Coral Transplantation

Figure 1: Coral transplantation on ropes (photo available from: https://www.instructables.com/id/Transplanting-Corals/ )

All over the world coral has steadily been dying off or destroyed.  Before 1998 the waters were full of life, but after the heat wave that occurred in 1998 the coral levels have steadily been declining (Riley, 2016).  Now when snorkeling there is decreasing life and motion underwater, and decreasing wonderful sounds filling your ears from the majestic sea life, instead there’s just silence (Riley, 2016).  There are many reasons the coral is dying off.  Some of these reasons include coral mining, warming oceans, overfishing, and tourists stepping on them while snorkeling (Environmental issues with coral reefs, 2018).  Many of these reasons can be changed, just by the tourists and fisherman changing their habits; however, things like warming water temperatures and waves cannot be changed solely by a few people changing their behaviour.  So, what can be done to help this wonderous part of the sea environment?

Coral Transplantation has been around since the 1970s, however until recently the true effects of how coral transplantation can help has not been truly shown (Riley, 2016).  There are many reasons why coral transplantation may occur.  Some of these reasons include 1) replace coral that is destroyed by tourists, waves, pollution, and ships running aground 2) move coral to areas that are less frequented by tourists thus decreasing the tourists effect on the ecosystem 3) make the habitats in areas of tourism more appealing to the eye, and the sounds of sea life once again present, and 4) accelerate the corals recovery in areas that have been completely destroyed thus restructuring the ecosystem (Edwards & Clark, 1999). 

So, what is Coral transplantation?  Coral transplantation is when you take chunks of coral which are glued/attached to bits of rope or nets (Riley, 2016).  After some time, these pieces of coral start to grow into more mature and stronger coral, and they start to reproduce.  Depending on the type of coral they are they will either release larvae which will land beside them and grow, or they will release larvae which will travel throughout the water far from their “parents” (Riley, 2016).  Either way the hope is that a large percentage of new coral will grow and make a more extensive and healthier ecosystem.  Through certain studies, it has been found that in areas where the coral transplantation has occurred the number of baby corals was 6times higher then in areas that have been left alone (Riley, 2016).  When doing the transplant two major facts need to be considered.  The transplant cannot occur in areas that have poor water quality because the new coral will likely become polluted and die.  Also, depending on how the coral is attached to the rope and nets, the transplant cannot occur in areas where there is a lot of water movement, because they may be pulled off and not reproduce (Edwards & Clark, 1999). 

Figure 2: Various stages of coral transplantation (photo available from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Examples-of-coral-reef-transplantation-a-Reviving-coral-reefs-in-the-Maldives_fig1_285458843 )

So, to put this information into perspective.  The great barrier reef is one of the oldest and largest coral structures around and is being greatly affected by the warming water temperatures (France-Presse, 2017).  In 2015, some scientists took larvae that they had grown and transplanted it off the coast of another part of Australia.  They returned 8months later to find very encouraging news.  They found that around the mesh where they had put the transplanted coral, there was young coral growing (France-Presse, 2017).  This was the second time this scientist had seen that coral transplantation does work to grow new coral in areas of severely degrading ecosystems (first time was by the Philippines).  The scientists found these two positive results exciting because, it means that coral transplantation could help the steadily decreasing coral population, and thus have a positivize effect on the marine ecosystem (France-Presse, 2017).

So, if coral transplantation does work to grow young coral, why is it not being used around the world currently?  The simple answer to this is studies still need to be completed to figure out how to do mass coral transplantation (France-Presse, 2017).  To help the depleting ecosystem not just one area of coral needs to be renewed, therefore it would take many years to transplant every depleting area one at a time. A way needs to be discovered that would allow for marine biologists and other ecologist to transplant large areas at one time.  Hopefully, within the near future new technology will be discovered that will allow for this to occur, but at least we now know that coral transplantation could be a possible fix for the increasing degradation of coral.              

  Figure 3: Beautiful, healthy coral ecosystem (photo available from: https://www.enca.com/technology/specially-bred-coral-transplanted-on-great-barrier-reef )

Words: 750

References:

Edwards, A. J., & Clark, S. (1999). Coral Transplantation: A Useful Management Tool or Misguided Meddling? Marine Pollution Bulletin, 37(8-12), 474-487. doi:10.1016/s0025-326x(99)00145-9

Environmental issues with coral reefs. (2019, January 16). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_with_coral_reefs

France-Presse, A. (2017). A successful coral transplant gives scientists hope for the Great Barrier Reef. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-11-26/successful-coral-transplant-gives-scientists-hope-great-barrier-reef

Riley, A. (2016). Saving a Coral Reef, One Transplant at a Time. Retrieved from https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/saving-coral-reef-one-transplant-time/

Photos:

Elawady, M.  (2001).  Figure 2.  Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Examples-of-coral-reef-transplantation-a-Reviving-coral-reefs-in-the-Maldives_fig1_285458843

Instructables. (2017, September 22). Transplanting Corals. Retrieved from https://www.instructables.com/id/Transplanting-Corals/

Specially bred coral transplanted on Great Barrier Reef. (2017, November 26). Retrieved from https://www.enca.com/technology/specially-bred-coral-transplanted-on-great-barrier-reef