1 00:00:04,137 --> 00:00:05,772 >>NARRATOR: In the spring of 2008, 2 00:00:05,772 --> 00:00:08,909 an 84-foot pleasure boat departed from Fort Lauderdale 3 00:00:08,909 --> 00:00:11,445 bound for the Caribbean. 4 00:00:11,445 --> 00:00:12,980 30 miles south of Miami, 5 00:00:12,980 --> 00:00:15,816 it strayed from marked navigation channels 6 00:00:15,816 --> 00:00:20,454 into the shallow waters of Biscayne National Park. 7 00:00:20,454 --> 00:00:24,925 Suddenly, running at full speed, it collided with a coral reef 8 00:00:24,925 --> 00:00:27,127 near Elliot Key. 9 00:00:27,127 --> 00:00:30,998 Corals, sponges and sea fans were instantly obliterated 10 00:00:30,998 --> 00:00:35,235 as the boat's twin propellers plowed through the reef. 11 00:00:35,235 --> 00:00:39,206 The engines were disabled, and the powerless vessel 12 00:00:39,206 --> 00:00:44,111 drifted in the wind until grounding on a second reef. 13 00:00:44,111 --> 00:00:48,515 Here, the wind and waves rocked the boat on its hull, 14 00:00:48,515 --> 00:00:51,552 shattering the ancient coral mounds and pounding 15 00:00:51,552 --> 00:00:55,022 the reef into rubble. 16 00:00:55,022 --> 00:01:00,394 A coral reef that had taken centuries to grow 17 00:01:00,394 --> 00:01:03,397 was destroyed in just moments. 18 00:01:07,401 --> 00:01:09,002 Two-and-a-half years later, 19 00:01:09,002 --> 00:01:13,240 coral researchers and resource managers are searching 20 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:18,478 for solutions to help the ocean's declining coral reefs. 21 00:01:18,478 --> 00:01:20,514 Can new technologies 22 00:01:20,514 --> 00:01:23,617 and naturally occurring biological mechanisms 23 00:01:23,617 --> 00:01:27,421 help restore lost coral communities? 24 00:01:27,421 --> 00:01:29,823 And can ecological balance 25 00:01:29,823 --> 00:01:32,926 be returned to Florida's coral reefs? 26 00:01:57,884 --> 00:02:00,787 >>Major funding for this program was provided 27 00:02:00,787 --> 00:02:02,889 by the Batchelor Foundation, 28 00:02:02,889 --> 00:02:05,592 encouraging people to preserve and protect 29 00:02:05,592 --> 00:02:09,563 America's underwater resources. 30 00:02:17,571 --> 00:02:20,741 >>NARRATOR: Biscayne National Park is an undersea garden 31 00:02:20,741 --> 00:02:27,080 filled with multicolored sponges, corals and sea fans. 32 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:29,983 At the northern extent of the Florida Keys reef tract, 33 00:02:29,983 --> 00:02:34,054 its sea grass beds, coral reefs and mangrove shorelines 34 00:02:34,054 --> 00:02:37,991 cover more than 170,000 acres, 35 00:02:37,991 --> 00:02:41,128 a gem in the national park system, 36 00:02:41,128 --> 00:02:45,132 but an area with a history of damaging boat groundings. 37 00:02:51,905 --> 00:02:56,476 Corals in Biscayne National Park and on a global scale 38 00:02:56,476 --> 00:03:00,781 are in a serious state of decline due to stresses 39 00:03:00,781 --> 00:03:05,519 like climate change, disease outbreaks and overfishing. 40 00:03:05,519 --> 00:03:10,857 Since the late 1970s, close to 98% of staghorn 41 00:03:10,857 --> 00:03:14,795 and elkhorn corals have disappeared from the reefs 42 00:03:14,795 --> 00:03:17,330 in Florida and the Caribbean. 43 00:03:17,330 --> 00:03:20,834 Because corals are having such a difficult time persisting, 44 00:03:20,834 --> 00:03:25,172 resource managers want to restore boating impacts 45 00:03:25,172 --> 00:03:30,177 like the 2008 grounding site in the park. 46 00:03:32,212 --> 00:03:34,881 >>When the vessel grounded, it crushed up the surface 47 00:03:34,881 --> 00:03:39,953 of the reef into a rubble field, and we're trying to use 48 00:03:39,953 --> 00:03:45,959 a combination of adhesives to stabilize that rubble. 49 00:03:47,294 --> 00:03:49,696 We're collecting the rubble into mounds 50 00:03:49,696 --> 00:03:53,700 like this and like this... 51 00:03:55,469 --> 00:04:00,607 and we'll be using a combination of cement and natural sponges 52 00:04:00,607 --> 00:04:03,977 that are found right here on the reef 53 00:04:03,977 --> 00:04:08,982 to bind this rubble to stabilize it through time. 54 00:04:12,119 --> 00:04:15,021 Right now, the rubble mounds are just in the process 55 00:04:15,021 --> 00:04:19,126 of being put together. 