With the rapid decline of coral reefs across the globe, the pressure is on to make reef restoration scalable. Current outplanting methods confront three main bottlenecks: 1) a turbulent working environment, 2) inefficient multi-step protocols, and 3) time-consuming and physically demanding steps. Improvements in outplanting throughput and reliability can be achieved through reduction and streamlining of diver-coral interaction time. The “Rock Lobster Out-planting System” is a concept that was originally prototyped at the 5th International Marine Conservation Congress. It was developed to provide an end-to-end coral outplanting system that allows for quick attachment and removal of coral fragments: from the nursery to the target reef. Early usability and workflow estimates indicate that the Rock Lobster System could reduce task time from 2 minutes to 15 seconds in the nursery “frag mounting” stage (reducing 5 steps to 3 steps). It could also reduce the “outplanting” stage from 3 minutes to 45 seconds (reducing 9 steps to 4 steps). By minimizing tool switching and incorporating “one-hand-only” operations, the needs for the greater dexterity of experienced divers is reduced. Manufacturing and implementation considerations will be discussed, followed by updates on development and ongoing efforts to improve the size, usability, and scalability. The presented work was conducted with the support of the Conservation X Labs and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Coral reef restoration techniques through coral gardening suffer a founder effect. As in the population genetics concept, a small population of pioneers who initiated restoration at a specific region develop the in situ (ocean) nurseries and outplanting (transplantation) methods. The techniques developed by this “parent population” are perpetuated by their “offspring” resulting in a regional speciation. Today, the coral reef restoration techniques applied in the Tropical Western Atlantic are markedly different from those applied in the Indo-Pacific. As we move towards large scale (hectares) and mega-scale (thousands of hectares) coral reef restoration, we will need to look beyond our region and learn from solutions found in other parts of the world, or develop new ones. Here, I evaluate ocean nurseries and outplanting methods around the world and provide guidelines on how to choose the best methods based on your needs and resources rather than the founder effect in your region. Basic selection criteria include coral growth type (branching/tabular vs massive/encrusting), project scale (area to be restored), projected coral nursery stock, nursery carrying capacity, nursery site footprint, and degraded site conditions.

Coral communities are productive ecosystems and are recognized for their wide distribution. In the Mexican Pacific there is a relatively low diversity of coral species, but they are adapted to thermal anomalies that under normal conditions cause bleaching. Despite having suffered damage from the strong events of El Niño in 1997 and 2015, the corals have maintained a slow but steady recovery and the species of the genus Pocillopora, which are the main reef builders, stand out. For this reason, a restoration based on this type of coral may be a way to improve the ecosystem conditions. In the Espiritu Santo Archipelago National Park, a restoration program was initiated implementing different methods and they were compared to define which is more successful. 200 naturally generated coral fragments of the genus Pocillopora were recovered and fastened to the bottom with plastic and epoxy resin straps. The colonies were followed from November 2017 to July 2018 to estimate their growth and survival rates, and with these data a predictive model was generated to know temporal trends. The average growth of the surface covered by each fragment was 23.57 cm2 per year, with the straps method having the highest growth (28.05 cm2/year vs. 19.89 cm2/year). The survival of the fragments was 73%, and mortality was higher in fixed corals with straps (32%) than in resin (22%), although the daily mortality rates were not significantly different. Because the strapping method proved to be more efficient because the corals showed greater growth, it is suggested as the most suitable method to apply in a large-scale coral restoration. Finally, a model that incorporated the average mortality and growth rates indicates that a theoretical cohort of initial corals would reach the maximum coverage between 3 and 4 years, but then the living surface would decrease until it was the same as the original after 15 years. This indicates that a successful restoration effort should ideally repeat the placement of fragments every 3 years, to maintain the maximum level of recovery.

The U.S. Territory of American Samoa is located in the Central South Pacific and consists of five high volcanic islands and two atolls, forming the easterly portion of an archipelago shared with independent Samoa. Historically, American Samoa has strong ecological, economical, and cultural reliance on their coral reefs. From a scientific perspective, the corals of American Samoa, particularly those in Ofu (Manu’a Islands), have attracted countless world-renowned scientists for decades due to their high thermal tolerance and low mortality during global bleaching events. In September 2009, the devastating impacts of a tsunami led to the first community-based coral restoration initiatives in Leone Village on Tutuila Island. The aim was to restore 18.3 acres of coastal wetland habitat, which included establishing large coral rope nurseries and smaller cement ‘fales’ on the reef flat. However, ongoing success and expansion of restoration efforts has been challenging in American Samoa. Here, we will present Leone Village as a case study to share our goals, challenges and solutions for future restoration projects from the perspective of a small, developing country with high cultural and traditional values, difficult environmental conditions, and limited capacity and resources. Further, American Samoa hosted the 40th US Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) Meeting in August, 2018 where coral restoration and need to upscale efforts was an important focus. The USCRTF Restoration Working Group drew on lessons from U.S. jurisdictions’ restoration initiatives, their failures and successes, overarching needs, and limitations for increasing restoration efforts. The key gaps and needs highlighted by U.S. jurisdictions will also be presented.

In 2011, Mars, Inc. set-up a Coral Reef Restoration Program in the Spermonde Archipelago off the coast of Makassar, Sulawesi. With local communities and scientists we developed a simple, effective and scalable way to rebuild a coral reef – the Mars Assisted Reef Restoration System (MARRS). We rebuild the reef from the bottom-up using uniquely shaped, coated steel structures – called ‘spiders’ – with live coral fragments tied to them. Spiders are connected under water to form a large web on the degraded reef surface and secured to the ocean floor. We believe the real success of the MARRS approach lies in the ability to ‘jump-start’ a degraded reef back to life by providing it with the right platform (spiders) and conditions to speed up its natural recovery to a point where no further human intervention would be required. We have built over 3 hectares of reef, on 3 islands around Sulawesi and Bali, installing in excess of 15,000 spiders with 250,000 coral fragments, which we think makes this the largest coral reef restoration program in the world. Through building reefs we have been able to practice and refine the technique, build capacity and ownership with local communities in developing specialist businesses and skills – such as the production of spiders and tying on coral. Finally we have built capacity by developing an experienced team who are able to ‘build’ a new reef structure consisting of 500 spiders (7,500 coral fragments) in 2 days. We have observed that this approach enables the reef to recover fast, with new coral coverage exceeding 50% in just 2 years. Within 18 months the spiders become incorporated into the reef structure. The spider mosaic provides structural complexity for reef dependent fish, which enable coral fragments to thrive. MARRS is adaptable to different environments and allows deployment of different coral species at scale and speed. It is complementary to existing methods to select, grow and plant out coral. Building on the success in Indonesia, we are now forming partnerships to show MARRS works in different conditions and locations around the world.