Reef Rehabilitation manual edited by Alasdair Edwards www.gefcoral.org Editor: Alasdair J. Edwards School of Biology Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU United Kingdom Contributing authors: Alasdair Edwards, James Guest, Shai Shafir, David Fisk, Edgardo Gomez, Baruch Rinkevich, Andrew Heyward, Makoto Omori, Kenji Iwao, Rommi Dizon, Aileen Morse, Charlie Boch, Sandrine Job, Lucia Bongiorni, Gideon Levy, Lee Shaish, Susan Wells. (See inside back cover for contact details.) Publication data: Edwards, A.J. (ed.) (2010). Reef Rehabilitation Manual. Coral Reef Targeted Research & Capacity Building for Management Program: St Lucia, Australia. ii + 166 pp. Published by: The Coral Reef Targeted Research & Capacity Building for Management Program Postal address: Project Executing Agency Global Change Institute Level 7 Gerhmann Building The University of Queensland St Lucia QLD 4072 Australia Telephone: +61 7 3346 9942 Facsimile: +61 7 3346 9987 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.gefcoral.org The Coral Reef Targeted Research & Capacity Building for Management (CRTR) Program is a leading international coral reef research initiative that provides a coordinated approach to credible, factual and scientifically-proven knowledge for improved coral reef management. The CRTR Program is a partnership between the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, The University of Queensland (Australia), the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and approximately 50 research institutes and other third-parties around the world. ISBN: 978-1-921317-05-7 Product code: CRTR 005/2010 Designed and Typeset by: The Drawing Room, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. www.thedrawingroom.net Printed by: Doran Printing, Melbourne Australia. May 2010 © Coral Reef Targeted Research & Capacity Building for Management Program, 2010 Photos: Front cover – Y. Horoszowski, N. Thongtham, Seamarc, P. Cabaitan; D. Fisk (inside). S. Shafir (p. i), K. Kilfoyle (p. ii). Table of Contents 1 Objectives and scope of this manual.............................................................................1 1.1 Aims of the manual.....................................................................................................2 1.2 Definition of terms.......................................................................................................2 1.3 Focusing restoration resources....................................................................................3 1.4 Scope and layout of the manual...................................................................................4 1.5 Why bother with reef rehabilitation?.............................................................................5 2 Steps in planning a rehabilitation project.....................................................................7 2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................8 2.2 Initial scoping [Stage 1].............................................................................................10 2.3 Fact-finding for your rehabilitation plan [Stage 2].......................................................17 2.4 Developing a rehabilitation plan [Stage 3]....................................................................21 2.5 Implementation of rehabilitation plan and monitoring [Stages 4 and 5].........................25 3 Managing risks in reef restoration projects................................................................29 3.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................30 3.2 Overview of risk assessment.....................................................................................30 3.3 Assessing the most relevant risks during project design.............................................33 3.4 Five-step process for prioritising and managing risks..................................................33 4 Constructing and managing nurseries for asexual rearing of corals......................49 4.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................50 4.2 Selecting a site for a nursery......................................................................................51 4.3 Nursery construction.................................................................................................52 4.4 Stocking nurseries with coral fragments.....................................................................62 4.5 Nursery maintenance................................................................................................67 4.6 Other uses of coral nurseries......................................................................................71 4.7 Sustainable financing.................................................................................................71 5 Rearing coral larvae for reef rehabilitation.................................................................73 5.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................74 5.2 Importance of differences among species and locations.............................................77 5.3 Rationale for using larvae for reef restoration..............................................................77 5.4 Identifying when corals are ready to reproduce...........................................................78 5.5 Harvesting coral spawn.............................................................................................81 5.6 How to optimise fertilisation in broadcast spawning species......................................86 5.7 Collecting and rearing larvae from brooding corals.....................................................88 5.8 How to maintain embryos and larvae until ready to settle............................................89 5.9 How to settle coral larvae for reef restoration..............................................................92 i 6 Methods of coral transplantation.................................................................................99 6.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................100 6.2 Rationale for coral transplantation.............................................................................100 6.3 Sources of transplants.............................................................................................102 6.4 Transplantation methods for different environments...................................................104 6.5 Nursery rearing of corals on substrates for transplantation.........................................109 6.6 Monitoring and maintenance of transplants...............................................................110 7 Evaluating costs of restoration..................................................................................113 7.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................114 7.2 A framework for costing reef rehabilitation.................................................................114 7.3 Cost-analysis of an example reef rehabilitation project..............................................117 7.4 Comparing cost scenarios.......................................................................................123 8 Learning lessons from past reef-rehabilitation projects.........................................129 8.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................130 8.2 Overview of case studies.........................................................................................130 8.3 Lessons learnt.........................................................................................................132 Case studies 1. Substrate stabilisation to promote recovery of reefs damaged by blast-fishing (Komodo National Park, Indonesia)........................................................137 2. Transplantation of coral colonies to create new patch reefs on Funafuti Atoll (Tuvalu)...............................................................................................140 3. Transplantation of coral fragments and colonies at tourist resorts using coated metal frames as a substrate (Maldives) ...............................................143 4. Use of artificial substrates to enhance coral and fish recruitment (Phuket, Thailand)....................................................................................................146 5. Transplantation of nursery reared corals to a degraded reef at Eilat (Israel)..............................................................................................................149 6. Re-attachment of broken fragments of Acropora palmata following a ship grounding (Mona Island, Puerto Rico)...............................................152 7. Coral transplantation, using ceramic coral settlement devices, on reefs damaged by bleaching and Acanthaster planci (Sekisei Lagoon, Japan).......................................................................................................155 8. Transplantation of corals to a traditional no-fishing area affected by coral bleaching (Moturiki Island, Fiji).....................................................................158 9. Transplantation of coral fragments onto artificial reefs at a hurricane-damaged