56 00:04:19,126 --> 00:04:22,162 We're installing rebar stakes like this that will help us 57 00:04:22,162 --> 00:04:25,899 monitor them through time. 58 00:04:25,899 --> 00:04:29,136 And we'll be looking at such things as coral recruitment, 59 00:04:29,136 --> 00:04:33,306 the stability of the mounds themselves, if they change 60 00:04:33,306 --> 00:04:35,308 in size and shape and height. 61 00:04:37,878 --> 00:04:39,713 And we'll probably monitor these 62 00:04:39,713 --> 00:04:42,716 for a period of at least five years. 63 00:04:51,224 --> 00:04:53,693 >>NARRATOR: Researchers at the University of Miami 64 00:04:53,693 --> 00:04:57,230 have developed one of the first underwater applications 65 00:04:57,230 --> 00:05:00,433 for mosaic imaging, a technique comparable 66 00:05:00,433 --> 00:05:03,737 to aerial photography on the land. 67 00:05:03,737 --> 00:05:07,541 This technology will create useful perspectives 68 00:05:07,541 --> 00:05:14,047 of the coral reef and grounding site in Biscayne National Park. 69 00:05:14,047 --> 00:05:17,784 The diver swims back and forth in a lawnmower-like pattern, 70 00:05:17,784 --> 00:05:22,789 recording overlapping images of the underwater landscape. 71 00:05:22,789 --> 00:05:24,991 Later, at the university laboratory, 72 00:05:24,991 --> 00:05:29,262 a single seamless image of the reef is produced. 73 00:05:29,262 --> 00:05:31,932 >>This is basically an unprecedented baseline, 74 00:05:31,932 --> 00:05:34,467 in terms of the amount of information that you can get 75 00:05:34,467 --> 00:05:37,504 in a very short amount of time. 76 00:05:37,504 --> 00:05:40,841 >>NARRATOR: Three-dimensional images can be created over time 77 00:05:40,841 --> 00:05:44,344 to show reef areas where corals grow best, 78 00:05:44,344 --> 00:05:50,016 the places where restoration is most likely to succeed. 79 00:05:50,016 --> 00:05:54,554 New growths of soft corals and sponges are returning 80 00:05:54,554 --> 00:05:58,725 to the grounding site, but the boat's most damaging impacts 81 00:05:58,725 --> 00:06:01,928 are still evident. 82 00:06:01,928 --> 00:06:04,898 >>The damage extends several hundreds of square meters, 83 00:06:04,898 --> 00:06:08,635 and really, there's no easy way to document that. 84 00:06:08,635 --> 00:06:11,304 Here, we're able to use the video and the stills 85 00:06:11,304 --> 00:06:15,141 to really cover the entire area, both the affected area, 86 00:06:15,141 --> 00:06:17,811 and also the community around it, so that we know 87 00:06:17,811 --> 00:06:23,383 what this area should look like when it's fully restored. 88 00:06:23,383 --> 00:06:25,619 >>NARRATOR: Coral reef restoration gained traction 89 00:06:25,619 --> 00:06:28,588 in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary 90 00:06:28,588 --> 00:06:31,725 with marine biologists like Harold Hudson, 91 00:06:31,725 --> 00:06:34,728 "The Reef Doctor," and Ken Nedimyer. 92 00:06:38,131 --> 00:06:42,135 Hudson, a restoration specialist for the sanctuary, 93 00:06:42,135 --> 00:06:45,005 perfected a design for "reef modules" 94 00:06:45,005 --> 00:06:47,474 that were used for the structural repair 95 00:06:47,474 --> 00:06:50,810 of a large vessel grounding site, the Wellwood, 96 00:06:50,810 --> 00:06:55,515 on Molasses Reef near Key Largo. 97 00:06:55,515 --> 00:06:59,552 Nedimyer performed the biological restoration 98 00:06:59,552 --> 00:07:04,824 with transplanted corals grown in his undersea nursery. 99 00:07:04,824 --> 00:07:07,193 His restoration plan was validated 100 00:07:07,193 --> 00:07:10,163 when it was discovered that the transplants on the reef 101 00:07:10,163 --> 00:07:16,036 were spawning several years sooner than expected. 102 00:07:16,036 --> 00:07:17,037 >>I was real excited. 103 00:07:17,037 --> 00:07:18,405 I thought, man, this is amazing, 104 00:07:18,405 --> 00:07:21,308 because this is exactly what we've been trying to say 105 00:07:21,308 --> 00:07:22,709 that we're going to do, 106 00:07:22,709 --> 00:07:27,881 which is reestablish these spawning populations of corals. 