Origami July 29, 2022 Share July 29, 2022 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 29, 2022 (Reston, VA, USA & Port Douglas, QLD, AUS) The Washington DC Area Marine Aquarist Society (WAMAS) has donated $20,000 USD to the Great Barrier Reef Legacy Living Coral Biobank Project. Great Barrier Reef Legacy, along with key partners have established the Living Coral Biobank Project in Australia. Funded by private donations, the team has managed to scale the project quickly to try and secure the full biodiversity of stony corals on the Great Barrier Reef in light of four mass coral bleaching events in just six years. After being identified underwater by Dr. Charlie Veron, the 'Godfather' of corals, colonies are collected and are being kept alive in a dedicated holding facility with an 8,000 fragment capacity for their ultimate conservation and to make them available for reef research and restoration efforts. A second larger and publicly accessible facility destined for Cairns Aquarium is now underway, with help from WAMAS. The new facility will be capable of housing up to 12,000 live coral fragments. "We have been absolutely humbled by the support and generosity we are seeing from the US reef-keeping community, with everything from registering interest in looking after corals fragments within home and office tanks, to adopting individual coral fragments within our facility, and now with large donations such as that made by WAMAS," says Dr. Dean Miller Managing Director of Great Barrier Reef Legacy and Project leader of the Living Coral Biobank Project. Since 2015, WAMAS has donated nearly $90,000 to ocean conservation and educational causes aligned with its mission principles. Asked about the selection of the Living Coral Biobank Project, WAMAS President Tom Land says, “We are alarmed by the threat climate change poses to global reef ecosystems. Solutions to safeguarding the biodiversity of these habitats is urgently required. The Great Barrier Reef Legacy team is doing excellent, innovative work that WAMAS is proud to support. We are very pleased and excited to be able to continue giving meaningful contributions to leading-edge reef-conservation programs such as the Living Coral Biobank project and for the new, larger facility in Cairns. And we hope that our donation can help lead the way to even greater support from reefing communities in North America.” The new Cairns Aquarium facility is a state-of-the-art, yet, off-the-shelf, system that will be replicated in locations all around the world where corals need to be conserved. "We are really excited to work with the reef-building community on what is quickly becoming one of the largest conservation efforts to save coral biodiversity on the Great Barrier Reef. It is through the blood sweat and tears and years of honing skills, expertise and equipment by the reef-building community and industry that is making this possible," says Dr. Miller. The Cairns Aquarium facility is expected to be up and running by the end of 2022. Currently, there are over 132 species of corals in the biobank collection representing just over 33% of the Great Barrier Reef coral biodiversity, with a plan to collect up to 50% before the end of the year. To learn more about the Living Coral Biobank or to contribute, please visit https://greatbarrierreeflegacy.org/projects/biobank. WAMAS is a non-profit educational society committed to promoting interest in and enjoyment of all aspects of the marine aquarium hobby by educating the public on the creation and maintenance of a marine ecosystem. They provide resources to the saltwater aquarium enthusiasts in the Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland area by sponsoring meetings, educational seminars, lectures, online discussions, publications, websites, exhibits, and other means, as a social avenue to connect with other local hobbyists in our area. WAMAS supports education, research and conservation efforts improving marine and coral reef environments. Contact: Tom Land, president@wamas.org Dr. Dean Miller, dean.miller@gbrlegacy.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami July 29, 2022 Author Share July 29, 2022 The news release copied above was just released to outlets in the last few minutes. You may recognize Dr. