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Walker Conservation Fellow | |
On October 3, 2011, Brett Howell arrived at Georgia Aquarium to assume his position as the Walker Conservation Fellow and begin to explore the feasibility of developing a Marine Payments for Ecological Services (MPES) program. The first project will be a pilot in the Florida Keys to test whether an MPES approach can help coral reef conservation become self-financing and economically sustainable.
During the first three months of the Fellowship, Brett achieved the following project-related tasks.
• Received authorization to SCUBA dive under Georgia Aquarium’s American Academy of Underwater Sciences scientific diving program.
• Helped plan the workshop "Market Approaches to Coral Reef Restoration: Investigating the Viability” hosted by PERC and Georgia Aquarium in February 2012. Brett will serve as a co-director and a discussion leader for the workshop, which will bring together approximately 30 professionals from the conservation, business, scientific, and government communities to discuss how market-based conservation programs might be possible for Florida’s coral reefs.
• Hosted 75+ networking conversations with project stakeholders in the US and abroad.
• Led content development for “official” coverage the pilot project with the Coral Restoration Foundation on Georgia Aquarium’s Research & Conservation website (http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/support-us/conservation/coralrestoration.aspx).
• Made three trips to Florida:
o October – Attended the 2nd Reef Resilience Conference in Fort Lauderdale, which attracted a diverse set of scientists, students, reef users, NGO representatives, private businesses, and socioeconomic experts from around the world. The conference provided an ideal opportunity to learn the most up-to-date scientific thinking about coral health and network with key people who will be involved with the project over the next two years.
o November – Met with Coral Restoration Foundation staff and dive shop owners and learned “coral gardening” techniques through SCUBA dives on the coral nursery off Tavernier.
o December – Met with Coral Restoration Foundation board and staff, attended the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, and snorkeled on a critical coral nursery in Key West with one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s coral resource manager experts.
• Gained publicity for the project through the following channels:
o An article in the Georgia Aquarium’s Fall 2011 Research Center Newsletter (http://gaiaendeavors.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Georgia-Aquarium-Research-Center-Newsletter_Fall2011.pdf).
o In November, an alumnus profile by the University of Colorado Boulder, Leeds School of Business Center for Education on Social Responsibility (http://leeds.colorado.edu/blogs/cesr/2011/alumni-profile-brett-howell-mba-10-of-the-georgia-aquarium/). PERC also posted the story on their homepage (http://www.perc.org/articles/article1453.php).
o In December, further recognition by the University of Colorado as Alumnus of the Month for the entire university-wide system. A story about Brett’s work was distributed to 260,000 people (https://www.cusys.edu/presnews/2011/12/save-the-coral-reef.html). This story was then subsequently picked up by Booz Allen Hamilton, Brett’s former employer, and distributed to approximately 25,000 people.
o PERC’s December 2011holiday newsletter mentioned the project as one of three highlighted examples of free market environmentalism in action (http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=ierhv6cab&v=001rfHpJW7JhgAdbE4wN0rdr1UXdGNK1YIgIa1ukfUgwcZTCngSyFAb-vApjPx95-5JXrbVixksuRAeP3iN4qFmgHXV0_-43WSXi5-6hhHkMJU%3D).
o Increased exposure through social media, with 670+ contacts on LinkedIn, up from ~220 in January, 2011, and 370+ followers on Twitter, up from 0 in May 2011.
2012 is already off to a busy start. An intern has joined the Georgia Aquarium staff to provide additional project support starting on January 2nd. On January 18th, Brett will travel to Boulder, CO, to make a presentation to an undergraduate class at the University of Colorado Boulder interested in supporting the project through the development of case studies where market-based solutions have worked in the marine environment. Following completion of the workshop “Market Approaches to Coral Reef Restoration: Investigating the Viability,” major focus will turn to developing several short and long-term business models that could successfully make coral reef conservation self-financing and economically sustainable. For ongoing updates on progress, please see Twitter (@BrettWHowell) and the blog http://gaiaendeavors.com/.
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Barren area of Molasses Reef where coral has died. Coral death is attributed to a number of factors including, overfishing, acidification due to rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, climate change, and breakage from boat traffic and dive activity. Without living coral, reefs support far fewer fish, and as they erode, no longer serve as barriers to coastal storms.
Divers planting coral on restored area of Molasses Reef. For coral to recover, replanting will have to be extensive enough to reestablish successful mass spawning. The GA Aquarium is working with the Coral Reef Foundation and other partners to develop a sustainable payment program funding reef restoration.
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Kevin Gaines cleaning algae from coral growing in nursery. The Coral Reef Foundation innovated the practice of growing coral suspended in the water column. Suspending the coral results in faster growth.
Ken Nedimeyer, Barrett Walker, Brett Howell & Kevin Gaines on site visit, Key Largo, FL
Staghorn coral growing in a nursery established by the Coral Reef Foundation.
Planting coral on Molasses Reef.
Nursery-grown staghorn coral several years after planting on Molasses Reef.
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