Coral Reef Restoration Toolkit a Field-Oriented Guide Developed in the Seychelles Islands
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Coral Reef Restoration Toolkit A Field-Oriented Guide Developed in the Seychelles Islands EDITED BY SARAH FRIAS-TORRES, PHANOR H MONTOYA-MAYA, AND NIRMAL SHAH A. DUNAND i Coral Reef Restoration Toolkit A Field-Oriented Guide Developed in the Seychelles Islands Editors Sarah Frias-Torres 1,2,3, Phanor H Montoya-Maya 1, 4, Nirmal Shah 1 1 Nature Seychelles, The Centre for Environment & Education, Roche Caiman, Mahe, Republic of Seychelles 2 Smithsonian Marine Station, 701 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, FL 34949 USA 3 Vulcan Inc., 505 5th Avenue South, Seattle WA 98104 USA 4 Corales de Paz, Calle 4 No. 35A-51, Cali, Colombia Contributors Paul Anstey, Nature Seychelles, Republic of Seychelles Gilles-David Derand, BirdLife International, La Reunion (France) Calum Ferguson, Republic of Seychelles Sarah Frias-Torres, Nature Seychelles, Republic of Seychelles Joseph Marlow, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand Paul McCann, Trojan Diving Services, Australia Phanor H Montoya-Maya, Nature Seychelles, Republic of Seychelles / Corales de Paz, Colombia Claude Reveret, CREOCEAN, France Katherine Rowe, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia Chloe Shute, Nature Seychelles, Republic of Seychelles Derek Soto, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico Acknowledgements Expert advice from several colleagues has aided the development of the Toolkit. We particularly thank Kaylee Smit and Sofie Klaus-Caan for their helpful and constructive reviews. This Tookit was tested on a live audience attending the first Reef Rescuers Training Program in Coral Reef Restoration at Nature Seychelles, Praslin, Republic of Seychelles in June-August 2015. The authors would like to acknowledge the participants for their contributions to early drafts of this Toolkit: Danielle M Becker, Tamsen T Byfield, Austin Laing-Herbert, Louise Malaise, Ron Kirby Bugay Manit, and Tess Moriarty. Production of this Toolkit was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) though the Nature Seychelles’ Reef Rescuers Project 674-A-00-10-00123-00. Kerstin Henri, Director Strategic Operations of Nature Seychelles, is also thanked for managing the project in which this Toolkit was produced. The statements, findings, conclusions and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID and Nature Seychelles. ii Published by Nature Seychelles Copyright © 2018, Nature Seychelles. This publication may be reproduced for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holders, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. Nature Seychelles would appreciate receiving a copy of any publications that use this document as a source. About Nature Seychelles Nature Seychelles is a leading environmental non-government organization (NGO) in the Western Indian Ocean. Based in Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles, with facilities in Praslin and Cousin islands, the primary objective of Nature Seychelles, according to its statutes, is to improve the conservation of biodiversity through scientific, management, educational and training programs. Nature Seychelles was founded in 1998 as BirdLife Seychelles and legally changed its name in 2002. It is registered as an Association under the laws of Seychelles. To achieve the above primary objective Nature Seychelles aims to: • study, research and assess the status of biodiversity • manage areas important for conservation • seek ways and means to assist official efforts for management and conservation of biodiversity • increase and propagate scientific knowledge of biodiversity and educate the public • implement relevant training programs • fund-raise for conservation programs • promote partnership / cooperation between like-minded individuals and organizations For further information, please contact: Nature Seychelles The Centre for Environment & Education Roche Caiman, P.O. Box 1310 Mahe, Republic of Seychelles Tel: + 248 460 1100 Email: [email protected] www.natureseychelles.org Citation: Frias-Torres, S., P.H. Montoya-Maya, N. Shah (Eds). 2018. Coral Reef Restoration Toolkit: A Field-Oriented Guide Developed in the Seychelles Islands. Nature Seychelles, Mahe, Republic of Seychelles. Disclaimer: The activities presented in this Toolkit involved the use of SCUBA diving techniques and science-based ecological restoration. For safety reasons, only certified SCUBA divers with training in scientific diving should attempt the techniques shown here. We do not recommend initiating a coral reef restoration project unless it follows a solid scientific foundation and implementation. ISBN: 978-999-972-0-1 1 Going from this... ...to this! A. DUNAND 2 Table of Contents Foreword......................................................................................................................................................................5 Preface.........................................................................................................................................................................6 1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................................7 Purpose of the coral reef restoration toolkit...........................................................................................................7 Who is the toolkit for?............................................................................................................................................8 Do you need a reef restoration project? ................................................................................................................9 How to use this toolkit..........................................................................................................................................10 2. Planning the work.................................................................................................................................................11 Team selection......................................................................................................................................................12 Planning the project’s activities.............................................................................................................................12 Gathering the resources.......................................................................................................................................15 Land resources......................................................................................................................................................15 Field resources......................................................................................................................................................15 Diving equipment.................................................................................................................................................15 Boat equipment....................................................................................................................................................15 Some considerations for equipment maintenance...............................................................................................17 Selecting donor sites, species and colonies ........................................................................................................17 Donor sites............................................................................................................................................................17 Coral species.........................................................................................................................................................17 Coral colonies.......................................................................................................................................................18 Nursery site selection...........................................................................................................................................20 Transplantation site selection ..............................................................................................................................21 3. Coral Gardening..................................................................................................................................................22 Nursery construction............................................................................................................................................23 Constructing a rope nursery ................................................................................................................................23 Constructing a net nursery ..................................................................................................................................26 Donor fragment collection...................................................................................................................................29 Nursery stocking...................................................................................................................................................30 Rope nursery stocking..........................................................................................................................................30 Net nursery stocking.............................................................................................................................................33