In the Maldvies, on the islands of Maafushi, Rasdhoo, and Ukulhas, workshops took place with theory lessons on general biology and ecology of the coral reef and its restoration, which were complemented with practical lessons at the sea. Photo credit: Coral Doctors

RESTORATION OF THE MONTH: Maldives

Three groups - German Oceanographic Museum, ZooAquarium de Madrid, and Coral Doctors - collaborated to train locals on reef rehabilitation in the Maldives.
On the island of Villingili, organizers met with the local NGO “Save the Beach” to discuss reef restoration, raising awareness, and the planned “Center for Marine Learning” - the first marine-oriented environmental education facility in the Maldives.
In 2016, the Maldives, along with many other regions of the world, suffered a massive bleaching event that killed the vast majority of corals. The team verified that reefs are recovering.
Please contact the following individuals for more information:
- German Oceanographic Museum: Dr. Nicole Kube Nicole.Kube@meeresmuseum.de
- Coral Doctors: Torsten Krussk torsten@krussk.de
- ZooAquarium de Madrid: Pablo Montoto pmontoto@grpr.com

Hello CRC!

Coral reefs frequented the news in June and the CRC was busy making news of its own! The month kicked off with World Reef Day- see the news section for links to the coverage. Mid-month brought the conclusion of the National Academies of Sciences report on coral interventions and the CRC Leadership Team held Steering Committee elections for the 2019 to 2023 term. And to round out the month, the CRC Genetics Working Group’s paper, Considerations for maximizing the adaptive potential of restored coral populations in the western Atlantic, was accepted for publication in Ecological Applications!

If you want to join a Core Working Group, please contact coral.restoration@noaa.gov.

CRC Working Group Calls:

The Monitoring Working Group will have a stakeholder update on the draft Best Management Practices in Restoration Monitoring on Tuesday, August 6 at 9 AM (EDT).

Larval Propagation Working Group stakeholder update- Thursday, November 14, 2019 at 2pm (EST).

CRC ANNOUNCEMENTS

The CRC Leadership Team has elected a new Steering Committee comprised of four newly-elected Members-At-Large who will join the four re-elected veteran Steering Committee Members-At-Large for the 2019-2023 term. Please join us in congratulating our newly assembled CRC Steering Committee:
- Les Kauffman, Boston University
- Ilsa Kuffner, U.S. Geological Society
- Phanor Montoya Maya, Corales de Paz
- Sandrine Privard, U.N. Environment
- David Gulko, Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources
- Joe Pollock, The Nature Conservancy
- David Suggett, University of Technology-Sydney
- Buki Rinkevich, National Institute of Oceanology

The new Steering Committee will join the CRC Executive Team:
- Tom Moore, NOAA Restoration Center
- Scott Winters, Coral Restoration Foundation
- Petra MacGowan, Reef Resilience Network
- Petra Lundgren, Great Barrier Reef Foundation

The CRC Coral Restoration Image Website will be available to the public this month! If you would like to share your work with the global coral restoration community, upload your pictures to the following GOOGLE DRIVE LINK today! Watermarked pictures are encouraged. Please also include the name of the program and photographer. Feel free to contact Margaux at margaux.hein@jcu.edu.au if you have any additional questions.
The Larval Propagation Working Group has updated Caribbean and Domincan Republic coral spawning predictions as well updated the Caribbean coral spawning data TEMPLATE so that you can record and share your observations of corals spawning from the field!

The Monitoring Working Group is hosting a webinar on photomosaics and how they can be used for monitoring restorations on Thursday, July 25th at 12 pm. Registration details will be updated to the CRC website soon!

PARTNER ANNOUNCEMENTS

A new approach for the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), the Coral Nurture Program, creates partnerships between tourism and science to promote long term stewardship and adaptation at economically valuable GBR locations.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel on coral interventions has released its final report- A Decision Framework for Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs.

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENTS

Coral Restoration Paid Internships at The Amiga Island Ecological Foundation, Haiti (Deadline JULY 2!) - two mid- to long-term positions. Contact: Jeremy Raynor for more info.
Restoration Internships at Mote Marine Lab- seeking interns for the fall term, preferred start August/ September.
Project Engineer for SECORE International in Miami, FL.
Postdoc at NOAA Beaufort Lab in Beaufort, NC. NRC application and research proposal are due August 1, 2019. Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to contact project scientists prior to application. Contacts: Shay Viehman (shay.viehman@noaa.gov), Chris Taylor (chris.taylor@noaa.gov), Carolyn Currin (carolyn.currin@noaa.gov), and Jenny Davis (jenny.davis@noaa.gov).
Postdoc position in Coral Genome evolution at the Palumbi Lab, Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station. Please send cv, a short letter of research experience, and names of references to spalumbi@stanford.edu.
Coral Resilience PhD student- Please email inquiries with "coral resilience PhD student" as the subject, along with a CV and letter of interest to ian.enochs@noaa.gov and ntraylorknowles@rsmas.miami.edu.
Postdoc position at the University of Miami specializing in coral reef transcriptomics.
Aquatopia, Inc. is in search of Board Members. For more information or to apply, please email aquatopia.inc@gmail.com.
1-Year FT Laboratory Research Tech Position at Villanova University, Philadelphia, PA.
Two Fellowship Positions Available-The Institute for Pacific Coral Reefs (IRCP) for young scientists (PhDs and Post-doctorates, under 35 years old) for research projects focused on the coral reefs of French Polynesia, with a socio-economic scope.
Research Fellow: Coral Population Genetics at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia (applications due JULY 17!) two three-year positions available.

