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Conservation of coral genetic diversity through a global biorepository network

 

 

Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project (FRTRP)

Link: https://www.safecoral.org/florida-reef-tract-rescue-project

The Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project (FRTRP) is an AZA member-driven coral rescue and conservation network focused on the rescue, housing and future propagation of Florida corals affected by stony coral tissue loss disease.

In summer 2018, following the development of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Response Team network and while the Florida Coral Rescue Plan was being developed, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission identified AZA member facilities as the only U.S. entities having the skills, expertise and resources to receive and manage Florida corals rescued from the Florida Reef Tract as part of the plan’s coral rescue activities. AZA created the FRTRP in response to that invitation in November 2019.​​

The FRTRP membership includes over 20 zoos and aquariums located in 14 U.S. states. Disney, The Florida Aquarium, Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, and SeaWorld provide leadership to the network of coral holding facilities and partners.

The FRTRP collaborates with several non-AZA accredited rescue coral holding facilities, and over 50 additional AZA-accredited facilities, commercial partners, universities, community colleges, state and federal agencies contributing to the support and success of Florida coral rescue.

 

The Coral Aquarist Program (CAP)

Link: https://www.safecoral.org/coral-aquarist-program

The Coral Aquarist Program has been developed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project (AZA-FRTRP) to meet the ever-increasing need for experienced and knowledgeable coral aquarists and conservation practitioners. The program seeks to build this professional resource and uses the care of rescued Atlantic coral brood stock and management of coral gene banks created in response to stony coral tissue loss disease as a case study.

The Coral Aquarist Program provides participants with the knowledge and experiential introductory foundations necessary to manage coral brood stock in land-based nurseries, using rescued Florida corals that are part of the Florida Coral Rescue Program.

The course is composed of two phases:

  • Phase 1 (online training phase) An online course of robust content provided by The Aquarium Vet ®.
  • Phase 2 (onsite training phase) Participants will be assigned to one of our training facilities located throughout the United States (course duration 7 days; 5 full days of instruction + 2 days travel). On-site training will be a mentored, manual-based learning experience coupled with  hands-on experiential learning activities.

The AZA-FRTRP envisions a national network of coral care facilities meeting the needs of coral restoration and conservation efforts: broodstock, propagation, settlement, rearing , and outplanting.

The Coral Aquarist Program is a recognized Association of Zoos and Aquarium Professional Development Course

 

TALKING CORAL

Link: https://www.safecoral.org/social-science-projects

With funding from Disney Conservation and in collaboration with the Human Nature Group, the SAFE Coral Program’s Communication, Education and Messaging (CEM) working group has created a tool to help coral conservation communicators share messages and tell stories that resonate with various audiences.

Talking Coral has been developed following hours of listening sessions and surveys conducted with SAFE Coral Program partners and our community of conservation communicators.​It is available in both full, unabridged and abbreviated or unabridged versions to suit a variety of messaging development needs.

 

World Coral Conservatory

During our 2022 mission to Aldabra in the Seychelles, we managed to collect 58 coral colonies, representing 21 species, all currently hosted in European public aquariums, as the first step of the World Coral Conservatory. Those colonies are the first ones to enter the Noah’s ark of corals we will implement, using the public aquarium network all around the world. We supplied technical assistance to the mission organized by British scientists from the ZSL and Horniman Museum in the Chagos archipelago to collect and send to the UK 12 colonies of Ctenella chaguis brain corals form conservation and preservation before a potential predicted extinction in the wild.

 

Great Barrier Reef Legacy

We have made significant inroads in collecting nearly 50% of Great Barrier Reef coral species, while also building state-of-the-art facilities to hold and maintain living coral fragments for their ultimate conservation and to make live coral, tissue samples, and genetic material available for reef research and restoration efforts.

 

Mote Marine Laboratory
  • September 2024: In a remarkable advancement for coral conservation, Mote Marine Laboratory has successfully achieved the spawning of Eusmilia fastigiata, commonly known as smooth flower coral, with parent colonies settled just 22 months prior under managed care. Read the full announcement.
  • On October 19th 2022, we successfully settled Eusmilia fastigiata larvae, a critically endangered species, and over and year later we still have recruits that are thriving. As of August 2023, Mote’s International Coral Gene Bank successfully implemented cryopreservation of coral sperm of two species that were spawned at the Gene Bank. In anticipation of the devastating summer bleaching event, Mote’s International Coral Gene Bank obtained Acropora cervicornis and Acropora palmata “founder” genotypes, those most unique within Florida’s state and practitioner-wide inventory, for preservation and protection of these important genotypes. Through its partnership with the CBA and AVID ID, Mote’s International Coral Gene Bank has developed a technique for using RF ID tags for coral fragment identification, streamlining the process of tracking important genotypes.