Reef Restoration Training Hub

Training

Reef restoration training and capacity building are a key component of Reef Ecologic’s strategy to enable community members, Traditional Owners, Industry and government to assist the recovery of coral reefs worldwide.

The Restoration Training Hub is an entry point for any person seeking training on reef restoration. The training hub provides information and guidance on different reef restoration methods and techniques, links to key research publications and opportunities to participate in face to face and online training.

Graduate Trainees

The Reef Restoration Training Hub is designed to provide

resources for restoration practitioners to refine their methods or learn new methods
a starting point for (budding) reef restoration practitioners to lean about and develop their reef restoration training knowledge and skills.
a resource for managers, consultants, policy developers to discover critical background information for decision making.

Explore the Hub to discover reef restoration manuals including standard operating procedures, join training and capacity building programs, discover current developments in the field and inquire about how to implement your own reef restoration project.

NOTE: This ‘training portal is designed to work in tandem with the ICRI Restoration Initiatives portal. which has information on initiatives, databases and courses.

The Global Restoration Review

In 2018-19 Reef Ecologic, as part of NESP funded project supported the development of the Global Coral Restoration Review. In this review we described coral restoration projects throughout the tropics, with a surprising diversity of coral species and morphologies used. This review presents the most comprehensive summary of active coral restoration methods to date, and we hope it will be a valuable resource for coral reef scientists worldwide.

Link to the Paper: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0226631
Website: https://www.gbrcoralrestoration.org/restoration-database
The website has links to paper, visualisation and the data but if you want individual links, here they are 🙂
Video & infographic: here

Reef Restoration Online Training Course

The online course in coral reef restoration is presented by The Nature Conservancy’s Reef Resilience Network. Through this course, participants learn critical background information on reef restoration good practices. The course covers six lessons that will provide a solid theoretical basis for reef restoration implementation including:

Introduction to Restoration & Project Planning
Restoring Coral Populations with Coral Gardening
Restoring Coral Populations with Larval Propagation
Restoring Reef Structure for Coastal Resilience
Rapid Response and Emergency Restoration
Monitoring for Restoration

Start your online training

Technical Manuals and Other Resources

Great Barrier Reef Local-Scale Coral Restoration Toolkit (Link)

ICRI have compiled some of the most recent guidelines on coral reef restoration. A link to the latest technical manuals can be found on the ICRI Website HERE.

The National Academy of Sciences also has some fantastic resources (publications and video explainers) available here.

In Person Training

Next Event: November 11 – November 14, 2022

Combining the latest scientific knowledge with practical experience from the field, the Reef Leadership and Restoration Workshop at
Orpheus Island Research Station is designed to improve the knowledge and skills of reef scientists, managers, educators and those interested in making a difference for the future of coral reefs and communities. Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Videos and Articles

Reef Ecologic Restoration Projects

Whitsundays Reef Restoration

WHITSUNDAYS As part of the Cyclone Debbie Tourism Recovery Fund our team are partnering with Tourism Whitsundays and the Whitsunday Regional Council to implement the first significant coral gardening exercise in the Whitsundays region. This program has been designed through extensive community and stakeholder consultation, enabling us to identify priority locations for restoring ecosystem services critical to the local community and tourism industry. Read more about the project HERE

The Great Barrier Reef’s First Mineral Accretion Reef Restoration Project

PORT DOUGLAS REGION Our team has partnered with Quicksilver Connections, one of Queensland largest tourism organisations, to implement the first trial of mineral accretion technology to support reef recovery on the Great Barrier Reef. A key dive site adjacent to Quicksilver’s large tourist pontoon has provided an opportunity to develop restoration approaches for use at reefs that have suffered the combined effects of coral bleaching, cyclone damage and crown-of-thorns starfish infestations.

Restoring reefs for sustainable tourism

KOH TAO, THAILAND Our team collaborated with local businesses and the community to establish new coral reef sites using context-appropriate restoration methods and technologies. The new snorkel and dive sites were created from corals grown in a coral nursery. Advanced coral fragments were outplanted onto degraded reef areas and specially-installed structures to enhance diversity and support recovery of species affected by coral bleaching.

Reef Restoration Foundation

CAIRNS REGION In collaboration with a team of volunteers, local businesses, organisations and researchers established the first coral nursery on the Great Barrier Reef. The project was implemented in the shallow fringing reef around Fitzroy Island, 25km east of Cairns.