UPCOMING MEETINGS:

2019

June 24-28 (Victoria, B.C.) Marine Imaging Workshop.
Jul 9-11 (Townsville, Australia): Commonwealth Blue Charter Coral Reef Protection and Restoration Action Group.
Jul 29-Aug 2 (Cartagena, Colombia): 7th International Symposium on Deep-Sea Corals.
Sep 9-13 (Berlin, Germany): 5th Young Earth Scientists Network (YES) Congress 2019.
Sep 24-28 (Cape Town, South Africa): 8th World Conference on Ecological Restoration (SER).
Sep 30 - Oct 3 (Berlin, Germany): Wildlife Research and Conservation 2019 (WRC2019).
Nov 3-7 (Alabama. U.S.): 25th Biennial Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Conference.
Nov 30 - Dec 8 (Magoodhoo Island, Faafu Atoll, Maldives): Maldivian Coral Reef Restoration Workshop.
Dec 2-7 (Townsville, Australia) : ICRI General Meeting 34.

2020

Feb 16-21 (San Diego, CA): Ocean Sciences Meeting.
June 11-19 (Marseille, France) : IUCN World Conservation Congress.
Jul 5-10 (Bremen, Germany): 14th International Coral Reef Symposium.
Aug 24-27 (Kiel, Germany): 6th International Marine Conservation Congress.

JULY 2019 MEDIA ROUNDUP
Email coral.restoration@noaa.gov to have your news and research included.

NASA astronauts are restoring Florida Keys reefs while training for deep space missions.
Sikes, Annabelle (June 4).

Rare Corals Planted During Coralpalooza.
Maui Now (June 9).

CRC Submitted by YOU!
FUNDMAR collaborates with international organizations
to upscale production of coral sexual recruits.

Research:

Bayraktarov, E. , Stewart‐Sinclair, P. J., Brisbane, S. , Boström‐Einarsson, L. , Saunders, M. I., Lovelock, C. E., Possingham, H. P., Mumby, P. J. and Wilson, K. A. (2019), Motivations, success and cost of coral reef restoration. Restoration Ecology. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/rec.12977

Burrows, D. W., Purandare, J., Bay, L., Cook, N., Koopman, D., Long, S., ... & Roth, C. (2019). Symposium report: Great Barrier Reef restoration symposium, 2018. Ecological Management & Restoration, 20(2), 175-178.

Graham E. Forrester, Maggie Chan, Dennis Conetta, Russell Dauksis, Katie Nickles, and Alicia Siravo. (2019). Comparing the Efficiency of Nursery and Direct Transplanting Methods for Restoring Endangered Corals. Ecological Restoration, June 37:81-89; doi:10.3368/er.37.2.81

Suggett, D. J., Camp, E. F., Edmondson, J. , Boström‐Einarsson, L. , Ramler, V. , Lohr, K. and Patterson, J. T. (2019), Optimizing return‐on‐effort for coral nursery and outplanting practices to aid restoration of the Great Barrier Reef. Restoration Ecology, 27: 683-693. doi:10.1111/rec.12916

Takeuchi, I., Yamashiro, H., & Gushi, M. (2019). Usage of UV-curable oligomer-based adhesive agent in hermatypic coral experimental research. MethodsX.

Wainwright, B. J., Afiq-Rosli, L., Zahn, G. L., & Huang, D (2019). Characterisation of coral-associated bacterial communities in an urbanised marine environment shows strong divergence over small geographic scales. Coral Reefs, 1-10.

News:

O’Connor, Christina (May 31). World Reef Day aims to raise awareness about coral reef health.
Petry, Michele (May 31). These Luxury Resorts Are Helping Save Coral Reefs.
Parhad, Elisa (June 1). On World Reef Day, reminders of what you can do to keep coral safe.
Lebsack, Lexy (June 1). Inside The Beauty Industry's Environmental Awakening.
Waters, Steve (June 1). What's In Your Sunscreen?
Lofaso, Ashley (June 1). Dire state of coral reefs highlighted by first-ever World Reef Day.
OceanX (June 1). World Reef Day Announcement: Mission Florida Reef.
SECORE International (June 7). Mass-reared elkhorn corals are thriving on the reef.
U.N. Environmental (June 7). World’s first land-based commercial coral farm opened for more resilient reefs.
Cortés - Useche, Camilo (June 10). Coral Reefs of the Dominican Southeast, Sentinels of the Caribbean (Article in Spanish).
CBS Miami (June 12). Super Bowl LIV Host Committee Unveils Plan For Florida Coral Reef Restoration.
Gerresten, Isabelle (June 13). Can coral farms save our reefs?
Gommes, Trimmerl (June 17). After Deepwater Horizon spill, 21 deep sea coral sites win protection.
Helgason, Nicole (June 17). Update: Coral Restoration, Bangka Island Sulawesi Indonesia.
Corales de Paz (June 25). First international training workshop in large-scale coral gardening kicked off in Praslin Island as WIO countries strives to boost effective reef restoration projects in the region.
University of Technology-Sydney (June 21). New device will help tourism businesses become GBR guardians.
SECORE International (July 1). Innovation partnership pioneering large-scale global coral restoration.

The mission of the CRC is to foster collaboration and technology transfer among coral restoration scientists, practitioners, and managers, and to facilitate a community of practice that will advance coral restoration to keep pace with rapidly changing ocean and environmental conditions.

We encourage you to get involved! We are updating our CRC website to make information more readily available, and CRC’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube channel have news and current events related to coral reef restoration.