Reef Restoration

[Guba]

I recently received an article detailing efforts to restore reefs in the Cozumel area damaged by Hurricane Wilma. An organization called CONANP (which sounds as if it might be the Mexican equilalent of the EPA) was using a team of ten divers to collect broken coral, drill holes in denuded bedrock, and then epoxy the shard into the rock in an attempt to recolonize the reef structure. The exciting part to me, however, was that the director of the program asked for volunteers from the diving community to assist in the effort.
Does anyone know about this effort or a similar one? As a science educator who dives and a volunteer of the Flower Garden Stetson Banks National Marine Sanctuary (Gulf of Mexico, near Texas-Louisiana border), I'm extremely interested in assisting in field work such as this. I've already attempted to contact a large number of officials in Mexico as well as many people in the Marine Sanctuary system and NOAA, but have had no luck so far.
If you should have information on this type of program, please contact me. It will be greatly appreciated. I'm certain many of my diving colleagues are as interested as I am in joining or putting together an expedition to assist with the effort to restore one of the most fantastic reef systems in the world. I look forward to hearing from anyone who might have information.
Bill Crowley
Bill.Crowley@esc9.net

 

[halocline]

Hi Bill;

This sounds very interesting to me; I just returned from a week of diving in Cozumel and heard absolutely no mention of this or any other reef restoration project. Regarding the specifics of the restoration technique you described, I can tell you that most of the damage I saw was either sand encroachment on coral or broken "finger" and "lettuce" corals, which I'm guessing are probably pocillipora and montipora species, both fast growing species which will regenerate from the bases where they broke. In fact, captive propagation of these corals is done by breaking off pieces and gluing those to rocks. So, with regards to stony corals, I have a feeling that the fragments left will recover quickly; I noticed lots of new growth already. I saw almost no larger pieces that have broken off that are still alive, and it's unlikely they would survive long due to not being in the same flow conditions they had grown into while attached to rocks, and to predation from sand dwelling organisms. Now, I'm no expert on this, but have raised lots of stony corals in aquariums. I'm not sure I could see the effectiveness or practicality of gluing large broken pieces, if there were any surviving ones found, to rock structures, especially rock in different flow/light conditions than the one the coral originally grew in. Now, clearing away the piles of dead coral fragments on the reef crests, and possibly gluing a few smaller fragments (like a finger sized piece) broken off from a healthy coral still attached might have some benefit. I have no idea how one would move the huge amount of sand that has shifted, or even if that would have any beneficial results at this time. You, as a science educator, (maybe marine biologist?) may have a much better understanding of the mechanics of reef restoration following a big trauma like this hurricane.

Another thing I saw, and I'm sure lots of divers would say the same, is that there are many large sponges broken. I don't know about any possible way to repair those; I guess we can hope that the angelfish population will eat the broken sponge and not decimate the new growing sponges before they have a chance to rebound.

Still, to me the idea of diving in Cozumel clearing or helping to restore the reefs is really appealing, and I hope you find out more about it!