WEBVTT

00:04.137 --> 00:05.772
>>NARRATOR:In the spring of 2008,

00:05.772 --> 00:08.909
an 84-foot pleasure boatdeparted from Fort Lauderdale

00:08.909 --> 00:11.445
bound for the Caribbean.

00:11.445 --> 00:12.980
30 miles south of Miami,

00:12.980 --> 00:15.816
it strayed from markednavigation channels

00:15.816 --> 00:20.454
into the shallow watersof Biscayne National Park.

00:20.454 --> 00:24.925
Suddenly, running at full speed,it collided with a coral reef

00:24.925 --> 00:27.127
near Elliot Key.

00:27.127 --> 00:30.998
Corals, sponges and sea fanswere instantly obliterated

00:30.998 --> 00:35.235
as the boat's twin propellersplowed through the reef.

00:35.235 --> 00:39.206
The engines were disabled,and the powerless vessel

00:39.206 --> 00:44.111
drifted in the wind untilgrounding on a second reef.

00:44.111 --> 00:48.515
Here, the wind and wavesrocked the boat on its hull,

00:48.515 --> 00:51.552
shattering the ancientcoral mounds and pounding

00:51.552 --> 00:55.022
the reef into rubble.

00:55.022 --> 01:00.394
A coral reef that had takencenturies to grow

01:00.394 --> 01:03.397
was destroyed in just moments.

01:07.401 --> 01:09.002
Two-and-a-half years later,

01:09.002 --> 01:13.240
coral researchers and resourcemanagers are searching

01:13.240 --> 01:18.478
for solutions to help theocean's declining coral reefs.

01:18.478 --> 01:20.514
Can new technologies

01:20.514 --> 01:23.617
and naturally occurringbiological mechanisms

01:23.617 --> 01:27.421
help restore lost coralcommunities?

01:27.421 --> 01:29.823
And can ecological balance

01:29.823 --> 01:32.926
be returned to Florida'scoral reefs?

01:57.884 --> 02:00.787
>>Major funding for thisprogram was provided

02:00.787 --> 02:02.889
by the Batchelor Foundation,

02:02.889 --> 02:05.592
encouraging peopleto preserve and protect

02:05.592 --> 02:09.563
America's underwater resources.

02:17.571 --> 02:20.741
>>NARRATOR: Biscayne NationalPark is an undersea garden

02:20.741 --> 02:27.080
filled with multicoloredsponges, corals and sea fans.

02:27.080 --> 02:29.983
At the northern extentof the Florida Keys reef tract,

02:29.983 --> 02:34.054
its sea grass beds, coral reefsand mangrove shorelines

02:34.054 --> 02:37.991
cover more than 170,000 acres,

02:37.991 --> 02:41.128
a gemin the national park system,

02:41.128 --> 02:45.132
but an area with a historyof damaging boat groundings.

02:51.905 --> 02:56.476
Corals in Biscayne National Parkand on a global scale

02:56.476 --> 03:00.781
are in a serious stateof decline due to stresses

03:00.781 --> 03:05.519
like climate change, diseaseoutbreaks and overfishing.

03:05.519 --> 03:10.857
Since the late 1970s,close to 98% of staghorn

03:10.857 --> 03:14.795
and elkhorn coralshave disappeared from the reefs

03:14.795 --> 03:17.330
in Florida and the Caribbean.

03:17.330 --> 03:20.834
Because corals are having sucha difficult time persisting,

03:20.834 --> 03:25.172
resource managers wantto restore boating impacts

03:25.172 --> 03:30.177
like the 2008 grounding sitein the park.

03:32.212 --> 03:34.881
>>When the vessel grounded,it crushed up the surface

03:34.881 --> 03:39.953
of the reef into a rubble field,and we're trying to use

03:39.953 --> 03:45.959
a combination of adhesivesto stabilize that rubble.

03:47.294 --> 03:49.696
We're collecting the rubbleinto mounds

03:49.696 --> 03:53.700
like this and like this...

