
41Some sites dont work well Learn about why not!
DBML, Jamaica
42Coral restoration Providing understanding and
awareness
Frame Culture in Honduras
43Mortality from Predation
Fire worm damage
Coraliophila snail
44Over-fishing A Serious and Often Unrecognized
Cause of Coral Reef Decline!
Lobsters control coral-killers?
45Locating frames on sand prevents most predation
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
46PREDATOR-FREE CULTURE METHOD ON ROPES!
47South Roatan, Honduras
Ten months of growth and ready for trimming for
second generation experiments
48Trimmed mother corals ready to re-grow
Produce a new crop of seed fragments every 9-12
months!
49Plugging in trimmed second-generation coral
fragments into cleaned dead reef rock
50Regular Site Maintenance is Required Weeding of
seaweeds and removal of coral-killing snails and
fire worms!
Volunteer Coral Gardener, Utila
51Lessons Learned
- Coral farming as a stand-alone activity does not
address the root causes of coral and reef decline - Coral farming is a very powerful awareness
raising activity - Full educational programs must be the basis of
commercial or restorative coral farming - Coral farming as a sustainable livelihood must be
tied to coral reef management and restoration - The tourism industry is attracted to coral
farming and is receptive to hiring trained coral
gardeners - Corals can be grown relatively easy in some
sites, marketable sizes in 4-6 months for
aquarium, 9-14 months for curios - The biggest problem by far is interference by
well-meaning scientists who misunderstand the
program!
52- Recommendations for Community Based
- Coral Farming
- Begin as part of the wider management planning
process to support awareness and restoration - Begin with hands-on community involvement in
small-scale coral farming experiments at several
promising sites - Involve the Government from the beginning
- 4. Support second generation culture mother
corals grown to produce sustainable coral seed - 5. Dont raise the expectations of communities
for commercial production unless and until
markets are secured
53Acknowledgements to Donors
- Fiji
- Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species UK
2004-2005 - USAID 2005-present
- Caribbean
- UPR Sea Grant 1997-1999
- DBML, Jamaica NOAA 2003-2004
- Honduras Ministry of Tourism 2004-2005
- Fundacion Global, DR 2004 - present