Emergency Restoration
The Trustees determined that emergency restoration was necessary to prevent
additional injuries to corals. It was essential to reattach dislodged, live,
hard corals and soft corals to ensure that they remained upright and to prevent
additional abrasion of coral tissue that would occur if the pieces were allowed
to roll around on the seafloor. Rubble, loose debris, and rock were also
stabilized to prevent shifting and possible burial of additional living coral.
Soft and hard corals, excluding staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis),
were reattached to the bottom using rebar and cement. Staghorn coral fragments
were reattached to either a stainless steel bolt, a piece of staghorn rubble,
or a piece of plastic-coated wire mesh using plastic tie wraps and secured to
the bottom with cement. Rubble was stabilized with rebar and cement.
A significant amount of anti-fouling bottom paint was scraped off the ship and
onto the reef during the incident. Removal of this paint from the seafloor was
also necessary, as the presence of anti-fouling paint will prevent organisms,
such as coral and algae, from growing on these areas. The anti-fouling paint
was thick enough to allow it to be scraped off the seafloor in pieces and
properly disposed of on land.
The emergency restoration work was carried out from July to September, 2006 by
contractors hired by the responsible party, under the oversight of the
Trustees. Over 9,500 specimens of hard and soft coral were reattached within a
75 day period, including over 900 fragments of staghorn coral.
The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are now working to assess the
full extent of injury and to evaluate a range of additional primary and
compensatory restoration activities.
