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Description:
Project Manager:
Alison Moulding
Project Years:
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Project Summary:
There are seven species of Caribbean coral listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Recovery efforts are aimed at reducing threats, filling knowledge gaps, monitoring species status, and enhancing populations through active restoration. Propagating nursery-grown corals for restoration purposes has been increasing in popularity as one method to increase population size and persistence. Active population enhancement, if done strategically, can potentially produce corals and reefs more resilient to stressors, such as disease, LBSP, and climate change, and can increase the chances of natural recovery by promoting successful reproduction through increased proximity of abundant and genetically diverse colonies. Open-water and land-based nurseries have been established in Florida, the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and in multiple international locations in the Caribbean. These sites are run by a mix of governments, academia, NGOs, zoos, aquariums, and for-profit companies. Over the last several years, coordination efforts among managers, researchers, and restoration practitioners has increased with the formation of the Coral Restoration Consortium, the Acropora Recovery Implementation Team, and various work groups established to address threats such as stony coral tissue loss disease. This project will support an ESA coral population enhancement program and recovery coordinator to work within these groups and with others to ensure that population enhancement efforts are conducted in a strategic manner to be a successful tool for recovery. The program and coordinator will provide for a point of consistency, tracking, management, and accountability required by the ESA.The Atlantic/Caribbean-based ESA Coral Active Population Enhancement Program includes: a coordination/consistency point for all population enhancement activities; a facilitator of dialog between domestic and international sites, funders, regional/national NGOs, researchers, and local/state/federal managers; a purveyor of the transfer of information, technology, methods, and materials between partners; a key recovery tool that sets strategic recovery priorities that are integrated with regional resilience planning.The goals will be implemented through a combination of programmatic actions: development of standards for best management practices; maintenance of a tracking database; administrative coordination of ESA permit requirements; coordination and capacity building focused on sharing lessons learned, transferring technology, and implementing resilience-based recovery.
Expected Outcome:
This project coordinates efforts to increase abundance, diversity, and resilience of ESA-listed corals by developing and implementing active management strategies for population enhancement. ESA-listed corals are essential to the recovery of Caribbean reefs and provide many services including structurally-complex reef fish habitat, shoreline protection, and unique diving habitat. Coordinated population enhancement efforts will promote successful sexual reproduction and natural recruitment and help overcome the threat of depensatory population effects. The result will be the conservation and recovery of threatened coral species and increased resilience to threats such as LBSP, disease, and climate change through the establishment of genetically diverse populations. Strategic planning will result in: increased effectiveness and efficiency through information transfer, lessons-learned, increased production, and decreased costs; reduced potential for detriment to the species through risk management (genetics and disease); compliance with guidelines mandated in internal policy which provides guidance for use of controlled propagation as a recovery strategy and ensures a smooth transition among various phases of conservation efforts (e.g., propagation, reintroduction, monitoring).
Project Locations:
- Florida
- Puerto Rico
- U.S. Virgin Islands
Project Category:
Restoration
Project Status:
Ongoing
Associated Products:
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