107 00:07:27,881 --> 00:07:31,351 It brought a whole new life to the possibility 108 00:07:31,351 --> 00:07:33,820 of not just putting corals back on the reef, 109 00:07:33,820 --> 00:07:36,856 but reestablishing breeding populations that could then 110 00:07:36,856 --> 00:07:41,594 repopulate other downstream areas. 111 00:07:44,597 --> 00:07:47,267 >>NARRATOR: Nedimyer's coral nursery is the largest 112 00:07:47,267 --> 00:07:52,138 in the country, and a model for many coral aquaculturists. 113 00:07:52,138 --> 00:07:55,842 Here, you encounter 100 rows of coral fragments 114 00:07:55,842 --> 00:07:58,745 mounted on concrete blocks. 115 00:07:58,745 --> 00:08:00,547 Each coral is attached to a disc, 116 00:08:00,547 --> 00:08:04,584 with a label designating its origin and genotype, 117 00:08:04,584 --> 00:08:06,152 or genetic properties. 118 00:08:10,423 --> 00:08:12,993 More than a thousand staghorn cuttings are strung 119 00:08:12,993 --> 00:08:16,796 from six line nurseries suspended in the water column 120 00:08:16,796 --> 00:08:22,402 by floats, and cross-tied with horizontal lines. 121 00:08:22,402 --> 00:08:24,304 >>On a line nursery, they grow down, 122 00:08:24,304 --> 00:08:26,806 they grow to the side, they grow all different directions. 123 00:08:26,806 --> 00:08:29,542 And another thing that's nice about them-- if a turtle 124 00:08:29,542 --> 00:08:33,980 or a shark or a fish bumps against them on the line, 125 00:08:33,980 --> 00:08:35,882 they just bounce out of the way and they swing right back 126 00:08:35,882 --> 00:08:37,350 to where they were. 127 00:08:37,350 --> 00:08:40,620 If a turtle bumps against a coral that's firmly mounted 128 00:08:40,620 --> 00:08:44,457 on a disc, it'll break it off. 129 00:08:45,959 --> 00:08:48,728 >>NARRATOR: Nedimyer cultivates staghorn coral, 130 00:08:48,728 --> 00:08:51,131 one of the principal reef building corals 131 00:08:51,131 --> 00:08:53,433 and one listed as threatened 132 00:08:53,433 --> 00:08:56,369 under the Endangered Species Act. 133 00:08:56,369 --> 00:08:58,738 He cultivates them in his nursery for a year, 134 00:08:58,738 --> 00:09:02,442 then transplants them to the reef. 135 00:09:04,811 --> 00:09:07,814 >>One of the things we need to be doing is preserving 136 00:09:07,814 --> 00:09:10,550 the genetic diversity that we still have. 137 00:09:10,550 --> 00:09:14,020 And if we don't preserve as much of that as possible right now, 138 00:09:14,020 --> 00:09:18,024 we won't have anything to work with in ten or 15 years. 139 00:09:24,097 --> 00:09:27,167 >>NARRATOR: Research Associate Tom Capo and colleagues 140 00:09:27,167 --> 00:09:30,737 at the University of Miami's experimental hatchery 141 00:09:30,737 --> 00:09:34,741 are preserving the genetic diversity of orphaned corals 142 00:09:34,741 --> 00:09:38,411 whose survival was threatened by storms, boat groundings 143 00:09:38,411 --> 00:09:40,647 and anchor pulls. 144 00:09:40,647 --> 00:09:42,615 Some were recovered from the grounding site 145 00:09:42,615 --> 00:09:44,851 in Biscayne National Park. 146 00:09:44,851 --> 00:09:47,320 Researchers are trying to answer questions 147 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:53,059 about a destructive phenomenon known as coral bleaching. 148 00:09:53,059 --> 00:09:54,060 >>What's going on? 149 00:09:54,060 --> 00:09:55,161 Is it disease? 150 00:09:55,161 --> 00:09:57,464 Is it some sort of water quality parameter? 151 00:09:57,464 --> 00:10:00,733 And many of these questions cannot be answered easily 152 00:10:00,733 --> 00:10:01,968 in the field. 