Copy

 

The Department of Fisheries Malaysia Research Division conducts research, assessment, and restoration projects of coral reefs outside marine parks. Photo credit: Daud Awang

RESTORATION OF THE MONTH: Sabah, Malaysia

  • The Department of Fisheries Malaysia has the responsibility to conserve coral reef ecosystems according to the Fisheries Act 1985.

  • The Department of Fisheries Malaysia and Layang-Layang Island Resort with support of Royal Malaysia Navy, National Security Council, Sabah Tourism Board, Sabah Community College and NGOs have been restoring Acropora and Pocillopora coral populations since April 2017.

  • Check out more #mydof on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.  

Welcome to May Restoration Community!

 

CRC Leadership is in the final stages of tweaking our structure to be more inclusive, transparent, and diverse. We will be sharing the updated governance document later this month and informing you about upcoming webinars.

In the meantime... drum roll… we’d like to announce… our first ever call for Steering Committee Members!!

In the interest of maintaining diversity, inclusion, and a rotation of perspectives, while keeping some stability, we will be keeping a few members of the existing Steering Committee (SC) and seeking a few new voices. We are looking for folks from a broad range of geographies worldwide. You can represent any type of institution (small or large NGOs, private business, research/academic, government/management agency), as long as you and your organization are committed to reef restoration and have the time and interest to serve.

Responsibilities include: guiding the role of coral restoration in conserving coral reefs worldwide, international collaboration and report out, reviewing CRC priorities and products, helping to plan in-person leadership meetings and the next Reef Futures symposium, and working with the CRC Working and Regional Groups. We estimate at least a 1 day/month time commitment and the appointment is for four years (July 2019 - July 2023).

Nominations can be made by anyone including self-appointment. Please see the NOMINATION FORM for a more detailed description of responsibilities and submit by Friday May 31st. Selected candidates will be informed by the end of June.

If you want to join a Core Working Group

or the Australia Team Chapter - please contact coral.restoration@noaa.gov.

CRC ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • The CRC has a new Australia Team Chapter! This group will be chaired by Ian McLeod (James Cook University) and Nathan Cook (Reef Ecologic), and both are eager to find interested practitioners, managers, and scientists to provide a network/ society of practice to collaborate coral reef restoration efforts on the “Eastern” side of the globe. SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER to become a member of the CRC, and sign up for the “Australia (Eastern Pacific) Team Chapter” to get correspondence from the Australia/Eastern Pacific network!

  • At the end of May, the CRC and Reef Resilience are hosting a webinar on underwater large-area imaging (aka photomosaics) and how it can help us monitor coral restoration. If you’re interested in the topic, please help target the webinar to your interests by taking this quick 5-10 minute survey before Thursday May 9th.

PARTNER ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • The Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) has developed a Caribbean Coral Disease Watch portal with 3 new tools to share information and track the stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) outbreak including:

    • Disease Watch Survey Online – An online survey to enter information on presence/absence, coral species affected, location, and ability to upload photos.

    • Map of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in Caribbean – An online map to track recent reports of SCTLD and details of observations.

    • Educational Information – disease outbreak, identification guides, photos, reports, and additional resources.

    • Be on the lookout for signs of SCTLD, report disease observations and take photos for verification. For questions contact us at info@agrra.org.  

  • Training Announcement: The Reef Resilience Network Restoration Mentored Online Course is now open for registration! This course will run from NOW - 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 as well as direct access to leading restoration experts. Register here using the enrollment key Restoration2019.

  • NOAA & The Nature Conservancy's Reef Resilience Network are hosting a webinar May 8th, 11:00AM - 12:00PM EDT.  Registration is required for “Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease: Lessons Learned & Resources from Florida.” Florida’s coral reefs have been experiencing devastating effects of a multi-year outbreak of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). This disease has now been observed and reported in several other Caribbean locations. Join us to hear from Dana Wusinich-Mendez (NOAA), Maurizio Martinelli (Florida Sea Grant), and Dr. Andrew Bruckner (Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary) as they discuss status and trends of SCTLD.

