Oculina Banks Restoration Project
The Oculina Banks are unique among coral
reefs, not only as a deep coral community but also known only
to exist off the central eastern coast of Florida and nowhere
else on earth. These Banks are highly productive supporting large
populations of commercially important reef fish and have large,
reported spawning aggregations 
(areas
where fish come together to spawn and reproduce). These corals
are especially vulnerable to mechanical disturbance such as bottom-trawling
activities from fishermen. Efforts to restore areas of the Oculina
Banks that have been reduced to rubble from apparent bottom trawling
have been partially funded by NOAA Fisheries Service and has involved
scientists from Florida State University in the Department of
Biological Sciences.
Two types of transplant structures (105 reefballs and 450 reefdisks) were deployed to provide habitat structure and evaluate coral transplant survival/growth to assess the most effective restoration approach. Reef fish abundance has been higher around reefballs than in dead habitat areas, especially for economically important fish species. Transplanted corals have exhibited close to 100% survival rates, but coral recruitment on these structures has been very low.
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