169 10-ǰöĉëčîć÷îǰ Developing community-accessible methods of increasing coral reef resilience through selective coral breeding programs. Chad M. Scott 1,2 and James D. True 2 1 New Heaven Reef Conservation Program, Chalok Ban Kao, Koh Tao, Suratthani, Thailand, 84360 2 CBiPT, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Thailand, 90110 Corresponding author’s email: Conservation@newheavendiveschool.com Abstract: Techniques for active coral restoration using asexually derived fragments (cloning) to stock artificial reefs and nurseries have been well described and accepted over the last several decades. Somewhat surprisingly, however, these programs often do not include long-term monitoring, and do not address issues of decreased genetic and species diversity in resulting ‘farmed reefs.’ Recent techniques utilizing the culturing of coral larvae have been developed, but primarily have been applied at the academic level, and very little practical information has emerged for guiding local reef managers. Potentially, the culture of coral larvae to create feedstocks of corals with higher genetic diversity than the parent reefs is possible, but without more lay-accessible “handbooks”, the benefits of such programs in increasing coral resilience cannot be realized. The program outlined in this paper was implemented on the island of Koh Tao from 2010-2014, and has focused on developing low technology methods for community-based reef managers to effectively increase the genetic diversity of farmed reefs. Moreover, the techniques are amenable to “selective breeding” of corals to accelerate adaptation to changing conditions and repopulating corals in degraded areas. During the period of the Koh Tao program, gametes from dozens of coral colonies from the hard coral Goniastrea have been fertilized and reared over three annual spawning episodes, and are growing to transplantable size on mid-water nurseries. The outcomes from this trial show that community managers can utilize such programs to overcome many of the inherent problems in using cloned coral fragments for restoration purposes. Keywords: Coral Restoration, Larvae Culturing, Community Management of Reefs Introduction The major direct stresses and disturbances to coral reefs are well documented and include; pollution, sedimentation, nutrient enrichment, structural damage, over-extraction or use, and habitat destruction (Bruno & Selig 2007, Wilkinson 2010). Mass coral bleaching due to ocean warming has become more frequent and severe over the last 30 years, decreasing reef abundance and diversity around the globe (Brown 1997, Hoegh-Guldberg 1999). Due to both localized and global threats, many reef areas have become so depleted that it is unlikely they can recover on their own, or will take such significant amounts of time that dependent economies will be severely impacted (Wilkinson 2008, Bruno and Selig 2007). Most reef management techniques implemented over the last 20 years have been focused on the designation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and other passive management techniques. Despite all management efforts implemented to date, global reef decline has risen from 1% per year