153 00:10:01,968 --> 00:10:06,773 So the goal is to have a coral genetic bank, 154 00:10:06,773 --> 00:10:09,476 a coral resource that we can 155 00:10:09,476 --> 00:10:12,312 provide genetically maintained strains of coral 156 00:10:12,312 --> 00:10:15,048 to bona fide researchers around the world, so that they 157 00:10:15,048 --> 00:10:17,450 can look at these problems, at these issues, 158 00:10:17,450 --> 00:10:20,587 and look at them in a scientific way. 159 00:10:20,587 --> 00:10:24,424 >>NARRATOR: In a partnership between Biscayne National Park 160 00:10:24,424 --> 00:10:26,826 and the University of Miami, 161 00:10:26,826 --> 00:10:30,797 trained volunteers assist Capo with a labor-intensive process 162 00:10:30,797 --> 00:10:35,201 known as "fragmentation" to produce a large number 163 00:10:35,201 --> 00:10:38,104 of small coral specimens. 164 00:10:38,104 --> 00:10:40,807 >>You should have one ready for him now. 165 00:10:40,807 --> 00:10:43,910 I mean, he should not stop. 166 00:10:43,910 --> 00:10:46,112 >>NARRATOR: Travertine plates are marked, 167 00:10:46,112 --> 00:10:49,983 drilled and fitted with passive integrated transponders, 168 00:10:49,983 --> 00:10:54,988 or PIT tags, that will give each coral a unique identity. 169 00:10:58,024 --> 00:11:00,293 The large corals are cut into fragments, 170 00:11:00,293 --> 00:11:04,230 each about an inch-and-a-half in diameter. 171 00:11:04,230 --> 00:11:09,302 The bottom surface is shaped on a tile saw. 172 00:11:09,302 --> 00:11:12,338 The fragment is thoroughly dried... 173 00:11:13,907 --> 00:11:16,910 super-glued to a PIT tag plate, 174 00:11:16,910 --> 00:11:20,780 and catalogued for future reference. 175 00:11:22,815 --> 00:11:25,919 Half of the fragments will be transplanted 176 00:11:25,919 --> 00:11:30,089 at the coral restoration site in Biscayne National Park. 177 00:11:30,089 --> 00:11:33,660 The other half will remain at the facility for monitoring 178 00:11:33,660 --> 00:11:38,064 and lab studies to help Capo and coral researchers 179 00:11:38,064 --> 00:11:41,901 answer another difficult question. 180 00:11:41,901 --> 00:11:43,836 >>How can we enhance all this to make 181 00:11:43,836 --> 00:11:47,407 the only real reef tract in the continental United States 182 00:11:47,407 --> 00:11:50,543 a viable place rather than seeing it deteriorate 183 00:11:50,543 --> 00:11:55,782 like it's been doing over the past ten years? 184 00:11:55,782 --> 00:11:59,152 >>NARRATOR: One of Capo's research partners, Martin Moe, 185 00:11:59,152 --> 00:12:01,955 a marine biologist in the Florida Keys, 186 00:12:01,955 --> 00:12:05,458 believes he has an answer. 187 00:12:05,458 --> 00:12:10,630 >>In 1983, there was this tremendous plague 188 00:12:10,630 --> 00:12:12,765 and it hit only one organism. 189 00:12:12,765 --> 00:12:17,370 And that was the long-spined sea urchin, Diadema antellerum, 190 00:12:17,370 --> 00:12:20,073 that occupied all the reefs of the Caribbean, 191 00:12:20,073 --> 00:12:22,275 the Bahamas, Florida. 192 00:12:22,275 --> 00:12:26,446 They were all very densely occupied by Diadema. 193 00:12:26,446 --> 00:12:30,450 And Diadema performed the essential task 194 00:12:30,450 --> 00:12:33,052 of cleaning the algae off the reefs 195 00:12:33,052 --> 00:12:37,257 and conditioning the substrate so that it would accept 196 00:12:37,257 --> 00:12:40,260 and encourage coral growth, and the growth 197 00:12:40,260 --> 00:12:43,363 of many different kinds of fish and invertebrates. 198 00:12:43,363 --> 00:12:48,368 Within one year, 98% of all the Diadema antellerum 199 00:12:48,368 --> 00:12:50,570 from the mouth of the Panama Canal 200 00:12:50,570 --> 00:12:54,173 all the way up to Bermuda were history, were toast. 201 00:12:54,173 --> 00:12:55,308 They all died quickly. 202 00:12:57,510 --> 00:13:00,246 >>NARRATOR: At first, divers like Ken Nedimyer 203 00:13:00,246 --> 00:13:04,917 were happy about the decline of the sharp-spined creatures. 204 00:13:04,917 --> 00:13:07,020 >>As much as I don't like getting stabbed by them, 205 00:13:07,020 --> 00:13:09,355 I think they're important and I want to have them back. 206 00:13:09,355 --> 00:13:12,558 >>NARRATOR: Like sheep grazing in a pasture, 207 00:13:12,558 --> 00:13:16,296 Diadema sea urchins graze the macroalgae that grow 208 00:13:16,296 --> 00:13:19,899 on the reefs and inhibit coral reproduction. 209 00:13:19,899 --> 00:13:21,634 >>A lot of the problems are directly related 210 00:13:21,634 --> 00:13:23,369 to the lack of sea urchins. 