Spotlight on the Caribbean

Staghorn Coral Restoration Project to Help Upper Keys

SUMMERLAND KEY, FL — The Nature Conservancy’s Florida Keys program is transplanting fragments of wild staghorn coral to restore degraded reefs in the Upper Keys with the help of a $36,000 grant awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Scientists also will be testing the staghorn’s resistance to heat stress that leads to coral bleaching. The reef-building staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) has experienced a massive decline throughout Florida and the Caribbean due to local, regional and global threats. Conservancy staff collected 100 staghorn colonies to add to the staghorn colonies populating a privately owned underwater nursery in the Upper Keys. The new colonies were fragmented and cemented onto platforms within the nursery. In May, these corals will again be fragmented and then transplanted to multiple restoration sites, to be monitored by staff and volunteers. The $36,000 grant is part of a national partnership between the NOAA Community-based Restoration Program and The Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy is working in collaboration with the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, where the restoration sites are located, and Ken Nedimyer, who owns the nursery and is helping collect, tend, plant and monitor the corals. Scientists will also analyze the genes of the coral colonies to test the theory that some genes are better than others at resisting the heat stress that leads to coral bleaching and sometimes death. Additional data from reefs at different depths and distances from shore will indicate heat tolerance and suitability for restoration. Identifying these factors about reef resilience is part of the Florida Reef Resilience Program, a federal/state/Nature Conservancy partnership. “The grant will help restore damaged reefs in the Upper Keys to a healthy condition and that in turn will preserve the delicate ecological balance that is so important to Keys residents and to folks from all over the world who marvel at the beauty of our Florida Keys," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Miami), who supports this grant funding. "I am committed to conservation in the Keys and proud that this funding will be used for such a great project in my district.” Volunteer divers and boat operators interested in helping to monitor restoration sites should contact. The Nature Conservancy’s Meaghan Johnson at (305) 745-8402.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS from Defying Ocean's End Agenda for the Wider Caribbean

Change mindsets; raise awareness with a targeted drive towards education at all levels.

• Make fishermen aware of benefits to them of new approaches. • Educate tourists on ecologically responsible behavior. • Bring the marine environment into school curricula. • Give journalists compelling, science-based “stories.” • Target government and industry decision-makers using economic arguments.

Use the available science:

• Encourage regional analysis of existing datasets. • Provide further training for Caribbean scientists and managers. • Pursue basic research in some high-priority remote areas.

Improve management systems:

• Disseminate examples like the Soufriere Marine Management Area in St Lucia and the Hol Chan Marine Reserve in Belize that demonstrate effective management improving both local livelihoods and biodiversity protection. • Implement more — and more effective — protected areas. • Include full stakeholder participation. • Consider local ownership of nearshore fisheries assets as a management approach. • Set targets: include 30% of nearshore habitats within no-take zones; install mooring buoys at all commercial dive sites and yacht anchorages; raise sewage treatment to 90%. • Establish park user fees to support management efforts. • Initiate active interventions where ecosystem function requires restoration. • Include innovative approaches for industrial involvement; balance punitive measures ("polluter pays" or "zero net loss" approaches) with positive incentives.

Work Internationally:

• Encourage and support multi-lateral governance approaches. • Build up regional capacity through training and support of programs in poor or small nations.