Should coral fragging be banned?

[NowGlazeIT]

Fragging should only be banned if the frag is under 1 inch tall

Here here all in favor!

 

[Mschmidt]

To the second question, and to the point of the article, what kind of foundation does fragging give to future sexually reproduced coral? My understanding is that they would need something to latch on to and grow; the even dead skeleton could be that base. But I'm about as far from an expert as one can get.

 

[KrisReef]

I'll start by saying NO, Of course not, negative, NO WAY and that's just my opinion but I thought it could make for an interesting topic. How did I even come up with this question? Well I ran into this articled called Coral Fragging Should Be Banned. My hot take is the author believes the process should be banned based on genetic implications and adaptation. Let's talk about it!

1. Should coral fragging be banned?

2. What are your thoughts on genetic implications and adaptation issues (as the author states) caused by coral fragging?

image via @therman

I’m not going to have time to read the text before I answer but I agree that coral fragments should probably not be used in the wild.

The artificial selection of frags to outplant on a reef is likely to create more problems than it solves.

Fragments for hobbiest should be encouraged to provide artificial reef stock but not for outplacement on wild reefs.

 

[blaxsun]

No. I did read the whole article (hard as it was), and I basically came to the conclusion that the author would prefer dead and bleached coral reefs. Not every conservation effort is going to "hit it out of the ballpark" on every attempt - and I still think that we're only at the early stages of concerted efforts like this. As time goes on, I think you'll see that most if not all of the overblown concerns with respect to genetic diversity are alleviated.

 

[graziano]

I am 100% in favor of cutting

 

[Susan Edwards]

Way too broad a question. Fragging is fragging. Ban it in one area, got to ban it in others. And who is to say it was "fragged" or the coral dropped pieces of self to propagate itself, or a fish bumped and broke, etc. Whether ocean or homes. Fragging is a way to keep species of corals from going extinct and a way to even strengthen them I think. Won't happen, at least in the hobby. Maybe countries will ban taking corals out of the sea. In that case, we need cultured corals.

 

[Chemaholic]

Sounds to me like someone wants to impose their will on everyone else. Happens frequently these days unfortunately.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

I disagree with this article because its under the impression that all the frags are coming from the original coral.
If multiple frags were successfully planted could you not continue to acquire other genetic diverse acropora from different areas and make the genetics diverse enough to continue with natural process. In the mean time saving all of the other species of reef life in that area. I think of the California condor breeding program where they found birds and tested DNA to make sure there was enough genetics to support the population. This article has some points but I do not think you can base all of this knowledge on that old of an study. Now days were also breeding corals in aquariums which can then be fragged to increase the growth of the coral.

 

[Slocke]

I should point out that this article is not anti-fragging in the hobby but rather anti-fragging as a conservation strategy.
I spent years working in conservation. The issue of genetic diversity in conservation is one of the biggest and it sounds like this article is talking about that. Cheetahs (not that I'm biased for them) for example massively lack genetic diversity and thus are very susceptible to disease and general genetic issues; this is one of the major reasons for their endangered-ness. This is why they say fragging should not be used to increase population as the population would be more susceptible to disease.
As for our aquariums we could face the same issue of a reef that is very susceptible to disease but in such a microcosm I doubt it.

Summary: I say probably not.

 

[BeachBumTX]

no. Fragging corals and selling them instead of harvesting wild corals helps insure our wild reefs will be there.

 

[mdb_talon]

Sounds to me like someone wants to impose their will on everyone else. Happens frequently these days unfortunately.

Based on the article i think he is much more concerned about "good faith efforts" of reef restoration doing more harm than good and that it important to ensure that in an effort to save reefs we are not dooming some of the slower growing and/or hard to frag species of coral.....but i am guessing you were taking this to a completely unrelated area.

 

[rhostam]

It would be great to get some more recent data to back the author's assertions.

I can appreciate some of the concerns. Specifically, "only the most easily propagated, or fastest growing corals are used in order to show high success, without considering the functional or structural importance of the species being used".

I don't believe they are really targeting hobby fragging unless that is where frags are sourced for conservation initiatives.

Human-kept colonies are going to be more resilient thanks to the abuse we inflict upon them (well, perhaps not the most successful of the hobby). And by abuse, I mean the conditions we create. Many folk keep corals from different oceans in a single tank. Oceans with different properties. It would seem to me that corals growing under such conditions would be a good thing if conservation efforts were, in part, supplied by hobby colonies. But the gotcha is that we can't just put these frags anywhere, right? The concern above regarding "most easily propagated..." must account for what we expect to be naturally occurring. Each and every organism has a purpose - including corals.