211 00:13:23,369 --> 00:13:25,905 And if you fix all the water quality issues, 212 00:13:25,905 --> 00:13:27,140 and fix all of these other things, 213 00:13:27,140 --> 00:13:29,242 but you don't fix the sea urchin problem, 214 00:13:29,242 --> 00:13:31,010 you're not going to have a coral reef. 215 00:13:31,010 --> 00:13:34,714 Sea urchins play a really important role. 216 00:13:34,714 --> 00:13:38,318 >>Ken and I came to the point of view that the loss 217 00:13:38,318 --> 00:13:43,890 of the Diadema was critical to the decline of the reefs. 218 00:13:43,890 --> 00:13:48,227 Now, our coral reef decline comes from many factors, 219 00:13:48,227 --> 00:13:50,496 not just the loss of Diadema. 220 00:13:50,496 --> 00:13:53,566 But that is certainly one of the most critical elements, 221 00:13:53,566 --> 00:13:56,769 because it's the Diadema that maintain that balance 222 00:13:56,769 --> 00:14:01,007 between coral and algae growth. 223 00:14:01,007 --> 00:14:02,508 >>NARRATOR: With support from 224 00:14:02,508 --> 00:14:05,511 the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, 225 00:14:05,511 --> 00:14:09,582 Nedimyer and Moe did two experimental reef studies 226 00:14:09,582 --> 00:14:12,785 where they reintroduced the Diadema. 227 00:14:12,785 --> 00:14:17,123 A year later, the findings were remarkable. 228 00:14:17,123 --> 00:14:21,527 Juvenile corals increased by more than 150%; 229 00:14:21,527 --> 00:14:24,530 coralline algae, which encourages coral settlement 230 00:14:24,530 --> 00:14:26,699 and growth, was sharply higher; 231 00:14:26,699 --> 00:14:33,139 and macroalgae was reduced from 11% to less than 2%. 232 00:14:33,139 --> 00:14:35,041 >>I started with the Florida Board 233 00:14:35,041 --> 00:14:42,348 of Conservation Marine Laboratory back in 1962. 234 00:14:42,348 --> 00:14:45,151 Florida was a very different place back then. 235 00:14:45,151 --> 00:14:48,755 I worked with the Keys, and the Keys were magical. 236 00:14:48,755 --> 00:14:53,659 I remember going out and diving around John Pennekamp area, 237 00:14:53,659 --> 00:14:58,831 and there were huge stands of elkhorn coral, palmata. 238 00:14:58,831 --> 00:14:59,932 Beautiful. 239 00:14:59,932 --> 00:15:02,335 And it was such a tremendous environment. 240 00:15:02,335 --> 00:15:06,839 And when I came back in the late '90s, 241 00:15:06,839 --> 00:15:08,875 the reef was so much different. 242 00:15:08,875 --> 00:15:13,813 And it was so sad to see what was a glorious coral environment 243 00:15:13,813 --> 00:15:19,552 just become, for the most part, a lot of algae covered rocks. 244 00:15:19,552 --> 00:15:23,389 It seemed like the best thing that I could do was to work 245 00:15:23,389 --> 00:15:25,892 with the Diadema, because nobody else was doing it 246 00:15:25,892 --> 00:15:30,129 and it was something essential to do. 247 00:15:30,129 --> 00:15:32,165 >>NARRATOR: Martin Moe is committed to perfecting 248 00:15:32,165 --> 00:15:35,134 the technology to reproduce, or culture, 249 00:15:35,134 --> 00:15:38,137 Diadema in the laboratory. 250 00:15:38,137 --> 00:15:41,974 Today, he begins a new culture process, or run, 251 00:15:41,974 --> 00:15:45,978 by selecting Diadema that are ready to spawn. 252 00:15:45,978 --> 00:15:50,983 Immersing them in a tub of warm water stimulates the spawn. 253 00:15:50,983 --> 00:15:52,685 >>Oh, yeah. 254 00:15:52,685 --> 00:15:53,753 Now that's a male. 255 00:15:53,753 --> 00:15:56,756 You can see the white sperm there. 256 00:16:04,030 --> 00:16:07,900 Yes, sir, that's a female. 257 00:16:07,900 --> 00:16:10,102 We've got spawning-- first three. 258 00:16:10,102 --> 00:16:12,572 How about that? 259 00:16:12,572 --> 00:16:16,142 Okay, this is the product from the spawn. 260 00:16:16,142 --> 00:16:18,678 Apparently, a male and a female both went, 261 00:16:18,678 --> 00:16:23,616 which means that I should have eggs in here. 262 00:16:23,616 --> 00:16:27,119 Oh, yes, that is nice. 263 00:16:27,119 --> 00:16:29,956 I can see fertilization membranes are present 264 00:16:29,956 --> 00:16:34,594 around every egg, so we know we have had a good spawn. 