Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

UPDATE: THE ROLE OF SEA URCHIN AQUACULTURE IN A MISSION TO RESTORE SEVEN ICONIC REEFS IN THE FLORIDA KEYS

Aaron Pilnick* and Joshua Patterson

 

  University of Florida – School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences

 The Florida Aquarium – Center for Conservation

 Apollo Beach, FL 33572

 apilnick@ufl.edu



Severe coral reef degradation throughout Florida’s Coral Reef has resulted in >75% coral cover loss since the 1980s and actively threatens the identit y, culture, and economy of this region. This reality has spurred the development and rapid expansion of in-water coral propagation and outplanting activities intended to restore live coral cover; unfortunately, restoration has been unable to keep up with the rate of  ecosystem  decline as evidenced by widespread coral bleaching and mortality earlier this year. Overcoming this immense problem requires an adaptive approach involving novel ecological intervention strategies. 

 Mission: Iconic Reefs is a bold collaborative endeavor initiated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration attempting scalable restoration of seven iconic coral reef sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary through use of the best available science. A critical aspect  of  this  effort involves re-establishing  missing  functional herbivory  to prevent  competitive overgrowth of  corals by  fast growing  benthic algae.  This presentation will provide updates regarding development of intensive aquaculture methods for the Caribbean long-spined sea urchin  Diadema antillarum, a formerly abundant  keystone  reef  herbivore.  Notably,  improved capacity to aquaculture this species has enabled experimental population enhancement to degraded reefs a nd  prompted  the need for a scalable hatchery-to-reef pipeline. Ne ar-future juvenile grow-out investigations to occur in both in-water and land-based enclosures will also be discussed.