03:55.469 --> 04:00.607
and we'll be using a combinationof cement and natural sponges

04:00.607 --> 04:03.977
that are found right hereon the reef

04:03.977 --> 04:08.982
to bind this rubble to stabilizeit through time.

04:12.119 --> 04:15.021
Right now, the rubble moundsare just in the process

04:15.021 --> 04:19.126
of being put together.

04:19.126 --> 04:22.162
We're installing rebar stakeslike this that will help us

04:22.162 --> 04:25.899
monitor them through time.

04:25.899 --> 04:29.136
And we'll be looking at suchthings as coral recruitment,

04:29.136 --> 04:33.306
the stability of the moundsthemselves, if they change

04:33.306 --> 04:35.308
in size and shape and height.

04:37.878 --> 04:39.713
And we'll probably monitor these

04:39.713 --> 04:42.716
for a period of at leastfive years.

04:51.224 --> 04:53.693
>>NARRATOR: Researchersat the University of Miami

04:53.693 --> 04:57.230
have developed one of the firstunderwater applications

04:57.230 --> 05:00.433
for mosaic imaging,a technique comparable

05:00.433 --> 05:03.737
to aerial photographyon the land.

05:03.737 --> 05:07.541
This technology will createuseful perspectives

05:07.541 --> 05:14.047
of the coral reef and groundingsite in Biscayne National Park.

05:14.047 --> 05:17.784
The diver swims back and forthin a lawnmower-like pattern,

05:17.784 --> 05:22.789
recording overlapping imagesof the underwater landscape.

05:22.789 --> 05:24.991
Later, at the universitylaboratory,

05:24.991 --> 05:29.262
a single seamless imageof the reef is produced.

05:29.262 --> 05:31.932
>>This is basicallyan unprecedented baseline,

05:31.932 --> 05:34.467
in terms of the amountof information that you can get

05:34.467 --> 05:37.504
in a very short amount of time.

05:37.504 --> 05:40.841
>>NARRATOR: Three-dimensionalimages can be created over time

05:40.841 --> 05:44.344
to show reef areaswhere corals grow best,

05:44.344 --> 05:50.016
the places where restorationis most likely to succeed.

05:50.016 --> 05:54.554
New growths of soft coralsand sponges are returning

05:54.554 --> 05:58.725
to the grounding site, butthe boat's most damaging impacts

05:58.725 --> 06:01.928
are still evident.

06:01.928 --> 06:04.898
>>The damage extends severalhundreds of square meters,

06:04.898 --> 06:08.635
and really, there's no easy wayto document that.

06:08.635 --> 06:11.304
Here, we're able to usethe video and the stills

06:11.304 --> 06:15.141
to really cover the entire area,both the affected area,

06:15.141 --> 06:17.811
and also the communityaround it, so that we know

06:17.811 --> 06:23.383
what this area should look likewhen it's fully restored.

06:23.383 --> 06:25.619
>>NARRATOR: Coral reefrestoration gained traction

06:25.619 --> 06:28.588
in the Florida KeysNational Marine Sanctuary

06:28.588 --> 06:31.725
with marine biologistslike Harold Hudson,

06:31.725 --> 06:34.728
"The Reef Doctor,"and Ken Nedimyer.

06:38.131 --> 06:42.135
Hudson, a restoration specialistfor the sanctuary,

06:42.135 --> 06:45.005
perfected a designfor "reef modules"

06:45.005 --> 06:47.474
that were usedfor the structural repair

06:47.474 --> 06:50.810
of a large vesselgrounding site, the Wellwood,

06:50.810 --> 06:55.515
on Molasses Reef near Key Largo.

06:55.515 --> 06:59.552
Nedimyer performedthe biological restoration

06:59.552 --> 07:04.824
with transplanted coralsgrown in his undersea nursery.

07:04.824 --> 07:07.193
His restoration planwas validated

07:07.193 --> 07:10.163
when it was discovered thatthe transplants on the reef

07:10.163 --> 07:16.036
were spawning several yearssooner than expected.

07:16.036 --> 07:17.037
>>I was real excited.

