giving back to the ocean

[reeflagoon]

as everyone knows i am building a prop system thats still underway. and also people im sure knows that parts of florida close the to beaches are trying to rebuild reefs. i am looking into giving back to the ocean with this prop system for every coral that i frag a frag gets set aside and at the end of the month will be sent off to help rebuild the reefs, maybe we can get everyone on reef central at the end of the month to donate frags to go back into the ocean. as much as everyone here loves reefing it would suck for our kids to never get the chance to see a reef but in a history book. let me know what everyone think on this matter maybe we can make RC the largest donor to saving the reefs.

 

[jdhuyvetter]

Just curious, how do you plan to get these corals back to the ocean? What agencies are involved?

 

[oldtank]

 

[rhoptowit]

great idea, but this will never fly with marine biologists.

 

[ReefWreak]

Yeah.. I dunno if this was meant to be a serious post or not... but I'm 100% certain that you're NOT allowed to put corals back into the ocean, nor take them to propagate from FL.

Believe me, if it were allowed, every reefer in south FL with a halfway respectable tank would have their tanks FILLED with frags of native corals, would grow them out and then return them to the ocean. While we hope that we'll never be in such a poor position that we have to captivity breed our corals to repopulate the oceans, at the same time many if not most of us would jump at the chance to help out, as most Floridians are avid appreciators of our aquatic ecosystem.

Where did you get this idea?

 

[reeflagoon]

i was just thinking about it today and came across a site where they were talking about building reefs in Alabama and florida useing the reef ball method. i know alot of the corals come from other places but who's to say that we can't add those same corals here. not saying it can't been done just have to have the want to do it. im also sure that building the worlds largest indoor ski resort in the desert can't be done either.

 

[billsreef]

There are lots of reasons not to add corals from different locales to the Florida reefs. Species from the Pacific might overwhelm Atlantic species or introduce a disease to the Atlantic reefs for instance. As a result of such concerns, coral restoration projects need to be done with the local species of corals. The reason an area needs restoration also needs to be addressed, as simply adding new frags to a destroyed area is not sufficient if the cause of destruction still exists.

If your serious about this, look up the different folk actively involved in current reef restoration work and contact them

 

[ctenophors rule]

pathogen alert!!!!!!!

armagedon!!!

its the lion fish, and caulerpa all over again!!!

were all going to die!!

all kidding aside, the risk of a non native highly invasive pathogen is too high..i know that in the palm b each post their was an article involving tampa school kids, and native staghorn coral breeding in captivity, to be released into the wild....u could try looking that up..i heard about it on "ircreefing" if that helps..

good luck my brotha!

 

[jdhuyvetter]

I seriously doubt any Pacific corals would survive in Florida waters. Pacific corals come from very stable reefs. We have a good 15-20 degree temperature swing from winter to summer in Florida waters. I can't think of any Pacific corals that are in reef tanks that would survive.

Second, taking stony corals from Florida waters is a illegal. Time to go to jail!!! There are a couple of schools and research institutes that are currently working on Atlantic coral propogation. (Mote Marine and the Florida Aquarium are ones that I know of)

 

[JHemdal]

jdhuyvetter,

Actually, it has already happened: The Tubastrea aurea (orange cup coral) in the Western Atlantic is a Pacific Ocean transplant. Most people think it is native, but actually it was brought accidently on the hulls of old ships.

Jay

 

[billsreef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15509626#post15509626 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdhuyvetter
I seriously doubt any Pacific corals would survive in Florida waters. Pacific corals come from very stable reefs. We have a good 15-20 degree temperature swing from winter to summer in Florida waters. I can't think of any Pacific corals that are in reef tanks that would survive.

Just like in the Atlantic, there are sub tropical areas in the Pacific were corals grow just like in Florida

 

[jdhuyvetter]

But what hobbyists are actually keeping these corals? I would have to say very few. I just don't think a plan like this would succeed with hobbyists providing the corals for three reasons

1. Extremely limited number of hobbyists have access to corals that would actually survive in Florida waters, especially the northern Gulf of Mexico.

2. I agree, absolutely no Indo-Pacific corals should be used.

3. Government red tape. Especially Florida. While I think permitting a few individiuals with aquaculture certificates to collect and grow Atlantic species for restoration is a good idea (and has been discussed by some researchers), it will take decades to get it approved and operational.

 

[Elan L.]

There is a program down here in s. fl that people help survey and culture, mount etc native species of corals in Biscayne National Park, but it is run by the government and park officials. The hobbiest's are just volunteers that are very helpful.

 

[Gamepro_inc]

Yea this is the same problem with the batfish being released in the keys and overwelming the current species in the area. Apparently they are not native to the area but someone has released them there and now FWC has to try to catch them. Lets keep our oceans native and natural, its fine in our tanks to have an array of species from all over the world but there is a reason for our oceans to only have certain species in certain areas.

 

[MikeTV1]

I would think you would do better aquaculturing your corals for sale / trade than for repopulating the oceans. The more you produce and sell / trade, the fewer that have to be collected. Plus they are cultured for our tanks and should be hardier as a result.
Add the losses that occurs with wild collection, you would probably be a better aid to the reefs by selling.