One of the biggest challenges to effective reef restoration is applying interventions at scale, particularly in areas as vast as the Great Barrier Reef.
Over the last few years, AIMS and our collaborators have been developing a toolbox of interventions to help coral reefs recover from the effects of climate change, and resist warming temperatures caused by climate change.
The scientific and technological advances made by teams from the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP) have resulted in innovative approaches to large scale reef restoration, such as coral seeding. While teams continue to refine these techniques, attention is expanding how to bring this restoration research out of the lab and into large scale reality on the Great Barrier Reef.
A key step in progressing the current science to its restoration reality involves using the power of local people. As demonstrated by the Boats4Corals project, involving people power, their skills vessels and local knowledge is proving to be an effective way to engage and share knowledge with the community, and build from relatively small numbers of coral delivered onto reefs to potentially millions of corals in reef areas.
Stepping up scale - capacity building activities in North Queensland in 2024
During the November capacity building project, 10 community and industry groups, and science and engineering teams are joining forces in Cairns and Port Douglas to learn the ropes of coral seeding on nearby reefs.
Their activities are based around the annual Great Barrier Reef coral spawning event. Participants across tourism, aquarium trade, maritime services and Traditional Owners will work from industry vessels. The crews will be trained in emerging methods for collecting and delivering large volumes of coral larvae and young corals onto reefs, developed by the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program.
This is the first time these industries in the Far North Queensland region have participated with these more developed restoration approaches, held at Agincourt Reef near Port Douglas, and Elford Reef near Cairns. The crews will harvest coral egg and sperm bundles from natural spawning slicks on the ocean surface during the spawning event, then deliver them into floating larval pools at sea, where the developing larvae are held. After several days, or up to a week, the young corals will be transferred to the reef using two different methods:
- Larval release involves rearing the coral larvae in the pools until they are ready to ‘settle’ on the reef surface. At this time, the larvae will be released directly from the pools onto a reef.
- Settlement devices will allow the coral larvae to settle onto special devices within the pools and become young coral polyps. These devices are then transported and delivered onto a reef, providing structure for the larvae to grow on.
As well as valuable training and knowledge sharing with the industry participants, the exercises in 2024 will help the science and engineering teams assess practicality, safety, efficiencies and costs. These findings will improve current and future interventions, improving on building coral numbers for the future.
Why is this needed?
Climate change is the greatest threat to reefs worldwide. Reducing emissions is critical to ensuring the future of coral reefs around the world. However good local management and interventions to restore reefs are also required.
The Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program is a consortium dedicated to creating an innovative toolkit of safe, acceptable interventions to help the Reef resist, adapt to, and recover from the impacts of climate change.
Collaboration team
Dr Mark Gibbs – Program Director, Pilot Deployments Program (AIMS)
Pilot Deployments Program team
RRAP research providers including SCU, QUT and CSIRO
Community and industry participants
This project is supported by:
Australian Government’s Reef Trust
Australian Institute of Marine Science
The Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, funded by a partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation and its partnership with Qantas