07:17.037 --> 07:18.405
I thought, man, this is amazing,

07:18.405 --> 07:21.308
because this is exactly whatwe've been trying to say

07:21.308 --> 07:22.709
that we're going to do,

07:22.709 --> 07:27.881
which is reestablish thesespawning populations of corals.

07:27.881 --> 07:31.351
It brought a whole new lifeto the possibility

07:31.351 --> 07:33.820
of not just putting coralsback on the reef,

07:33.820 --> 07:36.856
but reestablishing breedingpopulations that could then

07:36.856 --> 07:41.594
repopulate otherdownstream areas.

07:44.597 --> 07:47.267
>>NARRATOR: Nedimyer's coralnursery is the largest

07:47.267 --> 07:52.138
in the country, and a modelfor many coral aquaculturists.

07:52.138 --> 07:55.842
Here, you encounter 100 rowsof coral fragments

07:55.842 --> 07:58.745
mounted on concrete blocks.

07:58.745 --> 08:00.547
Each coral is attachedto a disc,

08:00.547 --> 08:04.584
with a label designatingits origin and genotype,

08:04.584 --> 08:06.152
or genetic properties.

08:10.423 --> 08:12.993
More than a thousand staghorncuttings are strung

08:12.993 --> 08:16.796
from six line nurseriessuspended in the water column

08:16.796 --> 08:22.402
by floats, and cross-tiedwith horizontal lines.

08:22.402 --> 08:24.304
>>On a line nursery,they grow down,

08:24.304 --> 08:26.806
they grow to the side, they growall different directions.

08:26.806 --> 08:29.542
And another thing that's niceabout them-- if a turtle

08:29.542 --> 08:33.980
or a shark or a fish bumpsagainst them on the line,

08:33.980 --> 08:35.882
they just bounce out of the wayand they swing right back

08:35.882 --> 08:37.350
to where they were.

08:37.350 --> 08:40.620
If a turtle bumps againsta coral that's firmly mounted

08:40.620 --> 08:44.457
on a disc, it'll break it off.

08:45.959 --> 08:48.728
>>NARRATOR: Nedimyer cultivatesstaghorn coral,

08:48.728 --> 08:51.131
one of the principalreef building corals

08:51.131 --> 08:53.433
and one listedas threatened

08:53.433 --> 08:56.369
under the EndangeredSpecies Act.

08:56.369 --> 08:58.738
He cultivates themin his nursery for a year,

08:58.738 --> 09:02.442
then transplants themto the reef.

09:04.811 --> 09:07.814
>>One of the things we needto be doing is preserving

09:07.814 --> 09:10.550
the genetic diversitythat we still have.

09:10.550 --> 09:14.020
And if we don't preserve as muchof that as possible right now,

09:14.020 --> 09:18.024
we won't have anything to workwith in ten or 15 years.

09:24.097 --> 09:27.167
>>NARRATOR: Research AssociateTom Capo and colleagues

09:27.167 --> 09:30.737
at the University of Miami'sexperimental hatchery

09:30.737 --> 09:34.741
are preserving the geneticdiversity of orphaned corals

09:34.741 --> 09:38.411
whose survival was threatenedby storms, boat groundings

09:38.411 --> 09:40.647
and anchor pulls.

09:40.647 --> 09:42.615
Some were recoveredfrom the grounding site

09:42.615 --> 09:44.851
in Biscayne National Park.

09:44.851 --> 09:47.320
Researchers are tryingto answer questions

09:47.320 --> 09:53.059
about a destructive phenomenonknown as coral bleaching.

09:53.059 --> 09:54.060
>>What's going on?

09:54.060 --> 09:55.161
Is it disease?

09:55.161 --> 09:57.464
Is it some sort of water qualityparameter?

09:57.464 --> 10:00.733
And many of these questionscannot be answered easily

10:00.733 --> 10:01.968
in the field.

10:01.968 --> 10:06.773
So the goal is to havea coral genetic bank,

10:06.773 --> 10:09.476
a coral resource that we can

10:09.476 --> 10:12.312
provide genetically maintainedstrains of coral

10:12.312 --> 10:15.048
to bona fide researchers aroundthe world, so that they

10:15.048 --> 10:17.450
can look at these problems,at these issues,

10:17.450 --> 10:20.587
and look at themin a scientific way.

