CRF Archives - Coral Ever After

Coral Restoration in Curacao, Part III

reefdup Scuba Diving July 4, 2020February 8, 2021Coral Restoration, CRF, Curacao, Staghorn 2 Comments

If you missed our previous adventures in Curacao, check them out here:

Classroom Outplant Rigging:

Finally, after some great food and rest, we had our last classwork session with Coral Restoration Curacao. This time we had to take the larger “frags” and outplant them onto the reefs. We practiced with dead coral and a demo bench. The instructor went through the different design iterations they had used. I found it very interesting that their latest design utilizes vertical rebar and dual-horizontal bamboo poles. The corals are then zip-tied twice (once to each bamboo pole) for stability. Our complete work is below.

Coral Restoration Diving the Outplants:

On our last dive (Part II), we were able to frag about 20 colonies and replant them on the nursery.

As shown looking up a nursery tree, we had to choose which corals to outplant, and we had to select the largest and most healthy “chunks.” I can’t call these “frags,” as these were monstrous.

Each coral “chunk” was placed into a weighted milk crate for transportation to the outplant site.

And here’s me, transporting the corals to the site. Precious goods, coming through!

Here is our own outplant site, and this combination of rebar, bamboo, and zip ties will be the new home for a small Staghorn coral reef.

This crate of Staghorn corals was my responsibility. No pressure!

Each Staghorn chunk was double-zip-tied, once to each supporting bamboo rod. Again, this was hard (especially when I accidentally slammed my ankle into some fire coral). It was really hard for me to concentrate after that – I became a bit paranoid! Remember, gloves are not allowed here!

Conclusion:

With any luck, our small little outplant will grow into a beautiful small reef soon, like the one pictured here.

This Staghorn outplant helps a sand bar into a home for so much life while protecting the island.

And maybe, the next time we return, Curacao will have a thriving Staghorn reef again, rivaling its original beauty.

Coral Restoration in Curacao, Part II

reefdup Scuba Diving July 4, 2020February 8, 2021Barracuda, Coral Restoration, CRF, Curacao, Staghorn 2 Comments

If you missed our previous adventure in Curacao, click here:

Coral Restoration in Curacao, Part I

Classroom Training on Populating Nursery Trees:

Next up on our adventure performing coral restoration in Curacao was more classwork time during our surface interval. On our previous dive (Part I), we cleaned the Staghorn coral nursery, and on this upcoming dive, we would get to plant small frags on the Coral Restoration Curacao nursery trees!

First, we had to learn how to make the monofilament rigs to hold the corals and how to frag the corals. We had to get the “frags,” secure the coral in the filament, thread the filament through the tree branch pipe, thread on a crimp (yeah, try not dropping those in the surge), and then crimp it secure.

Here, our instructor is showing us how to wrap the monofilament loop around the coral and cinch it tight. The instructor said they had better success if the corallites were slightly damaged in the process.

A loose loop would only allow the coral to move inside the loop in the current. This friction would continually damage the coral and permit algae to grow.

Crimping the filament tight, crushing a few corallites, would cause the coral to regrow over the filament quickly, before algae could take over.

After our instructor secured the coral with monofilament, she threaded the filament through a hole in the nursery tree. We placed a crimp on top, ready for crimping. This was easy on our nice picnic table in the warm sun. This, in the current, felt nearly impossible.

Populating the Coral Nursery Tree:

After our classroom work and lots of practice, we went out for our second dive. We found an “overgrown” Staghorn tree and began selecting pieces to frag.

We began collecting these Staghorn frags to replant on another nursery tree.

Here is our newly renovated tree! This tree was originally a bit sparse, as its largest coral chunks were outplanted onto the reef. Our job was to take our small frags and hang them here. Easier said than done. Remember how we had to use those tiny crimps? Oh yeah, we definitely dropped a few and had to recover them from the silt. Once again, silly me, I thought this would be easy out on the dive. I only managed to hang a whopping nine corals on our tree (my husband had about the same amount) in about an hour dive. It was a lot harder than it looked.

Here we are in front of our completed tree! It’s a great feeling, knowing that we were able to help with Coral Restoration in Curacao.

Enjoying Diving in Curacao:

Of course, we had to catch some fireworms on the way back.

The barracuda greeted us on the way back again (sorry for all the silt in the photo.) (This is a cleaning station – it’s not barring its teeth at us or anything.) What a great ending to a great dive!

Join us on Part III of our adventure!

Coral Restoration in Curacao, Part III