265 00:16:34,594 --> 00:16:36,963 We know we've got good eggs. 266 00:16:36,963 --> 00:16:39,098 Out of, let's say, five million eggs 267 00:16:39,098 --> 00:16:42,101 that were spawned here, which is a pretty good estimate, 268 00:16:42,101 --> 00:16:45,471 and out of those five million, you'd probably be lucky 269 00:16:45,471 --> 00:16:49,442 if one or two made it, in nature, all the way 270 00:16:49,442 --> 00:16:52,612 through the process and became a juvenile. 271 00:16:52,612 --> 00:16:56,716 And then, you'd probably be lucky if one of those survived 272 00:16:56,716 --> 00:17:00,720 into adulthood-- very lucky, actually. 273 00:17:06,926 --> 00:17:07,927 >>NARRATOR: The following morning, 274 00:17:07,927 --> 00:17:11,831 he counts the developing embryos. 275 00:17:11,831 --> 00:17:15,134 >>The eggs hatch in about 18 to 24 hours. 276 00:17:15,134 --> 00:17:18,170 They become blastulas; they become prisms, 277 00:17:18,170 --> 00:17:20,673 which is the initial urchin shape. 278 00:17:20,673 --> 00:17:22,542 >>NARRATOR: The embryos are transferred 279 00:17:22,542 --> 00:17:26,445 to three larvae culture tanks where they will eat and grow 280 00:17:26,445 --> 00:17:29,682 for the next 35 to 45 days. 281 00:17:29,682 --> 00:17:32,385 But unlike other types of invertebrates, 282 00:17:32,385 --> 00:17:35,821 Diadema larvae will die if they settle on the bottom 283 00:17:35,821 --> 00:17:37,156 of the tanks. 284 00:17:37,156 --> 00:17:41,327 Finding a method to mimic the natural ocean current 285 00:17:41,327 --> 00:17:45,164 to keep the larvae in suspension had been Martin's biggest trial 286 00:17:45,164 --> 00:17:47,300 during his early culture attempts. 287 00:17:47,300 --> 00:17:49,969 Maintaining a sterile environment 288 00:17:49,969 --> 00:17:51,737 had been another problem. 289 00:17:51,737 --> 00:17:55,908 Entire runs had failed in the culture tanks. 290 00:17:55,908 --> 00:17:59,445 The weeks ahead will again test his system 291 00:17:59,445 --> 00:18:03,449 and the Diadema's ability to survive. 292 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:11,757 Meanwhile, the fragmented corals from the University of Miami 293 00:18:11,757 --> 00:18:16,562 have arrived at the grounding site in Biscayne National Park. 294 00:18:23,202 --> 00:18:26,205 Volunteer helpers swim with buckets of cement 295 00:18:26,205 --> 00:18:31,711 and crates of tiles to the transplant areas. 296 00:18:31,711 --> 00:18:35,314 Another group has reattached broken pieces 297 00:18:35,314 --> 00:18:39,185 and transplanted nursery-raised coral to the site. 298 00:18:39,185 --> 00:18:42,722 And resource managers are betting on the feasibility 299 00:18:42,722 --> 00:18:45,958 of a new restoration technique. 300 00:18:47,793 --> 00:18:50,630 >>We're going to be using sponges to bind the rubble 301 00:18:50,630 --> 00:18:52,832 that was created by this grounding incident. 302 00:18:52,832 --> 00:18:54,333 And this is the first time we've tried this, 303 00:18:54,333 --> 00:18:57,069 and to our knowledge, the first time that sponges 304 00:18:57,069 --> 00:18:59,472 have been used in an actual restoration project 305 00:18:59,472 --> 00:19:00,940 for this purpose. 306 00:19:00,940 --> 00:19:04,677 >>NARRATOR: Sponges are known to play an ecological role 307 00:19:04,677 --> 00:19:08,614 in binding rubble in a natural reef setting. 308 00:19:08,614 --> 00:19:11,317 There's also evidence that coral will settle and grow 309 00:19:11,317 --> 00:19:16,522 more favorably on an area that's been bound by sponges. 310 00:19:21,293 --> 00:19:24,397 >>Right here, we've marked a sponge where we cut 311 00:19:24,397 --> 00:19:27,500 a fragment off yesterday. 312 00:19:27,500 --> 00:19:29,635 We've tagged and marked this parent colony, 313 00:19:29,635 --> 00:19:32,605 so that we can track it through time and see 314 00:19:32,605 --> 00:19:37,977 how that lesion heals, just to make sure it's doing okay. 315 00:19:37,977 --> 00:19:41,013 The sponge fragment we took from there we've attached 316 00:19:41,013 --> 00:19:43,015 over in our sponge nursery. 