The Reef Rescue Network: Restoring Life, Growing Opportunity.
BY HAYLEY-JO CARR
About Me Growing up in Cornwall, England, my memories are filled with being at the beach. My family would spend weekends and vacation time camping at the beach and we literally would spend every day surfing, building sandcastles, beachcombing and rock pooling. I would love to learn what each organism was in the rock pools and would spend hours discovering new animals. I have always had a love for animals since I was young and wanted to protect them as best I could, fully aware of their vulnerability from humans. As a teenager I continued to live on the ocean learning how to sail and kayak. After graduating from university with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sport & Recreation Studies with Community Studies, I went backpacking around the world and it was while in Australia that I learnt to dive on the Great Barrier Reef. From the minute I took my first breath underwater I was hooked. I already loved the ocean and animals so now it was both my passions opened up to me in a whole new world to discover. So many fish, corals, sharks, crustaceans to identify and I wanted to see everything. I continued travelling and diving in many different countries each time being exposed to new marine life and ecosystems. All I could think about was continuing to dive around the world, so I became a PADI Scuba Diving Instructor to allow me to do this as well as introduce others to the beauty of the ocean.
I became aware of threats against the ocean as soon as I started scuba diving, whether it was seeing coral bleaching during a dive or discarded fishing nets covering coral reefs, my eyes were now open to what most will never see. The threats to our ocean are mostly hidden to humans and this is why it has been so devastating, and little has been done to stop it. This is want prompted me from the beginning of my career as a Scuba Diving Instructor to also be a Marine Conservationist and take action wherever I worked. In each country I have taken action locally in all areas of marine conservation from combating marine debris, developing coral restoration projects, conducting reef health surveys to campaigning for Marine Protected Areas. I work with divers, schools, organisations and businesses to help develop their marine programs and events. As a PADI Course Director I am committed to training environmentally conscious Instructors who will instill these values into their students.
“I believe the more eyes to see the damage, the more voices to make a change”
Conducting an Atlantic Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment to monitor reef health.
Photo credit: Mellisa Altenburger
Coral Reefs are Disappearing About 50 percent of the world’s coral reefs have already been lost or severely damaged. Many studies over the last 5-10 years are indicating all reefs at risk of loss by 2050. Coral reefs are some of the most biologically rich and economically valuable ecosystems on Earth. They provide food, jobs, income, and protection to billions of people worldwide. Coral reefs are home to one-third of all known marine species, and provide coastal protection and habitat to a wide range of fish and invertebrates. They are threatened by an increasing range of impacts including pollution, invasive species, diseases, bleaching, and global climate change. The rapid decline and loss of these valuable, ancient, and complex ecosystems have significant social, economic, and environmental consequences around the world.
Acropora cervicornis outplants on a hurricane damaged reef assisting in the recovery of this critically endangered species.
Photo credit: Zac Luedders
Coral Restoration is one part of the puzzle to start to help to rehabilitate coral reefs. Coral nurseries are an important component to marine conservation, as they provide a collection of species that can be added to the reef to help regenerate areas that are stressed or damaged. Coral restoration using coral nurseries is a very promising new science. Slow growth rates of coral were once thought to limit our ability to restore corals reefs however it has since been shown that different corals grow at different rates and in favorable conditions can grow much faster than in natural conditions on reefs. Over the last few years many areas of coral reef have been rejuvenated with corals grown from a nursery and have created new habitats for marine life. Outplanted corals are now spawning which is a huge indicator to the positive effects this type of coral restoration can have and how it can help to restore huge tracts of reef. By increasing population numbers and the numbers of distinct parent genotypes through propagation and outplanting of nursery grown fragments, sexual reproduction and recruitment are expected to have higher success rates ultimately aiding in the natural recovery of the species. Consideration of genetic factors is essential because long-term success of restoration efforts may be influenced by genetic and genotypic diversity of restored coral populations. Many different species of corals can and are being grown in nurseries all over the world. The Perry Institute for Marine Science is also exploring coral restoration using microfragmentation and sexual coral reproduction techniques with other scientific partners at the Coral Innovation Hub at the Cape Eleuthera Institute in the Bahamas.
Several nursery designs have been developed for growing corals. Each design provides different benefits based on each location’s specific environmental conditions and project goals. Midwater nurseries come in many styles and can be like ‘washing lines’, table structures that grow corals above the seafloor, or floating PVC frames that suspend corals off PVC arms called ‘tree’ nurseries. Corals grow well on midwater floating nurseries as they have ideal conditions. They are far from sediment, predators and competitors and their structure is kept clean from algae, sponges and tunicates by divers. This allows for much quicker growth. Currently one of the most popular nurseries is the ‘tree’ design. This tree is anchored to the seabed and often made using PVC pipes, joints, rope and a float to keep it suspended in the water column. Once they have grown large enough (usually 6 – 12 months for branching corals), corals in the nursery can be outplanted to repopulate the reef. Corals may either be put on the reef intact as they come off the nursery or fragments may be cut off to outplant with the original piece left to regrow. It has been noted that with each ‘pruning’ of these corals they grow faster producing corals quicker each time known as propagation.
