Coral Restoration Foundation

Yes, it is Hurricane season again already! As we enter summer months here in the Florida Keys, CRF has made the shift from our winter coral nursery tasks conducted in those frigid waters while layered in 7 mm wetsuits to the warm waters that allow us the freedom of less neoprene and less weight.

Winter months, although record cold breaking this year, typically allows us the water temperatures needed for corals to survive pruning and planting in our nursery. Corals cut and mounted have a higher survival rate in the winter, as the warmer waters during summer months generally stress-out corals and make them more susceptible to diseases such as, White Band Disease. However, the mid-January cold front of this year did some unexpected and unfortunate consolidation for us by chilling our waters enough to kill off approximately 30% of our corals on site, as well as several transplanted colonies to various in-shore reefs in recent years. Although the loss was rather devastating for us and our partners under the “Threatened Coral Recovery and Restoration” project, CRF still has managed to endure. In order to assess just what was lost over the peak of the cold, staff members, both full and part-time, came prepared with hoods, epoxy, sledgehammers, and jugs of hot water for diving.

Hoods and hot water obviously are designed to keep a diver warm, but what good would a sledgehammer do? One of the trickier tasks this winter was expanding the staghorn nursery to accommodate hundreds of corals already on site identified by a genetic lineage tracking code, and the installation of rebar to secure them in their new location. Conveniently, gradually installing rebar for simply a few minutes not only generates a significant increase in body temperature, but also helps eliminate bottom-time too by increasing air consumption. (And, therefore, faster return to the boat for some hot water down the wet suit!) So…we not only have our own methods for restoring reefs, but also for keeping warm while doing it!

For Ken and CRF’s new staff (Katie and Andy) the start of organizing the expansion of the world’s largest off-shore coral nursery, according to CBS News,  was a task nobody new quite well how long it would take or just where to begin. After all, pounding rebar, mapping a massive nursery, propagating thousands of corals, and managing several volunteer divers 30 feet below aren’t tasks new (or old) staff just simply slide into. Gradually, however, we began adopting our own approach to the winter tasks while working through lots of trial and the occasional errors.

We finished out the winter months by removing what we lost in the dead of winter from the cold front, cutting hundreds of corals and mounting them, hosting an incredible Earth Day event with the director of NOAA, and dabbling with experiments and leading research. As the days grew longer (and warmer) we found ourselves not having to race into Harry Harris Park before dusk so quickly to avoid being locked in overnight.  The summer season arrived rather quickly, and, as a result, we entered into what I call the “Seasonal Shift”. We’ve temporarily put down our pruners, shed neoprene and weight, set aside our sledgehammers (we pound rebar down in the summer too), and picked up our chisels and brushes to prepare for the onslaught of algae that cling to corals like spiders on webs.

The Seasonal Shift into summer has come which means so have a regular number of volunteer dive groups from all corners of the country prepared to “help”, get involved, and dive the Keys! Yes, in recent years, tourism has seen a shift in interest develop from typical sun-bathing ventures to sojourners wanting to contribute meaningful work while doing something they enjoy. This is often called “volunteerism”, “responsible tourism” or, if there is an educational component directed at the environment, “ecotourism”. CRF’s Community-based Programs (CBP) which directly focuses on various needs we have at specific times of the year incorporate a strong educational message directed at the coastal environments we seek to restore.

Our message, although being fine tuned on a regular basis, sets the stage by delivering the regional history and current status of the corals we work with, our strategies and goals for restoring them, and eventually leads participants into understanding our role and, most importantly, their role with us and after. After all, knowing the finer details before conducting any task increases everyone’s’ confidence level and helps to ensure success.

Our summer CBPs have kicked off to an incredible start this May. Armed with bags of tools, cameras, epoxy, hammers, and research slates, CRF staff and volunteer divers have spent hours already removing algae from rows and rows of corals (a task more common in summer), conducting quarterly inventories (staff specific), and performing transplants from the nursery to reefs (summer specific).  Most of our groups make their way here during summer months to conduct scheduled transplants under CRF direction, which is certainly a highlight of what we do. Staff and participants find this to be the most intriguing program because everyone sees the process from start to finish: cleaning and tagging of corals in the nursery, dive teams transplanting corals to selected reefs, mounting of corals strategically on to the reef, and taking initial measurements for monitoring.

Our restoration programs will continue until early Fall when the waters start to cool down, hurricanes still loom in the Atlantic, people prepare for the holidays, and we get our thicker wet suits out along with jugs of hot water. At that time the winds will have a chill to them and we will then begin thinking about next year’s strategy while pruning corals and installing more rebar-hopefully with your help!