Restoration funds: $1.05 million.

The objectives of the emergency restoration were to re-establish the physical structure of the coral reef community and reduce coral mortality. Restoration consisted of immobilizing loose branches of elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, by securing them to the reef buttress and to existent relic Acropora framework with stainless steel wire and nails. This action permitted timely removal of injured coral from sand areas where they were being smothered. It also minimized abrasion damage to broken coral pieces from swell and wave motion. The grounding site is at a depth of 3-9 meters.

Click here for map Grounding site of the M/V Fortuna Reefer (NOAA)

A number of stabilization methods were tested to determine the optimum approach. Due to the density and hardness of the reef structure, the selected method consisted of drilling holes into the reef, driving nails into the holes and wiring corals to the reef. Stainless steel materials were used to minimize corrosion and increase the longevity of the repair effort. Plastic tie wraps were also used to secure smaller pieces of coral; however, the wave surge at the site loosened the tie wraps. As a result, corals that were secured with tie wraps were further stabilized with wire. At the conclusion of the restoration effort, 1,857 coral fragments had been stabilized and monitoring stations established to track the success of the restoration effort. Within a 2.5 month period after the grounding, all restoration work was accomplished. Successful completion of emergency restoration has opened the way for the Commonwealth and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to evaluate a range of additional, compensatory restoration activities.

Monitoring will focus on mortality rate of transplants, substrate type used as transplant sites, method of attaching transplant to substrate, depth of transplant site, transplant size class, percent tissue cover of transplant, and microtopography of transplant site.