Australia's national science agency, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is collecting “coral slicks” (coral spawn = the pink floating bits!) to restore damaged parts of the Great Barrier Reef.

RESTORATION OF THE MONTH: Queensland, Australia

• The Recovery of Coral Reefs Using Industrial Techniques (RECRUIT) project aims to restore coral across the whole reef, and they are meeting this challenge through trialing an industrial-scale coral restoration approach.

• Our new method of collecting coral spawn slicks means that we can transport larvae anywhere, including areas that have suffered major damage and don’t have a natural supply of new larvae coming in.

Happy April Restoration Community!

The CRC Leadership has been actively revising the CRC’s Governance Document as well as tweaking the structure of the CRC to be more inclusive, transparent, and diverse. We expect to be able to share this updated document next month and inform you about upcoming Working Group webinars!

Additionally, we expect to be soliciting nominations for new members of the CRC Leadership soon. Please stay tuned for details on all of the above. In the meantime, subscribe to the CRC YouTube Channel to see
presentations from Reef Futures 2018!

PARTNER ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• Training Announcement: The Reef Resilience Network Restoration Mentored Online Course is now open for registration! This course will run from April 15 - May 24, 2019 and is designed to  provide coral reef managers and practitioners with information on common techniques and best practices for coral reef restoration. It features 6 self-paced lessons on topics such as restoration planning and design, coral gardening, larval propagation, physical reef restoration, rapid response to disturbance events, and monitoring, as well as webinars, online discussion on the Reef Resilience Network Forum, and direct access to leading restoration experts. Register here using the enrollment key Restoration2019.

• Check out 'Growing Corals' – the new SECORE film by Reef Patrol, which shows SECORE’s collaborative work and vision in a nutshell. This short clip outlines their approach to restore coral reefs around the world. Please share broadly!

• Reef Ecologic is offering a Reef Restoration Masterclass in the Asia Pacific Region that will provide technical instruction in addition to hands on reef restoration training by industry experts. Participants are expected to acquire essential background knowledge provided by the online program offered by the Reef Resilience Network prior to participation.

• Check out this TOOLKIT and coral outplanting instructional video produced by Nature Seychelles!

• Join the International Coral Reef Society (ICRS) today and be part of a global team of reef scientists! Only 16 months to ICRS2020 - discounted early registration fees are greater for those that are members during the two years prior to registration, so sign up now!

• UN Declares Decade of Ecosystem Restoration - The United Nations today recognized the critical role of ecosystem restoration as a tool for improving environmental conditions and enhancing human communities. This global recognition comes after growing calls and commitments by the international community to put ecological restoration at the forefront of national agendas. The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) applauds this important step toward focusing the world’s attention on the imperative of restoring degraded ecosystems.

• The Great Barrier Reef Foundation announces the Reef Water Quality Improvement Grant Program. Eleven projects with a proven track record of improving water quality on the GBR have been awarded grants through the Reef Trust Partnership (RTP).

 POSITION ANNOUNCEMENTS  

• The Mote Marine Lab’s Reef Restoration Program is seeking Land-based Coral Nursery Interns.

• Mote Marine Laboratory is hiring a Postdoctoral Research Position at the Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration in Summerland Key, Florida, to identify and incorporate resilient coral genotypes into restoration efforts. Anticipated start date: May 1, 2019.

FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Mote Marine Lab has scholarships available for college interns in Summerland Key, Florida.

• The Navy has just announced a Broad Agency Announcement and is seeking proposals for a variety of "technologies and methodologies to reduce environmental impacts from current and past Navy operations worldwide.” One of the topic areas (No. 2) involves conservation of natural resources and specifically calls out endangered species and the Coral Reef Executive Order.  

• The Coral Bleaching RCN Early Career Training Program is offering 4 awards to early career researchers to learn a new skill relating to coral bleaching, including laboratory or field method, data analysis tool, or other skills relevant to the study of coral bleaching within the 2019 calendar year. Applications due 15 April 2019.

