Howdy one and all! Being part of any organization that emphasizes marine conservation, World Ocean’s day is a big deal. While it is true that world oceans day is every day here at REEF, it’s great to see other conscience divers come together to make a difference. This World Ocean’s Day I had the great fortune to see up close the result of everyone’s team work.
One of the advantages to living and working in Key Largo is the large quantity of non-profit and marine conservation organizations that exist right around the corner. As an intern, we are encouraged to take time to volunteer at these other organizations. For World Ocean day, I had the privilege of volunteering with the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF) during their Coralpalooza event.
CRF focuses on the restoration of coral reefs by actually growing elkhorn and staghorn corals in offshore nurseries. In the nurseries, there are several PVC “trees” that are tethered to the bottom and made buoyant through the use of subsurface floats. On these trees, the corals are hung using monofilament line and allowed to grow. Once they reach a certain size, the coral is then fractured into smaller pieces and tagged. Some of the fragments will be placed back into the nurseries where they will be allowed to grow until they are big enough to repeat the process. Other fragments will be selected to be planted out on select sites on the reefs.
Coralpalooza attempts to bring a greater recognition to World Ocean’s day, as well as conservation issues facing the earth’s oceans. During the event, I was a member of two teams. On the first team, we worked in the nursery. On the first dive, group leaders cut the large staghorn coral, while the rest of the team tagged all corals selected for out planting, and hung the remaining fragments back on the trees. On the second dive, we preformed some cleaning and maintenance on the trees. Fire coral, other growth, and any biofouling organisms are cleaned off the trees to ensure the best growing conditions. During the afternoon dives, the team worked on using non-toxic epoxy to plant the harvested coral from the nurseries at various reefs in Key Largo. Our site was particularly shallow and the surge was intensive. It was hard work, but very rewarding and extremely fun!
Having done most of my undergraduate research on oysters and corals, it was refreshing to take a break from fish and work with invertebrates once more. I thoroughly enjoyed my time volunteering with CRF, and am most grateful for hosting the event and allowing myself and many others to make a difference. I look forward to continue sharing more wonderful experiences with everyone. Best Fishes and happy diving!
