Collaborative Research
The Deep is actively involved in a number of research and conservation initiatives with other organisations. Some of these projects are between just one or two institutes but some are also multinational initiatives. All focus on our central aim of furthering the understanding of the marine environment.
Secor
This projects looks at the feasibility of propagating hard corals using sexual reproduction methods rather than the traditional methodology of fragmenting adult coral colonies.
Based primarily at Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands the project is coordinated by Dirk Peterson and was the central tenant to his PhD Thesis.
Using wild collected specimens of Acropora tenuis, Dirk perfected a technique by which he could collect the gametes during a mass spawning in the wild and induce settlement on vertical and horizontal tiles that allowed maturation into primary polyps. Once this technique was perfected the next stage was to ship the primary polyps to collaborating institutions world wide to look at the survival and growth rates of these polyps into colonies.
If successful this project and the techniques developed by Dirk could significantly reduce the demand on wild corals collected to supply the home aquarist and public aquarium sectors.
Potentially thousands of coral colonies can be produced from just one or two individuals who remain unharmed by the technique. Fragmenting of corals requires the splitting of adult colonies into smaller units which then grow on to produce adult colonies themselves, very much like taking plant cuttings. Using this technique only a few colonies can be produced at any one time.
The captive sexual reproduction of corals could also be very significant in the re-seeding of damaged reefs in the wild.
The Deep is one of the institutions involved in the receiving and monitoring of primary polyps from the SECOR project.
Coralzoo
A brand new initiative this project aims to bring together both private sector, zoo and aquarium representatives in furthering the science of keeping reef building corals.
The Deep is a key partner in the initiative, which is funded through the European Commission and other partners include the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, Rotterdam Zoo, Burger’s Zoo, Wageningen University, Costa Edutainment S.P.A., Astridplaza N.V., Red Sea Corals LTD., Isreal Oceanography and Limnology Research LTD, Technische Universitaet Dresden and Conserzio Nazionale Interuniversitario Per Le Science Del Mare.
The project will run for 4 years from the 1st of June 2005 and will consider many aspects of maximising the propagation and culture of Hard Corals.
Red Sea Cucumber Project
This project was an initiative between Hull University, The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and The Deep.
It involved the surveying of coral reefs in the Egyptian portion of the Red Sea to assess the potential damage caused to the reefs by illegal Sea Cucumber fishing.
Sea Cucumbers are regarded as key stone species on many coral reefs as they play a vital role in the cycling of nutrients and bacterial control in substrates. There was a growing market for Sea Cucumbers collected from the Red Sea to supply the Far Eastern markets.
Diver surveys were carried out on denuded and intact reef areas involving gross taxonomy observations and sediment analysis. The results of this project are awaiting publication. As a result of lobbying of the Egyptian government on this issue the collection of Sea Cucumbers was made illegal in Egyptian coastal waters.
In addition to divers surveying reefs they also carried out dives to control the numbers of the highly predatory Crown of Thorns Starfish, which can devastate large areas of coral reef.
Whiteshark Research
In conjunction with the University of Pretoria, University of Cape Town, Marine and Coastal Management, Natal Sharks Board and the South African Museum a member of The Deep’s aquarist staff went to South Africa to assist in the collection of data relating to recreational diving with White Shark (Carcharodon charcharias). This data was part of a PhD studentship being carried out by a student at the University of Pretoria.
Our staff member spent 6 weeks observing shark diving from tourist dive boats collecting information on which animals and how many frequented the cage diving trips and the possible effects that the cage diving had on the behaviour of the sharks themselves.