Abstract Summary
In the Caribbean, there are numerous organizations propagating corals in nurseries for use in restoration and population enhancement. The most common species is Acropora cervicornis followed by Acropora palmata, both of which are listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA Recovery Plan for these two species promotes scaling up of nursery efforts as one of the actions to promote species recovery. As coral propagation is becoming more common and widespread, there is a need to track outplanting efforts, particularly for ESA-listed species, to gauge their distribution and cumulative impact on population status. A preliminary database was developed to collect information, including species, number of corals outplanted, and outplant location, from nursery operators. The information was initially collected only for Acropora species in US jurisdiction, but through the work of the Coral Restoration Consortium, information collection has expanded to include additional species and locations throughout the Caribbean. This information can be spatially depicted in GIS to show information such as nursery locations, species distribution, genotype locations, and outplants through time. The database can be used for a number of purposes such as to inform best management practices, increase partner collaboration, identify priority areas or gaps, or help with scaling up of restoration. We envision an online portal for easy data entry and searchable content that would allow users to download data for their own studies and management purposes. We will present data, maps, and capabilities we have developed to date.