  • The EBMTools Network and OCTO have a full line-up of webinars for the next several months. Webinars will be co-hosted with TNC's Reef Resilience Network, sponsored by the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), and will discuss finance tools for coral reef conservation and management. Both webinars will be presented twice for optimal US and Australian times. Check out the Wildlife Conservation Society, in collaboration with the Conservation Finance Alliance, Finance Tools for Coral Reef Conservation: A Guide in support of the 50 Reefs initiative.

  • Introducing WikiCoral, a site started by one of our Coral Listers to keep track of research into how corals are expected to be impacted by climate change, along with any techniques that could mitigate those impacts.

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENTS  

  • The Central Caribbean Marine Institute is looking for a Director of Research and Distinguished Scientist Position Providing Information Exchange among Users of Marine Resources in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Region. Open until filled.

  • The Nature Conservancy is hiring a Coral Aquaculture Supervisor to lead development and operations of a land-based coral nursery and lab facility in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, as part of TNC's Caribbean Coral Strategy. Applications due May 25, 2019.

  • The Laboratory of Integrative Marine and Coastal Ecology at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute -Florida Atlantic University seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow to contribute to molecular ecology projects in the Caribbean Sea and Florida. Applications due May 31, 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 NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) is soliciting ocean exploration proposals to address knowledge gaps and support growth in the Nation's Blue Economy and/or to contribute to Seabed 2030 goals. Proposals are being requested on the following three topics: 1. OCEAN EXPLORATION, 2. MARINE ARCHAEOLOGY, and  3. TECHNOLOGY. The pre-proposal deadline is May 24, 2019. Questions may be directed to oer.ffo2020@noaa.gov.

UPCOMING MEETINGS:

2019

2020

MAY 2019 MEDIA ROUNDUP

Email coral.restoration@noaa.gov to have your news & research included.

Check out 'Growing Corals' – the new SECORE film by Reef Patrol and see how they plan to restore coral reefs on meaningful scales by keeping corals' genetic diversity with larval propagation tools.

SECORE announces the First Online Game Supporting Reef Restoration! With CryptoCorals,  gamers buy virtual corals to breed “Super Corals”, and funds plant real corals at field sites.

Finger Coral Fragments Grow Successfully On The Reef in Curaçao! Valérie Chamberland and Kelly Latjinhouwers visited a reef site outplanted with micro-fragments of finger coral in 2017, which have grown into healthy, thriving colonies. Photo credit: Valérie Chamberland

The first coral fragments planted in post-hurricane restoration in Cole Bay (St. Maarten) - Nature Foundation is out-planting Man of War Shoal Marine Protected Area as part of its “Fragments of Recovery, Coral Reef Restoration Programme.”

Going Coral Gardening at Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF) Curaçao - Other Curaçao dive shops have joined CRF to establish coral nurseries, plant coral communities and train local divers to help care for the nurseries and educate the community on the importance of protecting our oceans.  Photos: Tom Elliott

Red Planet Thailand has partnered with 4Ocean, Earth Hour, and a number of local conservation NGOs and volunteers from Baan Din Thai Volunteer Spirit Network to plant new coral reefs at Samae San island in Chonburi.
Scientists track Florida’s vanishing barrier reef. Researchers test a tool for measuring how fast the reef is eroding and how much time Florida's coral reef has left.  Photo: Dominique Gallery (USGS)

Building Young Eco-Warriors. The Reef Institute’s marine experts (Dr. Charlie Gregory, Leneita Fix, & Elizabeth Harrigan) educate students on how Think Tanks can help the oceans, ecosystems, and habitats in Florida and beyond.
The U.S. Postal Service has Issued New Postcard Stamps to celebrate the beauty and wonder of coral reefs as well as raise awareness!
The Florida Aquarium grows coral to save reefs in the wild: More than 3,000 staghorn corals will be released onto the Florida Reef Tract.
Florida Aquarium, in partnership with Keys Marine Laboratory & others has completed a large outplanting to replenish reefs on Long Key, FL.
Research:

News:

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.

We encourage you to get involved! We are updating our CRC website to make information more readily available, and CRC’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube channel have news and current events related to coral reef restoration.
Find Out More
Copyright © 2019 Coral Restoration Consortium, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.