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| The Underwater Silviculture Approach for Reef Storation: An Emergent Aquaculture Theme (pp. 279-295) |
$100.00 |
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Authors: (Shai Shafir, Baruch Rinkevich, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, National Institute of Oceanography, Haifa, Israel)
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Abstract:
Coral reefs, often portrayed as "the rain forest of the sea", provide sustenance to hundreds
of million of people worldwide. When severely degraded, reef restoration is expected to
uphold the ecosystem biodiversity and retain, at least partially, the original biological and
ecological portraits. Such active reef restoration practices are based on aquaculture of coral
colonies (mariculture them in underwater nurseries) in as much as silviculture depends on
rearing young trees in terrestrial nurseries. The management and cost efficiency of the nursery
phase is crucial to the success of the whole restoration activities. However, contrast to
terrestrial nurseries, coral nurseries are in the developing concepts and early operational
regulation status. Here, we illustrate the practice of ‘reef gardening’ as a major reef
restoration act, using common features, divergent approaches and ubiquitous rationale, as
apply in terrestrial (forests) and marine (coral reefs) restoration principles. Even though basic
protocols for reef gardening have not yet been thoroughly studied, several common
agricultural aspects for silviculture and reef gardening are outlined. These include the use of
reef restoration as mariculture theme, economic considerations and aquaculture perspectives
such as dimension of nursery and its content, agricultural periods, growth rates, seedling
spacing, maintenance issues, pest control, ecological goods and services and nursery
construction. As restoration measures (terrestrial and marine alike) require significant amount
of restoration material, simplifying coral seedling preparation and mariculturing them through
low-tech technologies will ensure the success of this scientific discipline. |
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