Coral Gardening - Nursery Phase — Mafia Island

OPP-VJTJGZpermanent identifier · cite as oceanportfolio.org/p/OPP-VJTJGZ

Published as: Testing the first phase of the 'gardening concept' as an applicable tool in restoring denuded reefs in Tanzania. | Technique: Coral Gardening - Nursery Phase | Disturbance addressed: General degradation | Genera: Acropora, Millepora, Pocillopora, Porites | Method: Two mid-water nurseries were established, each holding 10,000 fragments, at 4m depth. Each nursery comprised six species, each of which was represented by three genotypes. During 9 months, survivorship and growth rates of fragments were compared between the different nurseries, species and genotypes. | Survival of transplants reported by the source: 90.7333% | Post-restoration monitoring: 9 months | Authors' conclusion: A significant difference between species survival and growth rates was observed in acroporid species, in Pocillopora verrucosa and Millepora sp., which showed better success than Porites cylindrica. In both sites, Millepora suffered no mortality and other species exhibited low mortality, during the first two nursery months. Coral species in Zanzibar nursery performed better in growth rates than those in Mafia, but in both sites, farmed corals were ready for transplantation just 9 months after the nursery was set up. | Lessons reported: Economic evaluations involved in the overall nursery set-up and the results indicated that the coral gardening approach could be used in Tanzania to generate large quantities of coral colonies for the restoration of damaged reefs at relatively low cost. | This record was compiled from a published source and has not been confirmed by the organisation that carried out the work. No contribution to the condition index is recorded: the source reports survival of transplanted material, which is not a measure of ecosystem condition.

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