10:20.587 --> 10:24.424
>>NARRATOR: In a partnershipbetween Biscayne National Park

10:24.424 --> 10:26.826
and the University of Miami,

10:26.826 --> 10:30.797
trained volunteers assist Capowith a labor-intensive process

10:30.797 --> 10:35.201
known as "fragmentation"to produce a large number

10:35.201 --> 10:38.104
of small coral specimens.

10:38.104 --> 10:40.807
>>You should have one readyfor him now.

10:40.807 --> 10:43.910
I mean, he should not stop.

10:43.910 --> 10:46.112
>>NARRATOR:Travertine plates are marked,

10:46.112 --> 10:49.983
drilled and fitted with passiveintegrated transponders,

10:49.983 --> 10:54.988
or PIT tags, that will giveeach coral a unique identity.

10:58.024 --> 11:00.293
The large corals are cutinto fragments,

11:00.293 --> 11:04.230
each about an inch-and-a-halfin diameter.

11:04.230 --> 11:09.302
The bottom surface is shapedon a tile saw.

11:09.302 --> 11:12.338
The fragmentis thoroughly dried...

11:13.907 --> 11:16.910
super-glued to a PIT tag plate,

11:16.910 --> 11:20.780
and catalogued for futurereference.

11:22.815 --> 11:25.919
Half of the fragmentswill be transplanted

11:25.919 --> 11:30.089
at the coral restoration sitein Biscayne National Park.

11:30.089 --> 11:33.660
The other half will remainat the facility for monitoring

11:33.660 --> 11:38.064
and lab studies to help Capoand coral researchers

11:38.064 --> 11:41.901
answer anotherdifficult question.

11:41.901 --> 11:43.836
>>How can we enhanceall this to make

11:43.836 --> 11:47.407
the only real reef tractin the continental United States

11:47.407 --> 11:50.543
a viable place ratherthan seeing it deteriorate

11:50.543 --> 11:55.782
like it's been doingover the past ten years?

11:55.782 --> 11:59.152
>>NARRATOR: One of Capo'sresearch partners, Martin Moe,

11:59.152 --> 12:01.955
a marine biologistin the Florida Keys,

12:01.955 --> 12:05.458
believes he has an answer.

12:05.458 --> 12:10.630
>>In 1983, there wasthis tremendous plague

12:10.630 --> 12:12.765
and it hit only one organism.

12:12.765 --> 12:17.370
And that was the long-spinedsea urchin, Diadema antellerum,

12:17.370 --> 12:20.073
that occupied all the reefsof the Caribbean,

12:20.073 --> 12:22.275
the Bahamas, Florida.

12:22.275 --> 12:26.446
They were all very denselyoccupied by Diadema.

12:26.446 --> 12:30.450
And Diadema performedthe essential task

12:30.450 --> 12:33.052
of cleaning the algaeoff the reefs

12:33.052 --> 12:37.257
and conditioning the substrateso that it would accept

12:37.257 --> 12:40.260
and encourage coral growth,and the growth

12:40.260 --> 12:43.363
of many different kinds of fishand invertebrates.

12:43.363 --> 12:48.368
Within one year, 98% of allthe Diadema antellerum

12:48.368 --> 12:50.570
from the mouthof the Panama Canal

12:50.570 --> 12:54.173
all the way up to Bermudawere history, were toast.

12:54.173 --> 12:55.308
They all died quickly.

12:57.510 --> 13:00.246
>>NARRATOR: At first,divers like Ken Nedimyer

13:00.246 --> 13:04.917
were happy about the declineof the sharp-spined creatures.

13:04.917 --> 13:07.020
>>As much as I don't likegetting stabbed by them,

13:07.020 --> 13:09.355
I think they're importantand I want to have them back.

13:09.355 --> 13:12.558
>>NARRATOR: Like sheep grazingin a pasture,

13:12.558 --> 13:16.296
Diadema sea urchins grazethe macroalgae that grow

13:16.296 --> 13:19.899
on the reefs and inhibitcoral reproduction.