317 00:19:46,352 --> 00:19:51,924 Each tile has nine PVC trees. 318 00:19:51,924 --> 00:19:56,896 We attach one sponge fragment to each PVC tree. 319 00:19:59,398 --> 00:20:03,102 We cut these sponge fragments off of the parent colonies 320 00:20:03,102 --> 00:20:05,104 that I showed you earlier. 321 00:20:05,104 --> 00:20:09,475 We're trying to get the cut surface in contact 322 00:20:09,475 --> 00:20:15,581 with the paver stone at least as closely as possible. 323 00:20:15,581 --> 00:20:19,652 Our colleagues have shown that those cut surfaces bind 324 00:20:19,652 --> 00:20:23,122 to whatever they're in contact with very quickly, 325 00:20:23,122 --> 00:20:26,258 if all goes well. 326 00:20:26,258 --> 00:20:30,096 So we hope to come back and see these sponges growing down 327 00:20:30,096 --> 00:20:34,400 onto the tiles, and also up starting to branch out. 328 00:20:37,336 --> 00:20:40,272 And the idea is that, in time, once the sponges grow 329 00:20:40,272 --> 00:20:44,243 and start getting larger, that you can then cut fragments 330 00:20:44,243 --> 00:20:51,016 off of these and use them in restoration projects. 331 00:20:51,016 --> 00:20:53,786 We tried to get all of our fragments cut 332 00:20:53,786 --> 00:20:57,156 to approximately ten centimeters in size. 333 00:20:57,156 --> 00:21:02,261 We harvested these fragments yesterday, and some of them 334 00:21:02,261 --> 00:21:07,666 are starting to show a slightly blackish color. 335 00:21:07,666 --> 00:21:11,637 We're not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. 336 00:21:11,637 --> 00:21:15,341 We're going to be watching these sponges carefully-- 337 00:21:15,341 --> 00:21:17,810 on a daily basis in the beginning-- 338 00:21:17,810 --> 00:21:22,414 and then probably every week or so 339 00:21:22,414 --> 00:21:26,652 to see how they survive and grow. 340 00:21:26,652 --> 00:21:28,788 When they started to turn black, we started to get 341 00:21:28,788 --> 00:21:32,424 very concerned, not knowing if we had done something wrong, 342 00:21:32,424 --> 00:21:35,094 or not knowing if we had potentially killed 343 00:21:35,094 --> 00:21:37,930 all these sponge fragments that we had harvested. 344 00:21:37,930 --> 00:21:41,400 However, we were very relieved to see that, even the next day, 345 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,236 the blackness goes away, the sponges are doing great, 346 00:21:44,236 --> 00:21:46,639 and they appear to be reattaching very quickly 347 00:21:46,639 --> 00:21:49,241 to both the rubble pieces that they've been attached 348 00:21:49,241 --> 00:21:53,746 to and also to the grow out structures. 349 00:21:53,746 --> 00:21:56,348 >>NARRATOR: For 40 days, Martin Moe has been monitoring 350 00:21:56,348 --> 00:22:00,152 the survival and growth of the Diadema larvae. 351 00:22:00,152 --> 00:22:02,621 A week ago, he hit a setback-- 352 00:22:02,621 --> 00:22:06,492 all three cultures were struck by an infestation of Vorticella, 353 00:22:06,492 --> 00:22:10,429 an organism that causes competition for food 354 00:22:10,429 --> 00:22:14,767 and a decline in the larval development. 355 00:22:14,767 --> 00:22:17,336 But one of the cultures showed a larger number 356 00:22:17,336 --> 00:22:20,840 of well-formed larvae than the other two. 357 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,276 He made a decision to dedicate the remaining food supply 358 00:22:24,276 --> 00:22:26,712 to the survival of the well-formed culture 359 00:22:26,712 --> 00:22:29,782 and abandon the others. 360 00:22:29,782 --> 00:22:33,085 It might be the only chance for at least some of the larvae 361 00:22:33,085 --> 00:22:36,255 to reach the settlement phase. 362 00:22:36,255 --> 00:22:38,324 >>Now, this one is ready to come out, 363 00:22:38,324 --> 00:22:42,261 and we can check for settlers on it. 364 00:22:42,261 --> 00:22:46,232 And they settle as larvae, and then they go 365 00:22:46,232 --> 00:22:50,169 through metamorphosis in which the spines and larval tissue 366 00:22:50,169 --> 00:22:53,038 all drop down into the rudiment, and the rudiment becomes 367 00:22:53,038 --> 00:22:55,808 a little round juvenile. 