Trying to Restore Coral Reefs / Florida Project Plants Fragments on Injured Reef in Florida Keys

By MIKE SALINERO

Scientists from the Tampa area are leading the first efforts to transplant coral raised in land-based aquatic farms to damaged reefs in the Florida Keys.

Scientists with The Florida Aquarium in Tampa conceived the idea of gathering coral fragments, attaching them to concrete bases, then growing them in tanks at the University of Florida’s Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory in Ruskin and in a lab in the Keys.

The first batch of 160 coral fragments were planted on a damaged reef in the Keys in December. Divers will return this spring or in early summer to see if the transplants are healthy and growing.

The research comes at a time when coral reefs around the world are declining, mostly because of pollution. This restoration project, even if successful, will do little to reverse that process.

Still, scientists believe the farm-grown coral can be used to restore reefs damaged by nonenvironmental factors, such as anchors and boat groundings.

Craig Watson, director of the Ruskin lab, sees the current research spawning a new commercial aquaculture industry in Florida, the only U.S. state with coral reefs offshore.

Coral are tiny animals that live in colonies and produce skeletonlike structures made of calcium carbonate. The coral get food from the surrounding water and from algae with which they coexist. The algae also contribute the coral’s red, green and rust colors.

About eight years ago, Florida Aquarium scientists started cultivating small pieces of coral donated by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Aquarium scientists assessed the damage to the coral, then nursed them back to health in water controlled for temperature, salinity and acidity. After they revived, the coral were used in aquarium exhibits in Tampa and elsewhere.

“One of my key questions was why can’t we return some of these fragments back to the wild in areas where they are needed,” said Ilze Berzins, the aquarium’s vice president of biological operations. She discussed the idea with Watson and Billy Causey, former superintendent of the Keys marine sanctuary. They formed a partnership and came up with money to match a $20,000 grant from the state. The aquarium recently received a $40,000 grant to continue the work.

A team of divers harvested the coral fragments for the experiment last April off a submerged sea wall outside the Navy base in Key West. The coral were divided three ways, Watson said. One group was taken to the Ruskin aquaculture lab, where they were raised in fresh water treated with artificial sea salts. The second group was given to Sarasota’s Mote Marine Laboratory, which cultivated them in circulating seawater in the Keys. The third group was transplanted immediately at the restoration site.

In December, a group of divers attached the coral fragments to a reef damaged by a ship. They plan to return in the next few months to map the fragments and monitor the coral’s progress, said Ryan Czaja, the aquarium’s husbandry supervisor and a diver.

Mike Salinero is a staff writer for The Tampa Tribune in Florida.

(c) 2007 Richmond Times – Dispatch. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.