Coral Protection and Restoration Program (CPR) Project Update

The Coral Protection and Restoration Program (CPR) continues to administer state and federal funding to implement priority reef management and research objectives. One funded project led by the University of Miami (UM), titled Alkalinity enhancement for improved grow out in ex-situ tanks of priority coral species for restoration, is investigating if increasing alkalinity - providing an abundance of chemicals required for growth - would increase growth rates of stony coral. They also seek to identify optimum levels of alkalinity enhancement and evaluate if the coral’s somatic tissue growth can keep pace with the increase skeletal growth. The picture above is one of their test corals. On average, the highest treatment level has increased the growth rate by 200%, meaning the growth rate has nearly doubled in higher alkalinity.