368 00:22:55,808 --> 00:22:58,310 And you can pull it out of the settlement, like this, 369 00:22:58,310 --> 00:23:01,413 and the water stays in these little cubicles. 370 00:23:01,413 --> 00:23:07,553 Then, you put it right down into the settlement tray. 371 00:23:07,553 --> 00:23:10,489 The water in the settlement tray is all adjusted for temperature, 372 00:23:10,489 --> 00:23:14,994 pH, alkalinity, calcium, and it's ready to support 373 00:23:14,994 --> 00:23:20,566 the process of metamorphosis and the early juvenile. 374 00:23:23,235 --> 00:23:25,070 After they go through metamorphosis, 375 00:23:25,070 --> 00:23:28,207 they're a soft little creature. 376 00:23:28,207 --> 00:23:31,110 And they can't survive as a soft little creature. 377 00:23:31,110 --> 00:23:33,412 They have to pull calcium carbonate, 378 00:23:33,412 --> 00:23:37,349 the same stuff your bones are made out of, out of the water, 379 00:23:37,349 --> 00:23:40,386 which is dissolved in the water, and they have to form 380 00:23:40,386 --> 00:23:43,322 their hard parts and their mouth parts so they can 381 00:23:43,322 --> 00:23:48,427 actually scrape and feed and survive as a sea urchin, 382 00:23:48,427 --> 00:23:52,064 rather than a pelagic floating larvae. 383 00:23:52,064 --> 00:23:54,934 And then, it can be carried and placed down 384 00:23:54,934 --> 00:23:59,004 into this raceway kind of facility. 385 00:23:59,004 --> 00:24:00,272 I call it a raceway. 386 00:24:00,272 --> 00:24:03,108 There's a water current that moves all through 387 00:24:03,108 --> 00:24:06,745 the whole tank like this, and as they are settling there, 388 00:24:06,745 --> 00:24:10,215 it keeps the water fresh and clear around them. 389 00:24:10,215 --> 00:24:16,155 They grow and become little urchins on these plates. 390 00:24:16,155 --> 00:24:18,924 At some point, it becomes optimum to be able 391 00:24:18,924 --> 00:24:21,927 to pick the plate up and put it in a bucket. 392 00:24:21,927 --> 00:24:25,130 They'll stay stuck on the plate, and then you can move them 393 00:24:25,130 --> 00:24:30,269 to any kind of a grow-out area that you wish. 394 00:24:30,269 --> 00:24:33,672 >>NARRATOR: After four years of developing the technology 395 00:24:33,672 --> 00:24:36,041 to raise lab-cultured Diadema, 396 00:24:36,041 --> 00:24:40,346 Martin Moe is nearing the end of his quest. 397 00:24:40,346 --> 00:24:43,015 >>When we get to the point where we can produce 398 00:24:43,015 --> 00:24:46,418 large numbers of juvenile Diadema, 399 00:24:46,418 --> 00:24:50,055 then we can begin to research on what is the best way 400 00:24:50,055 --> 00:24:52,992 to reestablish them on the reef. 401 00:24:52,992 --> 00:24:55,627 At that point, along with Ken's work with the corals 402 00:24:55,627 --> 00:24:59,498 and what I've been able to develop with the Diadema, 403 00:24:59,498 --> 00:25:03,435 we can come together and we can achieve at least some semblance 404 00:25:03,435 --> 00:25:06,438 of ecological restoration on the reefs. 405 00:25:12,011 --> 00:25:13,178 >>NARRATOR: At the grounding site, 406 00:25:13,178 --> 00:25:17,416 the sponge transplants are healthy and growing. 407 00:25:17,416 --> 00:25:20,719 Amanda Bourque is watchful as the sponges replicate 408 00:25:20,719 --> 00:25:25,224 their natural behavior in a transformed environment. 409 00:25:25,224 --> 00:25:28,927 But it will take several years of monitoring before the success 410 00:25:28,927 --> 00:25:32,097 of this project is fully known. 411 00:25:36,368 --> 00:25:40,339 Coral reef restoration is an emerging science 412 00:25:40,339 --> 00:25:44,376 built on innovative ideas, lessons learned, 413 00:25:44,376 --> 00:25:48,447 and continual refinement of the human technologies 414 00:25:48,447 --> 00:25:54,453 that are helping nature restore its gardens of the sea. 415 00:26:24,850 --> 00:26:27,286 >>Major funding for this program was provided 416 00:26:27,286 --> 00:26:29,288 by the Batchelor Foundation, 417 00:26:29,288 --> 00:26:32,091 encouraging people to preserve and protect 418 00:26:32,091 --> 00:26:36,091 America's underwater resources.