Times of the Islands Fall 2016

green pages newsletter of the department of environment & coastal resources
The loss of these corals has had large negative effects
on biodiversity, biomass of fishes, and coastal protection
as well as a significant decline in the attractiveness of the
shallow underwater landscape.
Some colonies have survived the outbreak of White
Band Disease and have been reported to be resistant to
the disease, which still persists, but with much-reduced
virulence. The remnant colonies have as yet not been
able to recolonise the reef to anywhere near their former
occurrence.
The Turks & Caicos has several areas of healthy
Elkhorn coral (for example, near Wheeland Cut off the
coast of Providenciales) and there has been a slow
regrowth of Staghorn coral on some of the reefs off
Northwest Point, West Caicos, Pine Cay, and Grace Bay,
but not nearly the density that once existed. The only
area in the TCI that has impressive stands of Staghorn
coral is off the coast of East Caicos, the last remaining
virtually untouched example of what these islands were
like before development began.
Coral reproduce in two ways—both sexually and
asexually. Sexual reproduction occurs when coral polyps
release bundles of sperm and eggs into the water column.
When a sperm bundle comes in contact with an egg
bundle, baby corals, called planulae, are formed. These
free swimming planktonic babies swim toward the light
at the surface of the sea and drift with the currents until
they settle to the bottom and form a new coral polyp.
Asexual reproduction occurs when a piece of a coral
colony is broken off, either by a storm, accidental contact
by humans, or other causes. This coral fragment can
form a new coral colony where it lands on the sea floor.
Sexual reproduction produces a more genetically diverse
offspring than asexual reproduction which produces offspring
with the exact same genetic make-up of the parent
colony.
In early 2016, the Turks & Caicos Reef Fund (TCRF)
was informed that a grant submitted to the European
Union for a project to help restore Elkhorn and Staghorn
corals was funded. The project, which is being led by
IMARES, the research arm of Wageningen University in the
Netherlands, involves four islands in the Caribbean and
tropical Atlantic: St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Saba, and the
Turks & Caicos Islands. The project is called “Restoration
of Ecosystem Services and Coral Reef Quality” or RESCQ
for short.
The three-year project will restore Elkhorn (Acropora
palmata) and Staghorn (A. cervicornis) coral reef zones
by establishing a coral nursery on each of the four islands
to grow coral fragments and ultimately transplant the
newly grown-up corals at selected restoration sites. Coral
fragments (small pieces of living coral) will be harvested
from healthy growths of Staghorn and Elkhorn corals
around the Turks & Caicos and attached to locally built
coral nursery structures.
This close-up shows a coral fragment attached to the ladder rungs.
Within six months to a year they will grow into larger corals.
The type of structure that will be used in the TCI is a
“Coral Ladder” which is a series of bamboo poles (the
rungs of the ladder) suspended between two ropes. Each
ladder will be anchored to the sea floor and supported
vertically with floats to keep the entire structure suspended
in the water column. The small pieces (about 5
cm or 2 inch fragments) of coral will then be attached
to the ladder rungs with monofilament line. After six
months to a year, these small fragments will grow into
much larger corals which can then either be refragmented
to restock the nursery or transplanted on a reef where
they will continue to grow.
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