[HN Gopher] How to resurrect a coral reef
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       How to resurrect a coral reef
        
       Author : list
       Score  : 84 points
       Date   : 2022-05-04 23:28 UTC (23 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.vox.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.vox.com)
        
       | runnerup wrote:
       | Isn't increased acidity killing most coral species en masse? I'm
       | glad that there are ways to regrow the "hardier" species of coral
       | faster, at least.
        
         | soperj wrote:
         | I think it's mostly human pollution. Coral has thrived in
         | higher C02 environments previously.
        
         | floatinglotus wrote:
         | Right now it is the temperature, but water acidity is a bigger
         | problem actually.
        
       | beckman466 wrote:
       | please watch! fall in love with coral!
       | https://youtube.com/watch?v=aGGBGcjdjXA
        
       | jpm_sd wrote:
       | Friends of mine are working on automating this process!
       | 
       | https://www.reefgen.io/
        
         | 0des wrote:
         | Just curious, what types of seagrass are they trying to plant?
         | They mention heat resistant coral too, which I am particularly
         | interested in (outside of tidepool varieties). Have they
         | isolated any coral species that are accustomed to the
         | phosphate/nitr*te issues from human waste and fuels?
        
           | jpm_sd wrote:
           | Haha that reminds me of Neal Stephenson's "nitrates,
           | nitrites, nitrotes and nitrutes".
           | 
           | Right now they're focused on the robotics/automation side of
           | things. "Seedlings" come from several different partner
           | organizations.
        
             | 0des wrote:
             | Big fan of Neal Stephenson :) take care of yourself, hope
             | your friends do well
             | 
             | Edit: Guess I have to get Diamond Age in audiobook today,
             | just noticed it missing from my collection.
        
         | e-_pusher wrote:
         | Is the idea to use some kind of underwater robot to plant
         | reefs? I couldn't tell from the website.
        
         | mountainriver wrote:
         | That's awesome! Happy to lend any ML/infra expertise to this
         | effort
        
       | goblinux wrote:
       | Here's the nonprofit mentioned in the article. I like hopeful
       | people like David Vaughan
       | 
       | https://plantamillioncorals.org
        
       | spchampion2 wrote:
       | I've had the good fortune to dive on Pickles Reef, as well as
       | many other reefs on the Keys, so I've been able to see these
       | coral restoration efforts first hand. I would always feel so
       | happy whenever I came across these new groves of staghorn coral.
       | They were small, but often healthy looking, and I just loved
       | seeing them.
       | 
       | That said, the scale of coral death far surpasses the scale for
       | growth. For example, a government group [1] has placed tags on
       | natural coral groves (i.e. mostly not planted) inviting divers to
       | take and share photos to help track the coral health over time
       | [2]. Many of these tags were next to healthy looking sections of
       | reef, but many others were next to dead lumps. I recall several
       | sections around Looe Key in particular that were just graveyards
       | of yellow tags.
       | 
       | These types of restoration efforts are working, and in some
       | places they're working well. But it's a drop in the bucket and
       | the coral is dying not thriving. More is needed.
       | 
       | 1 - https://floridadep.gov/rcp/coral/content/seafan-southeast-
       | fl...?
       | 
       | 2 - https://floridadep.gov/system/files/media-folders/media-
       | root...
        
         | ghostpepper wrote:
         | Are these reefs open to recreational divers? I would love if it
         | was possible to support dive operations that are supporting
         | these efforts and see some beautiful reefs at the same time.
        
           | spchampion2 wrote:
           | Many are! The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is
           | divided into zones [1], with each zone limited to different
           | types of activities like diving / snorkeling, fishing, and
           | research.
           | 
           | There are many good dive operators in the Keys who take
           | recreational divers out to the approved reefs. If you want to
           | get up close to the reef restoration part, the Coral
           | Restoration Foundation also has a dive program to take divers
           | out to their coral nurseries [2].
           | 
           | 1 - https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/zones/types.html
           | 
           | 2 - https://www.coralrestoration.org/dive-programs
        
           | Stevvo wrote:
           | Coral restoration is not really fun work; a lot of mixing
           | concrete.
        
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