13:19.899 --> 13:21.634
>>A lot of the problemsare directly related

13:21.634 --> 13:23.369
to the lack of sea urchins.

13:23.369 --> 13:25.905
And if you fix all the waterquality issues,

13:25.905 --> 13:27.140
and fix all of theseother things,

13:27.140 --> 13:29.242
but you don't fixthe sea urchin problem,

13:29.242 --> 13:31.010
you're not goingto have a coral reef.

13:31.010 --> 13:34.714
Sea urchins playa really important role.

13:34.714 --> 13:38.318
>>Ken and I came to the pointof view that the loss

13:38.318 --> 13:43.890
of the Diadema was criticalto the decline of the reefs.

13:43.890 --> 13:48.227
Now, our coral reef declinecomes from many factors,

13:48.227 --> 13:50.496
not just the loss of Diadema.

13:50.496 --> 13:53.566
But that is certainly oneof the most critical elements,

13:53.566 --> 13:56.769
because it's the Diademathat maintain that balance

13:56.769 --> 14:01.007
between coral and algae growth.

14:01.007 --> 14:02.508
>>NARRATOR:With support from

14:02.508 --> 14:05.511
the Florida Keys NationalMarine Sanctuary,

14:05.511 --> 14:09.582
Nedimyer and Moe didtwo experimental reef studies

14:09.582 --> 14:12.785
where they reintroducedthe Diadema.

14:12.785 --> 14:17.123
A year later,the findings were remarkable.

14:17.123 --> 14:21.527
Juvenile corals increasedby more than 150%;

14:21.527 --> 14:24.530
coralline algae, whichencourages coral settlement

14:24.530 --> 14:26.699
and growth, was sharply higher;

14:26.699 --> 14:33.139
and macroalgae was reducedfrom 11% to less than 2%.

14:33.139 --> 14:35.041
>>I started withthe Florida Board

14:35.041 --> 14:42.348
of Conservation MarineLaboratory back in 1962.

14:42.348 --> 14:45.151
Florida was a very differentplace back then.

14:45.151 --> 14:48.755
I worked with the Keys,and the Keys were magical.

14:48.755 --> 14:53.659
I remember going out and divingaround John Pennekamp area,

14:53.659 --> 14:58.831
and there were huge standsof elkhorn coral, palmata.

14:58.831 --> 14:59.932
Beautiful.

14:59.932 --> 15:02.335
And it was sucha tremendous environment.

15:02.335 --> 15:06.839
And when I came backin the late '90s,

15:06.839 --> 15:08.875
the reef was so much different.

15:08.875 --> 15:13.813
And it was so sad to see whatwas a glorious coral environment

15:13.813 --> 15:19.552
just become, for the most part,a lot of algae covered rocks.

15:19.552 --> 15:23.389
It seemed like the best thingthat I could do was to work

15:23.389 --> 15:25.892
with the Diadema, because nobodyelse was doing it

15:25.892 --> 15:30.129
and it was somethingessential to do.

15:30.129 --> 15:32.165
>>NARRATOR: Martin Moeis committed to perfecting

15:32.165 --> 15:35.134
the technology to reproduce,or culture,

15:35.134 --> 15:38.137
Diadema in the laboratory.

15:38.137 --> 15:41.974
Today, he beginsa new culture process, or run,

15:41.974 --> 15:45.978
by selecting Diademathat are ready to spawn.

15:45.978 --> 15:50.983
Immersing them in a tub ofwarm water stimulates the spawn.

15:50.983 --> 15:52.685
>>Oh, yeah.

15:52.685 --> 15:53.753
Now that's a male.

15:53.753 --> 15:56.756
You can see the white spermthere.

16:04.030 --> 16:07.900
Yes, sir, that's a female.

16:07.900 --> 16:10.102
We've got spawning--first three.

16:10.102 --> 16:12.572
How about that?

16:12.572 --> 16:16.142
Okay, this is the productfrom the spawn.

16:16.142 --> 16:18.678
Apparently, a male and a femaleboth went,

16:18.678 --> 16:23.616
which means thatI should have eggs in here.

16:23.616 --> 16:27.119
Oh, yes, that is nice.

16:27.119 --> 16:29.956
I can see fertilizationmembranes are present

16:29.956 --> 16:34.594
around every egg, so we knowwe have had a good spawn.

16:34.594 --> 16:36.963
We know we've got good eggs.

16:36.963 --> 16:39.098
Out of, let's say,five million eggs

16:39.098 --> 16:42.101
that were spawned here,which is a pretty good estimate,

16:42.101 --> 16:45.471
and out of those five million,you'd probably be lucky

16:45.471 --> 16:49.442
if one or two made it,in nature, all the way

16:49.442 --> 16:52.612
through the processand became a juvenile.

16:52.612 --> 16:56.716
And then, you'd probably belucky if one of those survived

16:56.716 --> 17:00.720
into adulthood--very lucky, actually.

17:06.926 --> 17:07.927
>>NARRATOR:The following morning,

17:07.927 --> 17:11.831
he counts the developingembryos.

17:11.831 --> 17:15.134
>>The eggs hatch in about18 to 24 hours.

17:15.134 --> 17:18.170
They become blastulas;they become prisms,

17:18.170 --> 17:20.673
which is the initial urchinshape.

17:20.673 --> 17:22.542
>>NARRATOR:The embryos are transferred

17:22.542 --> 17:26.445
to three larvae culture tankswhere they will eat and grow

17:26.445 --> 17:29.682
for the next 35 to 45 days.

17:29.682 --> 17:32.385
But unlike other typesof invertebrates,

17:32.385 --> 17:35.821
Diadema larvae will dieif they settle on the bottom

17:35.821 --> 17:37.156
of the tanks.

17:37.156 --> 17:41.327
Finding a method to mimicthe natural ocean current

17:41.327 --> 17:45.164
to keep the larvae in suspensionhad been Martin's biggest trial

17:45.164 --> 17:47.300
during his early cultureattempts.

17:47.300 --> 17:49.969
Maintaininga sterile environment

17:49.969 --> 17:51.737
had been another problem.

17:51.737 --> 17:55.908
Entire runs had failedin the culture tanks.

17:55.908 --> 17:59.445
The weeks ahead will againtest his system

17:59.445 --> 18:03.449
and the Diadema's abilityto survive.

18:07.720 --> 18:11.757
Meanwhile, the fragmented coralsfrom the University of Miami

18:11.757 --> 18:16.562
have arrived at the groundingsite in Biscayne National Park.

18:23.202 --> 18:26.205
Volunteer helpers swimwith buckets of cement

18:26.205 --> 18:31.711
and crates of tilesto the transplant areas.

18:31.711 --> 18:35.314
Another group has reattachedbroken pieces

18:35.314 --> 18:39.185
and transplanted nursery-raisedcoral to the site.

18:39.185 --> 18:42.722
And resource managersare betting on the feasibility

18:42.722 --> 18:45.958
of a new restoration technique.

18:47.793 --> 18:50.630
>>We're going to be usingsponges to bind the rubble

18:50.630 --> 18:52.832
that was createdby this grounding incident.

18:52.832 --> 18:54.333
And this is the first timewe've tried this,

18:54.333 --> 18:57.069
and to our knowledge,the first time that sponges

18:57.069 --> 18:59.472
have been used in anactual restoration project

18:59.472 --> 19:00.940
for this purpose.

19:00.940 --> 19:04.677
>>NARRATOR: Sponges are knownto play an ecological role

19:04.677 --> 19:08.614
in binding rubblein a natural reef setting.

19:08.614 --> 19:11.317
There's also evidence that coralwill settle and grow

19:11.317 --> 19:16.522
more favorably on an areathat's been bound by sponges.

19:21.293 --> 19:24.397
>>Right here, we've markeda sponge where we cut

19:24.397 --> 19:27.500
a fragment off yesterday.

19:27.500 --> 19:29.635
We've tagged and markedthis parent colony,

19:29.635 --> 19:32.605
so that we can track itthrough time and see

19:32.605 --> 19:37.977
how that lesion heals, justto make sure it's doing okay.

