Halmos College Aids in Coral Rescue
On Thursday, May 23, The Oceanographic Campus (OC) received a very precious cargo: 341 corals collected of Key West. The goal of this coral “rescue” is to collect healthy corals ahead of the disease boundary. These corals will then be placed in land-based aquaria to prevent them from becoming infected, to preserve genetic diversity, and to serve as propagation source stock for future restoration activities.
This project focuses of 16 high priority species and 6 medium priority species. The project is the first-ever rescue of this scale and is necessitated by the urgency and devastating impact of the FL Reef Tract Coral Disease Outbreak.
The Coral Rescue team members include Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) (Lisa Gregg) and NOAA Fisheries (Jennifer Moore) as project co-leads and team members include staff from NSU, FWC, FL Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, FL Sea Grant, Florida Aquarium (FLAQ), and the National Park Service.
The first batch of corals departed Stock Island early Monday morning. Eighty-two hours later, they docked at the OC’s neighbor: the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare base. From there, the corals were transported to the salt water tanks on the OC’s campus.
“Corals are very delicate,” said Nick Turner, a Halmos Ph.D. candidate who helped transfer the corals to their new home. “It’s hard to keep them alive in tanks. We need to regulate the sunlight to make sure they get enough,” he said. “Too much sunlight is just as bad. That’s why we’re using black shade cloths to let in just enough sunlight.”
FWC has a Coral Rescue Genetic Management Plan to ensure genetic diversity for restoration.
NSU is one of the intermediate holding facilities to hold and care for the ~4,500 corals. Other intermediate holding facilities include: Mote Marine Lab (Sarasota), Univ. of Miami (Miami), and FL Aquarium Center for Conservation (Apollo Beach). Longer-term holding facilities include Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) facilities across the US. The AZA Florida facilities are Disney, Sea World, Mote, and Florida Aquarium.
