Biggar
New member
Get ready to see more staghorns and elkhorns in our waters off the keys.
Who is your daddy now Bali and Fiji?
Great job CRF and all supporters, keep up the great work!
CRF made history again with the first ever nursery-raised elkhorn restoration last summer. Eighteen second-generation elkhorn corals were sponsored by second time Restoration Sponsor, EcoTech Marine, to be outplanted on Molasses Reef. Patrick Clasen, Justin Lawyer, and Tim Marks of EcoTech Marine CRF staff outplantingwere joined by Jeff and Joleen Turner of Boyd Enterprises for two days of diving the elkhorn nursery and reef last July. The newly attached corals were tagged and will be monitored for growth and survivorship. CRF has since outplanted additional elkhorn corals on Molasses, and has plans to outplant 6,700 elkhorn corals on Upper Keys reefs over the next few years.
CRF began its elkhorn nursery on Snapper Ledge in 2009. Today the nursery has 13 genotypes, and over 850 corals. Most grow on disks due to recreational traffic and fishing at Snapper Ledge, but CRF is now growing elkhorn on trees in the other existing CRF nurseries.
BONAIRE NURSERY
CRF president, Ken Nediymer, and his wife and CRF board member, Denise, traveled to Bonaire in August to continue the Bonaire coral restoration program. They spent the week performing maintenance on the corals hung last April, and meeting with local government officials, resort owners, and dive operators.
The CRF team instaKen in Bonairelled two coral nurseries in Bonaire last April. One nursery is located directly off of Buddy Dive Resort, and the other near Klein Bonaire. Buddy Dive staff have visited the nurseries weekly since installation, and cleaned the trees and coral. Ken and Denise, took a photo inventory of the broodstock corals and developed a nursery work plan for the week. Both staghorn and elkhorn corals did extremely well with very high survival rates and robust growth. Ken and Denise along with the Buddy Dive staff, pruned new growth off the existing broodstock. By the end of the week, 1,150 new staghorn fragments were hung on trees at both locations.
Hundreds of divers are exposed to the nurseries each week, which has led to an overwhelming amount of excitement and support for the project. CRF's next steps for Bonaire include a trip in December 2012 to count and mount for corals, as well as obtain permits for a first outplanting for spring 2013.
Who is your daddy now Bali and Fiji?
Great job CRF and all supporters, keep up the great work!
CRF made history again with the first ever nursery-raised elkhorn restoration last summer. Eighteen second-generation elkhorn corals were sponsored by second time Restoration Sponsor, EcoTech Marine, to be outplanted on Molasses Reef. Patrick Clasen, Justin Lawyer, and Tim Marks of EcoTech Marine CRF staff outplantingwere joined by Jeff and Joleen Turner of Boyd Enterprises for two days of diving the elkhorn nursery and reef last July. The newly attached corals were tagged and will be monitored for growth and survivorship. CRF has since outplanted additional elkhorn corals on Molasses, and has plans to outplant 6,700 elkhorn corals on Upper Keys reefs over the next few years.
CRF began its elkhorn nursery on Snapper Ledge in 2009. Today the nursery has 13 genotypes, and over 850 corals. Most grow on disks due to recreational traffic and fishing at Snapper Ledge, but CRF is now growing elkhorn on trees in the other existing CRF nurseries.
BONAIRE NURSERY
CRF president, Ken Nediymer, and his wife and CRF board member, Denise, traveled to Bonaire in August to continue the Bonaire coral restoration program. They spent the week performing maintenance on the corals hung last April, and meeting with local government officials, resort owners, and dive operators.
The CRF team instaKen in Bonairelled two coral nurseries in Bonaire last April. One nursery is located directly off of Buddy Dive Resort, and the other near Klein Bonaire. Buddy Dive staff have visited the nurseries weekly since installation, and cleaned the trees and coral. Ken and Denise, took a photo inventory of the broodstock corals and developed a nursery work plan for the week. Both staghorn and elkhorn corals did extremely well with very high survival rates and robust growth. Ken and Denise along with the Buddy Dive staff, pruned new growth off the existing broodstock. By the end of the week, 1,150 new staghorn fragments were hung on trees at both locations.
Hundreds of divers are exposed to the nurseries each week, which has led to an overwhelming amount of excitement and support for the project. CRF's next steps for Bonaire include a trip in December 2012 to count and mount for corals, as well as obtain permits for a first outplanting for spring 2013.