19:37.977 --> 19:41.013
The sponge fragment we tookfrom there we've attached

19:41.013 --> 19:43.015
over in our sponge nursery.

19:46.352 --> 19:51.924
Each tile has nine PVC trees.

19:51.924 --> 19:56.896
We attach one sponge fragmentto each PVC tree.

19:59.398 --> 20:03.102
We cut these sponge fragmentsoff of the parent colonies

20:03.102 --> 20:05.104
that I showed you earlier.

20:05.104 --> 20:09.475
We're trying to getthe cut surface in contact

20:09.475 --> 20:15.581
with the paver stone at leastas closely as possible.

20:15.581 --> 20:19.652
Our colleagues have shownthat those cut surfaces bind

20:19.652 --> 20:23.122
to whatever they're in contactwith very quickly,

20:23.122 --> 20:26.258
if all goes well.

20:26.258 --> 20:30.096
So we hope to come back and seethese sponges growing down

20:30.096 --> 20:34.400
onto the tiles, and alsoup starting to branch out.

20:37.336 --> 20:40.272
And the idea is that, in time,once the sponges grow

20:40.272 --> 20:44.243
and start getting larger,that you can then cut fragments

20:44.243 --> 20:51.016
off of these and use themin restoration projects.

20:51.016 --> 20:53.786
We tried to get allof our fragments cut

20:53.786 --> 20:57.156
to approximately ten centimetersin size.

20:57.156 --> 21:02.261
We harvested these fragmentsyesterday, and some of them

21:02.261 --> 21:07.666
are starting to showa slightly blackish color.

21:07.666 --> 21:11.637
We're not sure if that'sa good thing or a bad thing.

21:11.637 --> 21:15.341
We're going to be watchingthese sponges carefully--

21:15.341 --> 21:17.810
on a daily basisin the beginning--

21:17.810 --> 21:22.414
and then probablyevery week or so

21:22.414 --> 21:26.652
to see how they surviveand grow.

21:26.652 --> 21:28.788
When they started to turn black,we started to get

21:28.788 --> 21:32.424
very concerned, not knowingif we had done something wrong,

21:32.424 --> 21:35.094
or not knowing if we hadpotentially killed

21:35.094 --> 21:37.930
all these sponge fragmentsthat we had harvested.

21:37.930 --> 21:41.400
However, we were very relievedto see that, even the next day,

21:41.400 --> 21:44.236
the blackness goes away,the sponges are doing great,

21:44.236 --> 21:46.639
and they appear to bereattaching very quickly

21:46.639 --> 21:49.241
to both the rubble piecesthat they've been attached

21:49.241 --> 21:53.746
to and also to the grow outstructures.

21:53.746 --> 21:56.348
>>NARRATOR: For 40 days,Martin Moe has been monitoring

21:56.348 --> 22:00.152
the survival and growthof the Diadema larvae.

22:00.152 --> 22:02.621
A week ago, he hit a setback--

22:02.621 --> 22:06.492
all three cultures were struckby an infestation of Vorticella,

22:06.492 --> 22:10.429
an organism that causescompetition for food

22:10.429 --> 22:14.767
and a declinein the larval development.

22:14.767 --> 22:17.336
But one of the cultures showeda larger number

22:17.336 --> 22:20.840
of well-formed larvaethan the other two.

22:20.840 --> 22:24.276
He made a decision to dedicatethe remaining food supply

22:24.276 --> 22:26.712
to the survivalof the well-formed culture

22:26.712 --> 22:29.782
and abandon the others.

22:29.782 --> 22:33.085
It might be the only chancefor at least some of the larvae

22:33.085 --> 22:36.255
to reach the settlement phase.

22:36.255 --> 22:38.324
>>Now, this one is readyto come out,

22:38.324 --> 22:42.261
and we can check for settlerson it.

22:42.261 --> 22:46.232
And they settle as larvae,and then they go

22:46.232 --> 22:50.169
through metamorphosis in whichthe spines and larval tissue

22:50.169 --> 22:53.038
all drop down into the rudiment,and the rudiment becomes

22:53.038 --> 22:55.808
a little round juvenile.

