Involving fishers in scaling up the restoration of cold-water coral gardens on the Mediterranean continental shelf

Published source details Montseny M., Linares C., Viladrich N., Biel M., Gracias N., Baena P., Quintanilla E., Ambroso S., Grinyó J., Santín A., Salazar J., Carreras M., Palomeras N., Magí L., Vallicrosa G., Gili J.-. & Gori A. (2021) Involving fishers in scaling up the restoration of cold-water coral gardens on the Mediterranean continental shelf. Biological Conservation, 262, 109301.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Transplant wild grown coral onto natural substrate Action Link

Transplant wild grown coral onto natural substrate

A replicated study in 2018–2019 in three sites in the north-western Mediterranean off Cap de Creus, Spain (Montseny et al. 2021) found that after transplanting corals Eunicella cavolini onto natural substrate by dropping them from a boat, at one site 84–90% landed upright, whereas at the other two sites corals were obscured by seagrass Posidonia oceanica or fine sediments. Surveys at one site in 2019 detected 460 of the 526 corals (88%) that were transplanted in 2018–2019, across an area of 0.23 hectares. For corals transplanted on natural cobbles, 89% landed upright, and for those transplanted on artificial cobbles it was 73%. At the other two sites all corals were obscured by either seagrass or fine sediments. In 2018–2019, a total of 805 coral colonies were recovered from trammel nets (468 in 2018, 337 in 2019). Corals were held in aquaria for a few weeks to three months, fragmented into nubbins and attached to either natural cobbles (693) or artificial concrete cobbles (133) via a drilled hole and epoxy putty. In 2018, corals were released into the water at one of three locations (150–151/location; 80–120 m depth), and in 2019, all corals were released at one location (375; all on natural cobbles). In November 2018 and September 2019, surveys were conducted using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) with onboard cameras. Full costs of the transplants and monitoring (including all staff costs) was €106,783 (see original paper for cost breakdown).

(Summarised by: William Morgan)