Icri Resolution On Artificial Coral Reef Restoration And ...
INTERNATIONAL CORAL REEF INITIATIVE
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ICRI Resolution on Artificial Coral Reef Restoration and Rehabilitation
This Resolution was tabled and discussed at the ICRI General Meeting in Seychelles on
Wednesday, 27 April 2005. It was approved after 14 days of further discussion on the
ICRIForum.
Recognising that there is often an urgent need to restore and rehabilitate coral reef and
associated ecosystems following major damage;
Agrees that artificial systems cannot replace a natural coral reef and do not function as
effectively as a living reef;
Agrees that some artificial rehabilitation and restoration may be appropriate under particular
environmental circumstances for small areas of coral reefs of particular economic value or
following maritime accidents or natural disasters;
Noting that there is a proliferation of artificial rehabilitation techniques and ‘engineering’
solutions;
Concerned about the lack of adequate scientific evidence about the ecological and economic
effectiveness of most of these techniques and solutions;
Concerned that the limited financial resources for coral reef conservation may be diverted
away from the most urgent tasks of removing chronic stresses;
Advises governments, international organisations and NGOs to examine carefully claims
promoting ‘engineering’ solutions for coral reef rehabilitation and restoration, and to seek
advice from the ICRI Operational Networks and other independent experts, and;
Agrees to establish an Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Restoration and Rehabilitation with
the following Terms of Reference and present an initial report on to the next ICRI General
Meeting in November 2005:
Terms of Reference
a. Request the International Society for Reef Studies (ISRS), in consultation with the
Coral Remediation Working Group of the Coral Reef Targeted Research and
Capacity Building program (of the Global Environment Facility, World Bank,
University of Queensland, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of
UNESCO, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the
CRISP (Coral Reef Initiative in the South Pacific) to prepare a discussion paper. This
paper should focus on the scale of the problem facing coral reef countries and assess
the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of proposed ‘engineering’ solutions for
coral reef rehabilitation compared to natural recovery mechanisms. Questions to be
addresses, inter alia, are appended to this Resolution (Appendix 1);
b. Prepare guidance for ICRI members on the suitability and effectiveness of different
proposed ‘engineering’ solutions and present this guidance to ICRI for consideration
and lodge this on ICRIForum and/or the ‘coral list’; and
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c. Prepare guidance for proponents of coral reef restoration and rehabilitation
techniques on developing the most suitable and effective techniques and avoiding
engineering techniques that may exacerbate environmental damage. This guidance
should be presented to ICRI for consideration.
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Appendix 1: The use of engineered construction for coral reef rehabilitation
Many techniques involving some form of engineered construction have been proposed as
coral reef rehabilitation techniques. These include:
• artificial reefs (sometimes called restoration modules) constructed of different
materials and in various shapes;
• ‘electric’ reefs constructed of metal and including an electric power source;
• re-cemented reefs using glue, cement, plastic or other binding techniques; and
• transplantation using living corals (and other organisms) from other areas.
Following damage to coral reefs from natural disasters, such as coral bleaching, tropical
storms and the recent tsunami, governments and private organizations have naturally sought
to repair damaged coral reefs rapidly to improve amenity for tourists and ensure fisheries
productivity. Some proponents of engineered construction have made claims unsupported by
scientific evidence that these methods have the potential to rehabilitate and restore damaged
coral reefs (often with an inference that the repair will be effective and permanent over large
areas).
The proponents of this ICRI Resolution are in agreement that:
• Artificial reefs of any kind cannot replace a natural reef and do not function as
effectively as a living coral reef;
• Coral reefs can usually repair themselves quickly if environmental conditions are
suitable, and chronic disturbances are reduced;
• Artificial reefs may offer some solutions for rehabilitation of reefs damaged through
shipping accidents or to construct specific displays within aquaria or at severely
damaged sites used by tourist operators, however, the current technology has not
advanced sufficiently to develop such artificial reefs that function as a natural coral
reef;
• The applicable scale of these techniques is to repair damaged reef areas of a few
square meters, but such methods may never be viable or feasible for larger-scale
coral reef rehabilitation on the scale of square kilometres;
• Long-term, peer reviewed scientific and cost-benefit studies are generally lacking to
document reef restoration success or failure. Additional research should be
encouraged and supported;
• These techniques have the potential to cause environmental damage to coral reefs
and associated ecosystems during construction and operation;
• Investments in coral reef conservation and preservation should therefore focus on
removing the causes of coral reef decline and facilitating natural and long-term
recovery.