22:55.808 --> 22:58.310
And you can pull it outof the settlement, like this,

22:58.310 --> 23:01.413
and the water staysin these little cubicles.

23:01.413 --> 23:07.553
Then, you put it right downinto the settlement tray.

23:07.553 --> 23:10.489
The water in the settlement trayis all adjusted for temperature,

23:10.489 --> 23:14.994
pH, alkalinity, calcium,and it's ready to support

23:14.994 --> 23:20.566
the process of metamorphosisand the early juvenile.

23:23.235 --> 23:25.070
After they go throughmetamorphosis,

23:25.070 --> 23:28.207
they're a soft little creature.

23:28.207 --> 23:31.110
And they can't surviveas a soft little creature.

23:31.110 --> 23:33.412
They have to pullcalcium carbonate,

23:33.412 --> 23:37.349
the same stuff your bones aremade out of, out of the water,

23:37.349 --> 23:40.386
which is dissolved in the water,and they have to form

23:40.386 --> 23:43.322
their hard parts andtheir mouth parts so they can

23:43.322 --> 23:48.427
actually scrape and feedand survive as a sea urchin,

23:48.427 --> 23:52.064
rather than a pelagicfloating larvae.

23:52.064 --> 23:54.934
And then, it can be carriedand placed down

23:54.934 --> 23:59.004
into this racewaykind of facility.

23:59.004 --> 24:00.272
I call it a raceway.

24:00.272 --> 24:03.108
There's a water currentthat moves all through

24:03.108 --> 24:06.745
the whole tank like this,and as they are settling there,

24:06.745 --> 24:10.215
it keeps the water freshand clear around them.

24:10.215 --> 24:16.155
They grow and become littleurchins on these plates.

24:16.155 --> 24:18.924
At some point, it becomesoptimum to be able

24:18.924 --> 24:21.927
to pick the plate upand put it in a bucket.

24:21.927 --> 24:25.130
They'll stay stuck on the plate,and then you can move them

24:25.130 --> 24:30.269
to any kind of a grow-out areathat you wish.

24:30.269 --> 24:33.672
>>NARRATOR: After four yearsof developing the technology

24:33.672 --> 24:36.041
to raise lab-cultured Diadema,

24:36.041 --> 24:40.346
Martin Moe is nearing the endof his quest.

24:40.346 --> 24:43.015
>>When we get to the pointwhere we can produce

24:43.015 --> 24:46.418
large numbersof juvenile Diadema,

24:46.418 --> 24:50.055
then we can begin to researchon what is the best way

24:50.055 --> 24:52.992
to reestablish themon the reef.

24:52.992 --> 24:55.627
At that point, along withKen's work with the corals

24:55.627 --> 24:59.498
and what I've been ableto develop with the Diadema,

24:59.498 --> 25:03.435
we can come together and we canachieve at least some semblance

25:03.435 --> 25:06.438
of ecological restorationon the reefs.

25:12.011 --> 25:13.178
>>NARRATOR:At the grounding site,

25:13.178 --> 25:17.416
the sponge transplantsare healthy and growing.

25:17.416 --> 25:20.719
Amanda Bourque is watchfulas the sponges replicate

25:20.719 --> 25:25.224
their natural behaviorin a transformed environment.

25:25.224 --> 25:28.927
But it will take several yearsof monitoring before the success

25:28.927 --> 25:32.097
of this project is fully known.

25:36.368 --> 25:40.339
Coral reef restorationis an emerging science

25:40.339 --> 25:44.376
built on innovative ideas,lessons learned,

25:44.376 --> 25:48.447
and continual refinementof the human technologies

25:48.447 --> 25:54.453
that are helping nature restoreits gardens of the sea.

26:24.850 --> 26:27.286
>>Major funding for thisprogram was provided

26:27.286 --> 26:29.288
by the Batchelor Foundation,

26:29.288 --> 26:32.091
encouraging peopleto preserve and protect

26:32.091 --> 26:36.091
America's underwater resources.