FIRST TIME THIS SPECIES OF SOFT CORAL HAS BEEN HARVESTED, GROWN IN CAPTIVITY, AND USED TO RE-SEED A REEF |
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FORT PIERCE, FL., MARCH 21, 2002 - In what may be the first such attempt ever, a HARBOR BRANCH
marine biologist will take sea fans (a soft coral) that are being grown in captivity, and
re-seed them on a portion of reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary that was
heavily damaged when a ship ran aground there in 1989.
The media is invited to go along on a 42-foot Newton dive boat, the use of which is being donated by Aquanut Divers and Kelly's on the Bay dive resort in Key Largo, as the re-seeding project is carried out April 10th. The boat will leave Kelly's at sunrise (app. 6:30am) and travel directly to the site, approximately six miles offshore and in about eight feet of water at low tide. The actual re-seeding project should take between one and two hours. The boat will proceed directly back to Kelly's, and should arrive back at the dock by noon. Underwater video shot in mini-DV format will be provided to all media, as well as video (B-roll) of the sea-fans being grown in special tanks at the main HARBOR BRANCH campus in Fort Pierce. CD's with high-resolution images of the tanks and sea fans, as well as digital underwater stills taken during the re-seeding process, will also be made available to all media. HARBOR BRANCH Reef Restoration Biologist Kevin Gaines said re-seeding the reef is a "giant step" in a project with two main goals; to better learn how to conserve and restore coral reefs, and to learn how to culture soft coral in recirculating systems under controlled conditions, so that soft coral can be harvested for re-seeding projects such as this one, as well as for the aquarium industry. This is the first time sea fans have been successfully cultured on this scale in artificial conditions, and if successful, will mark the first time this species of coral has been harvested, grown in tanks, then harvested again and re-seeded into a natural habitat. There have been many challenges, Gaines said. "First, before we ever collected our cuttings, our broodstock if you will, we had to build a closed recirculating system in which the sea fans could survive," Gaines said. Such a system had to be able to perfectly control temperature and alkalinity, while providing just the right lighting and a steady supply of clean, fresh, and fast-moving seawater. "Once we figured that out, we collected our cuttings, a total of 80 four-inch by four-inch samples of sea fans from near the damaged reef, and attached them successfully to an artificial substrate in our tanks made of calcium carbonate and cement," Gaines said. For two years, the sea fans were nurtured and fed, with the result that new sea fans grew, enough to allow Gaines to harvest 20 cuttings of second-generation coral, each three-inches by three-inches. It is these second-generation sea fans that are now being re-seeded onto the damaged reef. The results are exciting, and could reduce the amount of time it takes the damaged reef to grow new sea-fan colonies by five to 10 years. "We can shorten the recovery process substantially by putting this new, already-established and larger fragment of soft coral back on the reef," Gaines said. "The theory is, if you can re-seed a reef with larger sea fans as opposed to the smaller, individual animals that settle naturally, the quicker you have mature coral and sexual reproduction occurs, and new colonies are established," Gaines added. The $72,000, four-year project, which is being funded by HARBOR BRANCH and the Disney Conservation Fund, will involve monitoring the sea fans in their new home to see how well they do. "We're not done, and we'll be going back within the month to see how they're doing, but we think they'll do great," Gaines said. CLICK HERE for the full story coverage on www.at-sea.org. To arrange coverage or interviews, or to obtain images and video and to reserve a spot on the boat, please call HARBOR BRANCH Director of Public Relations, at 772.465.2400. You may also call Dave Rosenthal, Director of Dive Operations at Kelly's On The Bay (www.kellysonthebay.com) in Key Largo, at 305.451.1622. Reservations for a spot on the boat must be made no later than 5pm Friday, March 22nd. Please note that only HARBOR BRANCH certified divers will conduct the SCUBA dives associated with the re-seeding project. Federal regulations and HARBOR BRANCH policies prohibit divers not certified through HARBOR BRANCH to dive on HARBOR BRANCH projects. However, every attempt will be made to provide underwater video to all who attend, and there are no limits on any video or images taken topside. Please keep in mind that weather could be a limiting factor, and conditions MAY be wet. Call 24 HARBOR BRANCH at 772.216.0390 24 hours in advance, or call the News Media Update Hotline at 772.465.2400, ext. 687, the day before the trip to check on the status of the project. HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution, Inc., is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations dedicated to exploration of the earth's oceans, estuaries and coastal regions for the benefit of mankind. |