Coral IVF

We’re giving nature a helping hand

The Earth’s reef systems are in crisis. Mass coral destruction caused by dynamite fishing, pollution and climate change could see the majority of the planet’s coral reefs disappear within a decade. Without healthy reefs we could lose more than a million species, decimating the globe’s biodiversity and with it many industries and communities that are reliant on a healthy reef system to survive.

Marine biologist Distinguished Professor Peter Harrison and the team at Southern Cross University have developed a solution that works. A solution emerging from the seed of an idea planted four decades ago. In early springtime 1981 on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, a small group of curious marine biology PhD researchers – among them Peter Harrison – was diving at night by torchlight. Suddenly they found themselves immersed in an amazing natural phenomenon: an underwater snowstorm of trillions of microscopic eggs and sperm being released by multiple coral species in a mass mating ritual.

From this initial observation – a worldwide scientific first – and in response to the degradation of coral reefs and associated ecosystems around the world, Coral IVF was born.

Coral IVF – the use of naturally occurring coral spawning to restore damaged reef systems – has proven to be effective for restoring breeding corals on badly damaged reefs in the Philippines, and the challenge now is to scale this success to larger reef areas including the Great Barrier Reef.

Find out what you can do

Regrowing coral reefs and effecting positive change in our natural environment

The Coral IVF team, led by Southern Cross University’s Professor Peter Harrison, has captured millions of coral sperm and eggs during synchronised sex events before rearing the larvae – sometimes turbo-charging with algae symbionts – ready to replenish heavily degraded sections of reef.

“I had the idea to capture the spawn that would otherwise drift away and end up as fish food or disintegrate without fertilising the dying reefs,” explains Professor Harrison. “We collect spawn from heat-tolerant corals that have survived bleaching, and rear millions of baby corals in specially designed tanks and coral nursery pools on the reef before delivering them onto target areas of damaged reefs to restore and repopulate them.”

Divers use fine mesh nets to capture the microscopic eggs and sperm that float to the surface. The spawn is then placed in floating enclosures where they grow for up to a week before reseeding the baby corals (larvae) onto damaged reefs.

This methodology builds on the enormous success of Professor Harrison’s earlier work with then Southern Cross University PhD candidate Dexter dela Cruz and other researchers from the Philippines, restoring reef areas degraded by dynamite fishing. Working with our Pacific neighbour since 2012, Professor Harrison says research shows re-seeded corals can grow to “dinner plate-sized adult colonies within three years and they were able to sexually reproduce at this age”.

There is great promise in the mass larval restoration approach as it has the potential to make a difference to reef recovery on a global scale. The success of this research shows that where the natural supply of larvae has been compromised, damaged coral populations can be restored and repaired using millions of coral larvae settled on these reefs.

Professor Peter Harrison diving amongst coral

This is what we are doing

Coral researchers are working day and night on the Great Barrier Reef to complete a radically new approach to mass coral re-seeding, rearing millions of hardy coral babies in the days after the Great Barrier Reef’s annual mass spawning event.

“As a University that teaches marine science, and with campuses at the Gold Coast, Lismore and Coffs Harbour along Australia’s east coast, we understand firsthand the value of coral reefs not only to overall ocean health but also to the hundreds of millions of people worldwide whose lives are directly supported by coral reef systems.”

– Professor Peter Harrison

Whitsundays tourism industry onboard to deliver new life to damaged reefs

The Whitsundays is piloting a tourism-led restoration of the Great Barrier Reef, working alongside Southern Cross University and the Australian Institute of Marine Science to scale-up Coral IVF.

In a world-first trial around Hook Island, Whitsunday tourism operators, vessel owners and the community collected coral spawn from the ocean’s surface during the annual spawning event and placed it in specially modified larvae nursery pools.

“Our marine tourism operators have a powerful connection to the Whitsunday islands and coral reefs and feel strongly about protecting their patch. Thriving coral ecosystems safeguard not just our precious underwater environment but also guarantee the future of sustainable tourism on the Great Barrier Reef.”

– Sharon Smallwood, Whitsunday Charter Boat Industry Association (WCBIA) Executive Secretary

Join us and change the future

Southern Cross University is looking to build on its 40 years of success with the Coral IVF intervention by rolling out its highly successful Coral IVF intervention on a global scale. For more information about how you could make a difference to the future of the Earth’s global reef systems contact:

Senior Manager (Engagement)

scumedia@scu.edu.au