A few weeks ago, we were thrilled to be part of a historic planting of Flonduran corals in Miami. These corals have one parent from Tela and one from Florida. And it was the first time permitting of planting trans-national coral genes has ever been granted.

In response, the top coral geneticists in the world, the Coral Genetics Working Group, published a commentary in the prestigious journal Science, praising the effort and calling on regulators around the world to recognize the importance of such international collaborations for the future of coral reefs. They wrote:

Recently, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the outplanting of offspring produced by crossing elkhorn coral parents from Florida with those from Honduras, judging the latter to be a suitable local population from which prospective parents might be sourced. This is a notable regulatory advance and is the first time that any coral offspring whose parents have been sourced from different countries have been permitted for outplanting on wild reefs anywhere in the world. However, additional diversity is still critically needed to avoid extirpation.

Extripation means extinction of a species in a particular location. In this case, they are referring to the fact that there are just around a dozen individual elkhorn corals left in the 380 miles of Florida reef. In Tela, we have found three kilometers of these animals growing in thick jungles. These Tela corals represent an incredible source of genetic diversity which could inject new resilience into the Florida population. The commentary concludes with an urgent call to action:

Historically, the precautionary principle “take no action unless there is high certainty no harm will result” was the basis for endangered species law and was appropriate in an age of relative environmental stability. The present rate of warming and repeated occurrence of marine heat waves overwhelmingly point to further coral losses as a “not if, but when” scenario, underscoring the need for timely action. Such action could include taking proactive steps to preemptively boost genetic diversity through AGF [Assisted Gene Flow] to help buy time for local coral populations until the rate of ocean warming can be slowed. Windows of opportunity for effective large-scale implementation of AGF are closing rapidly; waiting until genetic rescue is “needed” to save coral species on the brink of extinction may well be too late.

Assisted Gene Flow means playing an active role in breeding corals whose eggs and sperm may not have the opportunity to meet in the ocean under natural conditions. In this case, Tela’s elkhorn corals were flown to Florida where they spawned and were bred with elkhorns from Florida at the Florida Aquarium. Genetic rescue means increasing genetic diversity by bringing animals from another location into a small population of animals to prevent their extinction. We haven’t quite gotten there yet. There are other genetic hybrid elkhorns, with parents from Curacao and Puerto Rico and from Curacao and Florida in aquaria in Florida. Neither have received permission to be planted on Florida’s reefs. And no corals with both parents from Tela have been allowed to be planted on the reef either. But the geneticists hail this Flonduran outplanting as a critical first step.

We remain incredibly proud to have been part of this world’s first effort. If you would like to support our work we are urgently trying to build a biobank to protect Tela’s corals in Honduras so that in the future, we are sure they will be available for more AGF, for genetic rescue if it comes to that, and hopefully, to rebuild reefs around the Caribbean. Your donations will help keep these important corals safe.

The entire commentary can be read here.