Aquaculture of coral
Aquaculture is showing promise as a tool for restoring coral reefs, which are dying off around the world.
It is commonly referred to as the "gardening method" and has been compared to silviculture as a management practice that mimics natural ecosystems.
Land-based coral farming occurs in public aquariums in North America and Europe.
[8] A healthy reef houses a large amount of biodiversity with varying species of corals.
[8] Reefs are affected by severe weather events, such as cyclones,[13] temperature changes of 1–2 degrees of the average water temperature over a period of weeks, from predation by crown of thorns starfish, and from competition for habitat with other foundation species such as algae.
[15] Corals can recover from bleaching and uptake vital zooxanthellae again but this requires a change in environment and the lessening of stressors.
[17] An example is the exploitation of mushroom coral in Indonesia which is harvested for supply of the jewelry and curio trades.
[21] Nursery-grown coral promote reef resilience by making contributions to the larval pool.
This could have a positive effect on new growth if transplanting of the new coral is made just before a larval release season.
[1] Oceanographer Baruch Rinkevich[22] coined the term active restoration to describe coral reef farming, in contrast with what he described as passive restoration efforts focused on mitigation of stressors by means such as the designation of marine protected areas (MPAs).
Conferees pressed the importance of encouraging hobbyists to supply only from coral reef farms to help deter over-harvesting.
Conferees recommended initiatives to encourage consumer understanding that cultured ornamentals are a more sustainable and 'higher value' alternative to wild-caught live reef organisms.
At the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium in Townsville, Australia, large colonies of Acropora formosa have collection devices placed above them during spawning.
[8] This method has also been proved effective on Red Sea soft coral species, Alcyonarians: Clavularia hamra, Nephthea sp.
[20] Linden describes an apparatus made of Petri dishes lined with preconditioned Mailer's paper disks on which the planula of Stylophora pistillata are grown.
In this way, conservationists can manage which corals are in the reef depending on which can survive, and which are important to continue to propagate.
[27] The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) produced a different coral nursery with engineering students, however, centered on saving whole colonies which reports good results.
[29] Nurseries often produce better results and higher survival rates in the beginning stages of growth than loose corals.
Hurricanes and bleaching are big problems in the national park, so caretakers made it a priority.
[32] In Guadeloupe, France, they produced a design centered on being able to moor ships due to the damage anchors could do to corals.
“After six years, 52% of local coral species had settled on the eco-moorings, even though the total surface of the 40 mooring blocks only covered 300 m² in the bay.”[33] The prefecture Okinawa in Japan focused on seed production for their nurseries along with the typical out-planting.
Coral reef aquaculture requires only basic, cheap materials, making it possible for communities with limited resources.
[38] Some new methods, such as seeding of concrete tetrapods containing coral larvae, make it possible to reduce costs and outplanting time compared to previous approaches.
[20] Petersen showed that early sexual recruits grow larger when fed the nauplii of brine shrimp.
The laboratory website reports that its colonies are grown from fragments rescued from boat groundings and environmental disturbances.