UPCOMING MEETINGS:

2019

• May 7-9 (Queensland, Australia): Australian Coral Reef Society (ACRS) Conference 2019.  

• May 15-17 (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic): 4th Caribaea Initiative Research & Conservation Conference covers coastal resilience and coral reef restoration.  

• May 20-24 (Punta Cana, Dominican Republic): 39th Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean (AMLC) Meeting hosted by the Grupo Puntacana Foundation- special session on Marine Connectivity in the Caribbean. Check out AMLC’s Facebook page for more information on student travel awards and grants-in-aid.  

• Jun 4-6 (Washington, D.C.): Capitol Hill Oceans Week 2019.

• June 25-26 (Tumon, Guam): 5th Guam Coral Reef Symposium. Call for abstracts - deadline 29 May, 2019.

• Jul 29-Aug 2 (Cartagena, Colombia): 7th International Symposium on Deep-Sea Corals.

• Sep 9-13 (Berlin, Germany): 5th Young Earth Scientists Network (YES) Congress 2019.  

• Sep 24-28 (Cape Town, South Africa): 8th World Conference on Ecological Restoration (SER).

• Sep 30 - Oct 3 (Berlin, Germany): Wildlife Research and Conservation 2019 (WRC2019) an exchange of ideas between wildlife scientists studying life-history and phenotypic plasticity, conservation genetics, assisted reproduction, ethics linked to management, and more. Organised by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.

• Nov 3-7 (Mobile, Alabama): 25th Biennial Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Conference.

 2020

• Jul 5-10 (Bremen, Germany): 14th International Coral Reef Symposium.

• Aug 24-27 (Kiel, Germany): 6th International Marine Conservation Congress.

APRIL 2019 MEDIA ROUNDUP

Research:

• Andersson, ER. et al. (2019). Evaluation of Sample Preparation Methods for the Analysis of Reef-Building Corals Using 1H-NMR-Based Metabolomics. Metabolites 2019, 9(2), 32.

• Cornwall, W. et al. (2019). The Reef Builders. Science, 363: 6433, pp. 1264-1269. doi:10.1126/science.363.6433.1264    

• Ladd, MC; Burkepile, DE & Shantz, AA. (2019). Near-term impacts of coral restoration on target species, coral reef community structure, and ecological processes. Restoration Ecology, February, pp. 1-11.

• Smale, DA. et al. (2019). Marine heatwaves threaten global biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services. Nature Climate Change, Volume 9, pp. 306–312.

• Wangpraseurt, D. et al. (2019). Optical properties of corals distort variable chlorophyll fluorescence measurements. Plant Physiology. doi:10.1104/pp.18.01275.

News:

• The Conversation (Mar. 4). Beaches (in Palau) are banning sunscreens to save coral reefs.

• The Conversation (Mar. 4). Suffering in the heat: the rise in marine heatwaves is harming ocean species.

• Chalias, V. (Mar. 13). North Sulawesi Is Home To Some Of The Biggest Live Coral Colonies.

• Sunday Observer (Mar. 10). Insee Cement launches coral restoration Phase 2.

• Yale Climate Connections (Mar. 14). Startup called Coral Vita wants to protect corals by farming them.

• Shrikant, A. (Mar. 18). Tourists are flocking to locations threatened by climate change. That only makes things worse.

• Derby, K. (Mar. 20). Florida Representatives Want to Crack Down on Oxybenzone, Octinoxate (harmful sunscreen compounds) Near National Marine Sanctuary System Coral Reefs.

• Hamilton, R. (Mar. 26). Audubon environmental education series designed to engage, enlighten and inspire (Miami, FL). Check out the Coral Reef Restoration session June 22 if you are in the area!

• Aldred, J. (Mar. 28). David Obura: ‘We are not doing enough to combat the decline of coral reefs’.

• The Conversation (Mar. 31). Bleaching has struck the southernmost coral reef in the world.

The mission of the CRC is to foster collaboration and technology transfer among coral restoration scientists, practitioners, and managers, and to facilitate a community of practice that will advance coral restoration to keep pace with rapidly changing ocean and environmental conditions.