The proponents of this ICRI Resolution suggest that the following basic questions should be
answered prior to applying reef rehabilitation methods:
• Is a lack of colonisable habitat a limiting factor for coral settlement and reef
development?
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• What it the area of damaged reef that is targeted for rehabilitation?
• What are the chances for natural recovery of the reef? For example: are there
available natural sources of coral larvae; are there stable habitats for settlement; and
are environmental conditions favourable for reef growth?
• What is the cost per square meter of treatment to achieve a viable, functioning reef?
• How much will a proposed treatment cost to repair a substantial area of damaged
reef?
• What are the potential economic of sociological returns if a reef is rehabilitated?
• What are the likely impacts on surviving reef areas used as a source of collected
transplant colonies?
• What is the likelihood of survival to normal growth and reproduction of colonies
transplanted onto artificial structures?
• Have the causative stresses that led to reef damage been addressed/removed?
• Will any added structures be stable in the long-term and not degrade, thereby
creating a future problem?
A fundamental problem on many degraded reefs is the well-documented shift in ecological
function from coral dominated to algal dominated communities due to some combination of
overfishing and eutrophication and, in some situations, soil run-off from adjacent land. These
changes have affected hundreds to thousands of square kilometres of coral reef around the
world over the past 25 years. On such damaged reefs, there is usually abundant and
potentially available hard substratum for new settlement of hard coral recruits. The problem
is often that any new coral recruits are quickly out-competed by algae.
Such a fundamental ecological imbalance is unlikely to be solved by adding artificial reefs,
whether ‘electric’ or concrete. Rather, efforts should be focused on removing the cause of
the imbalance. These methods frequently involve transplanting adult colonies to the artificial
reefs, however, the survival and growth of these transplants cannot be assured if
environmental conditions are not favourable.
Adult coral transplantation has been applied for over 30 years to rehabilitate relatively small
areas (10s of square meters) of coral reef. In special cases, such as a ship grounding or a
damaged ‘house reef’ of a tourist resort, it may be cost-effective to attempt rehabilitation if
the reef has a high economic value for tourism, education or an insurance claim. In addition,
artificial reefs may be useful for preventing beach erosion, for creating interesting structures
for divers to visit, and for increasing habitat for fishes. Prior to attempting artificial
rehabilitation, it is essential to reduce or remove the original causes of coral loss e.g. due
over-fishing, sedimentation and nutrient enrichment.
A symposium was held in Phuket to examine rehabilitation of reefs in 1998;
www.ncl.ac.uk/tcmweb/rehab/workshop.htm. Little has changed since 1998 to alter the
conclusions of this meeting and they remain applicable: rehabilitation of large areas of reef
through transplantation and artificial reef construction will generally be too expensive to be
practical on a large scale; newly transplanted corals will probably die if the fundamental
environmental imbalances that caused reef corals to die have not been remedied.
Summary:
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• the scale of recent damage to coral reefs is of the order of 100s of square kilometres.
The use of artificial ‘electric’ or concrete reefs, and adult coral transplantation to
restore large reef areas is neither feasible nor prudent;
• the effectiveness of artificial reef restoration is unproven, potentially very expensive,
and any construction project on coral reefs can potentially cause environmental
damage;
• there is a substantial risk of misdirection of a scarce coral conservation funds and
effort if rehabilitation/ restoration techniques are not used wisely; and
• promotion of artificial reef restoration may encourage a view that any reef
degradation can be repaired to return reefs to a ‘natural’ state.
Gregor Hodgson, Executive Director, Reef Check
Clive Wilkinson, Coordinator, GCRMN
Richard Kenchington, Board Chair, International Coral Reef Action Network
Kristian Teleki, Managing Director, International Coral Reef Action Network
Richard Dodge, Nova University, Florida
