Dutch Government Backs Coral Farming

Conceptual drawing of the Coral Greenhouse Project nursery as it may develop over the coming years. Drawing by Gerben Schoondorp.

Radically new coral nursery to be established in The Netherlands

Article and images by Tim Wijgerde  

The Dutch were not the first to cultivate tulips, but in 1593 enterprising farmers in what are now the Netherlands began serious propagation efforts with a few rare imported bulbs, and the rest is history. Now the Dutch government is backing a serious attempt to propagate stony corals in closed, captive systems in northern Europe and market them to aquarists around the world.

The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality recently selected the development of the EcoCoral Greenhouse Project for financial endorsement from a short-list of innovative projects aimed at protecting biodiversity. The project was submitted by EcoDeco BV, a company which develops and builds biological filtration systems for public aquaria.

The team behind the project presented a compelling case to the government, arguing that the sustainable aquaculture of corals and other reef organisms may be more important than ever, reducing pressure on wild populations and providing a "Noah’s Ark" for endangered species.

Mother colony of Stylophora pistillata in the author's lab at Wageningen University in Wageningen.

This vision of sustainability is shared by Peter Henkemans and Robbert Dokter from EcoDeco, a Dutch company dedicated to the development of natural filtration systems for aquaria. They received the grant with the aid of their scientific partners from Wageningen University and Coral Publications (not affiliated with CORAL Magazine).

A small-scale prototype coral nursery will first be established near Wageningen with two test systems having a total volume of 8,850 US gallons (33,500 L). During an optimization study of 18 months, the cost-effectiveness of the systems will be determined by measuring coral growth, health and coloration.

Mother Colonies
The sources of corals for the project will be  universities, zoos, and possibly a
Dutch aquatic livestock wholesaler. The team estimates that it will need 330 mother colonies to create 3,300 nubbins or fragments, which is the approximate number of corals to be housed during the test phase.

After this test phase, the facility will likely be upscaled for increased production. About two years from now, the first high-quality, sustainably cultured corals may find their way to wholesalers and retail stores around the globe.

Potential Acanthastrea lordhowensis mother colony: the project will start with about 330 stony corals but with an eye to expand into culturing gorgonians, soft corals, and live rock.

As Peter Henkemans, CEO of EcoDeco explains: “Growing corals is highly expensive, which is why most efforts have focused on mariculture or growing small colonies in shallow tropical bays and lagoons. By letting nature do the work, costs can be greatly reduced. Mariculture however has several disadvantages.

"First, the ocean behaves in an unpredictable fashion. El Niño events for example may lead to coral bleaching and destructive tropical storms, which can decimate entire harvests. Second, anthropogenic disturbances such as pollution, including oil spills, may also disrupt the efforts of local Asian mariculture companies.

"EcoDeco’s technology however, together with new scientific insights, offers new perspectives. In an ex-situ aquaculture facility, corals are able to grow under stable, controlled conditions. At the heart of the Coral Greenhouse Project lies the unique combination of new aquarium technology with recent scientific advances in coral biology. The aquaria which will house the corals will be fitted with EcoDeco’s powerful Dynamic Mineral Control systems, which filter the aquarium water efficiently without removing plankton from the water column.

Alveopora gigas, one of the species targeted for the test phase of the project.

"This allows the corals to consume the available plankton, which has been shown by scientists to greatly promote growth rates. Furthermore, very little energy is consumed as mechanical filtration is lacking, and few water changes are required.

"Currently, several zoos, public aquaria and universities make use of our technology, with impressive results. In short, corals can now be cultured cost-effectively, by greatly reducing energy and water costs. Corals from such a facility will have adapted to aquarium conditions, and can be kept free of parasites.”

Next to growing corals, Henkemans plans to use EcoDeco’s technology for culturing handcrafted live rock. “Live rock is a very interesting candidate for aquaculture, as demand from the industry remains high and the collection of such rock goes at the expense of coral reefs. By co-culturing live rock together with corals, we can slightly reduce the erosion of reefs due to wild collection. As our systems allow for a stable plankton population, organisms such as sponges, tunicates and bivalves will colonize the rock, yielding a natural end result.”

Further reading: Coral Science.org and EcoCoral.eu.

Tim Wijgerde is the founder of Coral Science.org, a CORAL Magazine contributor, and a researcher at Wageningen University, which is a partner in the Coral Greenhouse Project.