Coral Restoration and Monitoring Program

10/7/03  
Report to Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

 Enclosed is the baseline report, as required by SAL #03SR-741, showing firm attachment and health of the corals on the repair site.  We returned to the site 6 months later and verified the stability and health of the reattached specimens.  This report includes 2 pictures of each coral, one on the  repair site  and one on the control site ,less than 20 feet away. 

Coral head "D" which was originally thought to be dying because it had expelled most of its zooxanthellae, leaving only a fringe of  color along the edges as it lay upside down.

After turning it right side up, it has recolonized its algal symbionts and appears healthy except where it has been scraped.  We interpret this to mean that corals in general can survive for several weeks without light as long as other marine algae, bacteria or invertebrates do not take advantage of their weakened condition.

 Except for a Cyanobacteria  bloom, these sites are in good shape.

             This still does not mean that immediate remediation is not necessary. Our Florida reefs are under enormous stress from natural and anthropogenic agents and need all the aid we can give them as proximately as possible.

All corals on both sites are within the DGPS below.

Latitude   25 degrees, 15.866 minutes N

Longitude 80 degrees,  04.276 minutes W

          All corals are referenced to a stainless steel rod in the drawings, called “datum spike”.

Figure #1   Drawing of the site from divers slate  (map p1.jpg)

Figure #2   Three repaired corals in same picture (abc.jpg)

Figure #3   Coral D,   (d.jpg)

Figure #4   Control coral #1  (1.jpg)

Figure #5   Control coral #2  (2.jpg)

Figure #6   Control coral #3  (3.jpg)

Figure #7   Control coral #4  (4.jpg)                 

          All corals are Montastrea sp (probably cavernosa)</{FŒÞB>