An Overview Of Our Solution
Propagative Restoration of Staghorn Coral Thicket Habitats in Montego Bay, Jamaica
Who is this solution impacting?
Ecosystem
Oceans/Coasts
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: North America
Problem
Describe the problem
We propose to restore the keystone nursery habitat corals to the Montego Bay Marine Park through nursery propagation methods analogous to forestry and reforestation. These corals declined by some 98% over the latter quarter of the last century through several synergistic detractors, however nursery culture trials to date have provided an average or more than 11-fold increases in total length with better than 97% survivorship per 10-month generation, thus the large amounts of coral material necessary for larger-scale restoration may be generated from very small initial harvests: a vital consideration when dealing with endangered species. Combined with active coral gardening and fisheries management, these corals may be returned to ecological function in target or case locations in 3-years.
Biodiversity Impact
Historically the mid-depth reefs of the Caribbean were dominated by rich populations of the branching staghorn coral, as much as two metres deep of intertwining branch thicket, providing intricate habitats for small and juvenile fish and invertebrates, holding water boundary layers with their associated detritus and nutrients for tight and efficient cycling and recycling, and a protective canopy to UV radiation for delicate cryptic creatures of the shallow reef. As these corals declined through the 1980s, these services faded with them leaving the modern reef an inefficient plane of moving sediments, missing habitats, exposed and easily prayed upon small and juvenile animals, poor recruitment successes and lost nutritional opportunities. These habitats may be restored as the remaining small amounts of living staghorn coral, though insufficient to provide the aforementioned habitats, offers more than enough seed material for propagation in high-survivorship, high-production in situ coral nurseries. Through iterative nursery generations enormous amounts of coral may be produced. Finally out-planting these nursery-generated corals to high-value reef locations augments or recreates these missing reef habitats to improve fishery productivity. ADDITIONAL VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ45FEu-6DA
Solution
Nursery culture protects this vital coral species from continued population degradation, if not pending extirpation via allee effects of excessively distant reproductive corals and excessive macroalgae limiting larval settlement. Each coral genet may be preserved, propagated and improved in the nursery, from which they may continue to contribute to the overall genetic diversity and long-term viability of the population. This is a necessary consideration for an uncertain world of climate changes, disease and competitive stresses that these corals have shown heritable resistances to. The missing microhabitats within the staghorn coral thickets provided habitats, spaces and conditions for invertebrates and juvenile fish not readily present on the modern reef. These were three dimensional and copious, whereas today they are highly limited and close to on or in the bottom: any organism or life-stage adapted to such conditions will likely be rare or absent. The invasive lionfish (Pterois spp.) hunt by herding schools of small fish against flat reefal structures such as rocks or corals. This hunting style is likely largely ineffective against a branched coral thicket, as was the historic norm for Caribbean reefs and as will be restored in this project. Small fish herded to the thicket edge will simply disappear through and into it. Thus restoration of the staghorn coral thickets will protect genetic diversity within the coral species, species diversity by replacing necessary small fauna habitats and by providing specific protective habitats against invasive lionfish predation. // This project plans to set 5-8 coral nurseries at two locations in Montego Bay with 200 locally sourced coral ƒ??nubbinsƒ? (very small 1-2cm fragments) set to each nursery, for a total of some 1200-1600 corals in the first generation. These nurseries will be partially harvested and material fragmented and set to new nurseries or out-planted periodically depending on growth rates of each nursery location or genet. Depending on the planting locations and conditions, out-plants will be between 20 and 100cm in total branching length at planting and will be set at approximate 2m spacing, thus each 1000 corals planted into patches will use some 4000 non-contiguous square metres of seafloor. These corals will continue to grow and over time will coalesce into a continuous thicket in the target areas. After the initial nursery setting and growth phase of some 6-months, fragmentation, propagation and planting will be continuous and overlapping through the expected project timeline of two to three years, or until further donors are sourced through the Montego Bay Marine Park Trust to expand the programme.
Replicability
How many years has your solution been applied? 7 years // Have others reproduced your solution elsewhere? Yes // The solution per se is not to be managed, controlled or regulated, but disseminated through presentations, workshops and publications with use encouraged for ecosystem management, endangered species conservation and academic research. The specific propagation and restoration sites of this programme will be controlled and managed through the Jamaican Beach Control Act regulations associated with mariculture and seafloor control. These allow the partner Montego Bay Marine Park Trust to directly manage all use of the restored coral habitats, particularly with regard to recreation and tourism. Wider management will be provided through the regulations of the Montego Bay Marine Park and the associated Fish Sanctuaries, again through the partner Montego Bay Marine Park Trust. With an eye to eventual expansion, particular effort will be made to expose fishers to the project and the potential of coral restoration through beach and community visits and interpretative posters.
Human Well Being and Livelihood Impact
Montego Bay is a tourism-oriented city on a tourism-oriented coast, with strong social ties to the sea, to seafood and to fishing. This project is ostensibly restoring nursery habitat for enhancement of the reef fisheries surrounding the Montego Bay Marine Park area, and as such will improve catches to local fishers and incomes to their respective communities. In 2004-05, the Montego Bay Marine Park Trust registered 125 fishermen working wholly or in part within the Park area and suggests the programme captured 85-90% of the area’s artisanal fishers. These fishers generally have a strong appreciation for reef health and how it affects their incomes and this project will incorporate fisher-education programmes. Any project expansion will incorporate training and employment of local spear-fishers into permanent “Coral Gardener†roles. Improved coral and fish will also improve tourism values and opportunities through beautification of the seafloor for snorkeling and SCUBA diving. Such improvements will include improved incomes to part-time fishers working in these industries, and will provide further employment opportunities as these industries expand with the improved product. Thus this project will improve fisher and community incomes directly through future project expansion and direct employment and indirectly through improved catches and increased sea-related employment in tourism. // Harvest of this protected species for propagation and propagative restoration has been accepted by the Jamaican Government as exempt from prosecution so long as the applicant shows appropriate expertise and demonstrated care. Currently I am the only operator so recognized on Jamaica. Propagative restoration of these keystone habitat corals has also been encouraged within recently gazette fish sanctuary areas. Control of the restoration locations falls within two wider and one associated Jamaican legal guideline: each coral nursery requires a specific license for modifications to the seafloor, which provides the license holder control over potentially deleterious activities associated with the permit such as boat anchoring. The areas to be used in propagation and then restored are all within the Montego Bay Marine Park area, a location specifically protected from deleterious activities including unregulated tourism use and pollution. Finally, the project area is within one of two formal Fish Sanctuaries occurring in the Montego Bay, within which all fishing activities including trap, net and line fishing which may damage these corals directly are strictly prohibited.