Microfragmentation: an accidental breakthrough for today's dwindling reefs
Did you know, 25% of all marine life is supported by the world's reefs, while they only cover 1% of the seafloor!
9 million species of animals use the reefs as their home.
To mankind the value of these reefs is also just as staggering. In Florida alone, the reefs there have an economic value of more than 5 billion dollars as a supplier of food, medicines, cosmetics and tourism!
The reefs feed over 1 billion of the earths inhabitants.
The great barrier reef in Australia is the largest living structure in the world.
And of course they are stunning, and add to the visual aspect of the ocean immensely, all the while also acting like grass on sand...securing the floor from the moving of the ocean waters.
Those are amazing stats!
Mankind of course, like a parasite, uses those wonders of the earth until the resource is practically nil.
Unfortunately this is the truth for the worlds reefs as well, as they are dwindling around the world at an alarming rate due to quite a few human related factors like sports, developments, fishing, pollution etc.
Over the last few decades, the coral reefs in Florida have declined by 50-80%.
The problem is that the repair and recovery of these reefs is not a fast process.
Large reefs grow between 0.3cm to 2cm per year on normal coral reefs, and branching coral reefs can grow up to 20cm in a year!
It takes 25 to 75 years for coral to become sexually mature.
That is not fast at all.
It can take up to 10000 years to form a decent coral reef from a group of larvae!!
As you can see, this is a major issue in the oceans, and we needed a break to help with the survival of these essential parts of the oceans.
An accident changes the game!
Dr David Vaughan was removing some coral from the bottom of a tank when it broke into a dozen pieces.
he left those pieces in the tank and to his shock these pieces regrew to the same size in just a few weeks, which process usually took 3 years to do with the original coral!
With this discovery they have now increased the propagation time of the reefs by over 40x the speed!!
And even better, this process of "micro-fragmenting", and it consists of breaking a coral up into smaller pieces of 1 to 5 polyps using a specialized saw.
These pieces are placed into small tanks with water at the ideal temperatures of 22-26 degrees Celsius, where they remove the algae and debris regularly.
This method has been so successful that they cant keep up with the supply of tanks for the growth of the coral.
These fragments, or clones, recognize each other because they are of the same coral, and because of this they don't fight each other for resources, but fuse together to form larger colonies.
It takes just 4-12 months of growth for the fully grown corals to be ready to be planted back into the ocean, or fragmented again to create further colonies!
What would take 100 years to do, now is done under 2 years using these methods, and the Elizabeth Moore International Center have successfully planted more than 20 000 corals into the depleted reefs in the Florida Keys, and plan to have 100 000 by the end of 2019!
Transplanting coral onto the reef
Fact is, worst case scenario, this will be a sufficient slowing down of the destruction of the reefs that we may find the solution or force the protection of the reefs sufficiently to save them.
Best case scenario, this may actually be a saving method for them!!
Old method
{Credit](http://cropinsurancesolutions.com/coral-farming/)
"Until now, most coral farms have been constructed under water. Resembling the way you line your crops in a field, underwater coral farms are built in rows using rope and strategically placed coral reef fragments. After months of care, meticulous placement of sunlight and flow of water, the fragments reach maturation and are transported to a dying coral reef. These healthy fragments latch on to the dying reef, and either overpower or help protect the dying one. With dying reefs, fishermen must travel all around their island to find a place for even sparing amounts of fish. By healing our coral reefs, they are able to place their nets in nearby and find success."
I love nature and find these sorts of things wonderful and exciting! I want to shake Vaughan's hand for the great mistake made, and using that for such a wonderful way forward.
I find it quite humorous that this is generally the way we all learn, through making mistakes and learning from them.
I have done quiet a bit of research of sunscreens on skin cancer and dwindling coral reefs, major contributor of both I hear! If you just turn that horrible bottle around and look at all the ingredients this comes as no surprise. Cheer$;)
Hey mate, thanks man. Ja Ive heard about the dangers of the stuff!!
Howdy sir towjam! oh, that is such great news! I remember reading about the Great Coral Reef in Australia and how it was dying out so this could save it, I wonder if this is being used there?
Anyway, great information and inspiration, there's still hope out there! lol.
They are definitely using this method on the great barrier reef!!
It is very exciting news
Oh that's very good to hear sir towjam, thank you!