Coral reef mitigation and restoration techniques employed in the Pacific islands. II. Guidelines

For pt.I see ibid., p.306-12 (2001). Direct experience with a number of projects in Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands leads the authors to conclude that it is critical to stand back and take an overview of each situation from a broad environmental and economic perspective and not a narrow perspective based on repair and transplantation. Cost effectiveness of previous mitigation and restoration efforts on reefs (repair and coral transplantation) is very low. Protection, rather than restoration of damaged reefs, must be the management focus. Efforts at restoration and preservation must include the adjacent watershed. Restoration activities on the reefs can take focus off the real problem. There is no purpose in restoration efforts on a reef that will be subsequently destroyed by poor land management of the adjacent watershed. Managers must be aware that developers and polluters can use token restoration or mitigation effort as a means of concealing private or public economic gain at the loss of the environment.