Corals grow well on the nursery units as they have ideal conditions.
Photo credit: Gigi Merlusca
The Perry Institute for Marine Science is a not-for-profit organization committed to protecting our oceans through research that both inform the public and encourage action, ultimately improving the understanding and stewardship of our oceans. Our programs focus on improving our understanding of the issues facing our oceans, working with governments to develop management strategies and improve decision-making and educating the next generation of marine scientists. Supporting a wide range of research including Marine Protected Areas, Fisheries Management, Marine Species, Climate Change and recently with the development of the Reef Rescue Network.
The Reef Rescue Network To increase capacity for coral restoration The Perry Institute for Marine Science created the Reef Rescue Network, a partnership between coral reef scientists and local partners consisting of community organizations, NGOs and dive operators. The Reef Rescue Network coordinates coral nursery establishment, maintenance, management, outplanting and monitoring with its partners. Specifically, we assist with developing and implementing criteria for restoration, nursery site selection, harvesting coral from source populations, growing corals in nurseries, outplanting corals to reefs and monitoring the success of restoration at multiple scales from individual corals to ecosystem health. We are providing opportunities to build partnerships between scientists, marine resource managers, conservation practitioners, and businesses and coastal communities that depend on healthy reefs. Our network aims to raise awareness to local communities and visitors about the importance of coral reefs and what they can do to help stop further deterioration. Healthy restored corals play an important role in tourism and recreational fishing, two important income sources for coastal communities.
I am currently a Coral Restoration Practitioner & Coordinator for The Reef Rescue Network managing coral restoration projects throughout The Caribbean. These coral nurseries are helping to restore coral reefs and recover these threatened marine habitats. The projects benefit local communities that depend on a healthy ocean and I work with hundreds of volunteers organising events, training and education.
The two main corals we grow within the Reef Rescue Network are Staghorn Coral Acropora cervicornis and Elkhorn Coral Acropora palmata. Sadly, both are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of threatened species hence why it is vital to save these species now before it’s too late. These fast-growing branching corals are particularly vulnerable to threats such as temperature extremes, storms and disease. However, because of its fast-growing abilities, it has made for an ideal candidate for coral nurseries. It is a constant learning process and scientific research is vital for the future survival of the world’s coral reefs. We are actively involved in research with many scientific partners to find answers to help corals become more resilient to our changing climate. One such project we currently are running is in collaboration with Shedd Aquarium where Staghorn Coral fragments were moved between nurseries throughout the Islands of the Bahamas. The goal is to increase genetic diversity at each site and to study how each genotype might resist or adapt to environmental change. Each island location was chosen as it sits within a different thermal region so we can not only see how they adapt but also assist in cross fertilization occurring between these genotypes from very different thermal regions to hopefully greatly increase their resilience to our changing climate. See our latest results from this experiment.
A Reef Rescue Network goal is to increase genetic diversity at each nursery location and to study how each genotype might resist or adapt to environmental change.
Photo credit: Valeria Pizarro.
PADI Reef Rescue Diver Specialty Course As a PADI Course Director my goal has been to encourage more recreational divers to become actively involved in coral restoration and learn the necessary knowledge and skills to assist within coral nurseries. To facilitate this goal, I created the PADI Reef Rescue Diver Specialty Course which I train PADI Instructors to teach at dive stores & educational facilities throughout our Reef Rescue Network. To take the course you must be certified as an Open Water Diver and be at least 12 years old. The course takes one day and consists of knowledge development and two open water dives at a Coral Nursery. We have partner dive shops you can choose from within our network, either in the Bahamas, Aruba or St. Lucia to complete the training. This specialty is an introduction to coral restoration, to familiarize divers with the skills, knowledge, planning, organization, procedures, techniques and enjoyment of coral nursery diving. The Reef Rescue Diver Specialty Course allows PADI Instructors to educate divers about coral nurseries, including essential facts about coral reefs, threats facing corals, coral nurseries function and how to maintain coral nurseries. Once certified you may volunteer throughout the Reef Rescue Network. Becoming a Reef Rescue Diver not only gives back to the ocean and helps restore coral reefs, but also greatly improves your buoyancy skills, creating noticeable improvements in your general diving abilities — it’s a win for you and for our coral reefs.
For more information contact hayley.carr@perryinstitute.org
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A key component of our Reef Rescue Network is to train local divers and instructors to be Reef Rescue Divers to support their own community coral nurseries and restoration activities.
Photo credit: Hayley-Jo Carr