[Propagation] is only one part of the equation. Obviously, sexual reproduction would yield better and stronger reefs than what exists now. But on what time scale could this be achieved? Will existing reefs have enough time to adapt, spawn, etc, as warming accelerates?

The world is mostly water. Attempting to repair some damage through propagation would only ever be a sliver of a modest part of the longer-term solution required to keep reefs a thing. If we stopped the advance of global warming and even reversed it - nature would still have a lot of work to do.

Sadly, as others have said, reefs can live on in our living rooms, offices, zoos, and businesses. It isn't what we want for the reefs, but if we don't do anything at all - it is all we will have left as the rest of the ecosystems of the world collapse.

 

[GARRIGA]

Fragging vs spawning does limit genetic diversity yet I doubt home reefs will be used to replenish the ocean. As another stated. Article was more directed at natural reefs than home.

 

[Chemaholic]

Based on the article i think he is much more concerned about "good faith efforts" of reef restoration doing more harm than good and that it important to ensure that in an effort to save reefs we are not dooming some of the slower growing and/or hard to frag species of coral.....but i am guessing you were taking this to a completely unrelated area.

I may very well be wrong about the author's motives. I can admit that. When someone uses an overly broad and somewhat inflammatory title for their article I tend to assume the worst.

If their message is fragging wild corals on reefs can be bad for the health of the reef then the title should reflect that. All fragging should not be banned. The fragging used to support the aquarist community is pretty much 100% positive. The author admits as much in their article.

 

[reef6111]

I'll start by saying NO, Of course not, negative, NO WAY and that's just my opinion but I thought it could make for an interesting topic. How did I even come up with this question? Well I ran into this articled called Coral Fragging Should Be Banned. My hot take is the author believes the process should be banned based on genetic implications and adaptation. Let's talk about it!

1. Should coral fragging be banned?

2. What are your thoughts on genetic implications and adaptation issues (as the author states) caused by coral fragging?

image via @therman

Since mankind seems to be determined to be the master of his own demise with pollution. I believe that the reefers that are growing and fragging corals may be the only source of some species of coral that are now near or at extinction.

 

[DIYreefer]

I don't have time to read the article, but I'll submit my 2 pennies just the same. I believe that it's likely only a matter of time before aquaculture/fragging will be the only way to sustain the reefing hobby. The export bans from a few years ago put the writing on the wall. Indo was shutdown for what, 2 years? And Fiji is STILL a no go with no change in sight from what I understand. Given the current agenda of pushing for greener resources and conservation, I think additional bans are inevitable. Without aquaculture on a much larger scale than it is currently, our hobby will see it's demise once these bans come.

Then there's the ecological aspect. If our reefs truly are dying off at much faster rates than ever before we will have to rely on captive kept species to attempt to repopulate them. Fragging and wide distribution ensures that there will be a larger amount of resources available if we do reach this point.

 

[HBtank]

This thread is more clickbait than the article, that article was on a conservation diver site and I doubt they intended it to be seen by aquarium hobbyists. I don’t think the author made any implications or suggestions about fragging in aquariums (other than a brief note that it’s where the practice originated), only its use in wild reef rehabilitation.

 

[MiniGbr]

This is a somewhat disingenuous title for the conversation since the article is based on real world attempts to rebuild reefs, versus what we do in the hobby.

A little background on me, I work in aquaculture and help with reef rebuilding efforts. And I agree with the article referenced, that fragging has little to no place in the restoration effort, except to experiment on testing changes in the environment to assess survivability. Essentially test the same genetic identical coral in different areas of the reef, or reefs, in order to determine if there are factors that affect their mortality (currents, acidification, disease pressure, etc.). The only true way to rebuild reefs is through genetic diversity. Which is what the organization I work with does. It’s a huge undertaking, and very difficult. And mostly entails lots of failure with some surviving coral. But that’s the only way to help build an ecosystem that continues to diversify against all of the continued pressure that we humans are placing in the ocean. Sexual propagation is the only true way to build diversity, survival of the fittest sort of thing. We just have to aid nature now because things are changing faster on the reef than ever before in the history of the ocean.

On the hobby side, we should absolutely be fragging. In fact, I would argue, we should only be buying and trading aquacultured coral at this point, and be working on aquacultured fish species as well. The more we take off the reef, the less that’s left for the reef to survive.

 

[Markdickenschwanz]

I'll support a ban on fragging coral only if there is a ban on pruning and grafting of ALL plant life.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

Let's just tell the ocean to not frag