Rubble Stabilisation Workshop

Bali, Indonesia ????

18-21 November, 2023

In November we, (we being Kailash and myself), have been in Indonesia participating in a reef restoration workshop focused on how to stabilise rubble that accumulates on coral reefs after disturbance or degradation. The workshop was hosted by the University of Queensland as part of their Reef Restoration and Adaptation program (RRAP). An excellent mix of old and young, researchers, scientists and practitioners who came together to share what they know and have learned in their experiences working to restore and conserve coral reefs, with the aim to improve outcomes and solutions for coral reefs in the future.

Lead researcher for the rubble stabilsation program Peter Mumby noted

?“The aim of the workshop is to bring together the experts from around the world who have either done research or are practitioners in rubble stabilization. And then bring them together to get their collective experience and expertise as to what sorts of methods work well under different environments so that we can help people make recommendations of what sorts of interventions they might want to consider given the kind of environment they're in”

On day one we had a lot of presentations, from all participants sharing their knowledge from reefs throughout the world. Some reefs suffered from degradation from overexploitation. Many coral reefs throughout South East Asia have been subjected to dynamite and poison fishing, destroying the underlying structure of coral reefs. Others more recently have been loved to death with the expansion of tourism and its associated degradative effects. Some efforts were in response to human impacts such as ship grindings, or natural disturbances such as hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons.

Other researchers were looking at more minute detail of the ecological mechanisms behind the binding and consolidation of rubble by nature following disturbances. This included how different sized and shaped rubble moves and what bioadhesives, such as sponges, tunicates, coralline crustose algae (CCA) and coral helps to stabilize the rubble over time.?

We were fortunate to get out to the surrounding reefs surrounding reefs to see up close the excellent and often exploratory restoration work of Blue Corner Conservation at Nusa Penida. We also got the opportunity to dive on one of the community focused restoration projects. Located in shallower water, the depth allows local volunteers the opportunity to participate without needing to scuba dive.

The rest of the workshop was spent trying to synthesize knowledge from all the participants UQ researcher Tanya Kenyon noted that “specifically for the RRAP program, we want to bring this knowledge together into a Bayesian Belief Network which will help to inform once we've identified areas on the reef where rubble, mobilization and rubble persistence could be an issue.? How then do we decide what method to use to?”

I was a bit unsure what a Bayesian Belief Network actually is so Peter sumarised it for me. “A Bayesian belief network is just a very intuitive way of bringing different data sets together to tell a story of how they how they dictate an outcome. And the beauty of it is that you can build a Bayesian belief network which is going to ask questions like if you have a reef that meets the following criteria and you select what those criteria would be might be a shallow reef in a highly wave swept environment, and the rubble that you have is maybe very small. And you might say well, what different options do I have and I'll pick an option of how I might stabilize that.“

As per usual with events like this, one of the key takeaway messages from the participants was the networking value they gained from being there.

“The most enjoyable part is like meeting new people and building networks in in coal reef ecology.”

Eric Fisher, from Reef Magic in Cairns, Australia. ?

“Meeting people from all over the world that have the same passion and inspiration. Yeah, That's it.

Robin Philippo of Tropical Research And Conservation Centre in Malaysia

“I think it's been a really good blend of academics and people from the research perspective and also government perspective about reef restoration and then actual practitioners, people who live and breathe and spend every on reefs”

Scott Bryan, Queensland University of Technology

“Everyone's passionate about healthy marine environments. Healthy coral reef environments, and just seeing the diversity of experiences out here, the challenges that people have.”

Darren Cameron, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority ?

“This workshop's been a really awesome opportunity for me and my colleague Chyudho to connect with other rubble stabilisation experts.”

Freda Nicholson, MARS Australia

“The best part was being able to show like these big names in coral restoration, the Coral Restoration site that I've been working on and yeah, show them my work and take some advice from everyone.”

Andrew Taylor, Blue Corner Conservation ?

It has been great to reconnect with people and meet new people and just see how far the field has come in the 20 plus years since I did some of the early work, it's just been great to be back here.

Helen Fox, Coral Reef Alliance

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For me one thing that was admirable was the relaxed, casual nature of the event. Egos were tempered, people dressed casually and everyone, regardless of their background and experience was given equal standing to speak and be heard. Unlike conferences or formal gatherings, it was nice to feel that judgements were left at the door and hidden agendas were few. I am not sure how much of that came from the organisers, the venue, the participants or a combination of all three. However it came about I am thankful, grateful, appreciative.

In closing this little thought bubble I just feel extremely fortunate to be able to do things like these, in amazing places with great people and share it with family like Kailash. I remarked to someone recently that if I was independently wealthy (which, just in case you were wondering, I am not ??) I would probably do the same work I am currently doing (active coral reef restoration), just not in such a remote location away from family. Right now I guess this will have to remain an aspiration.

For more information on the Rubble Stabilisation work of the RRAP program see https://gbrrestoration.org/program/rubble-stabilisation/

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Nathan Cook

November 2023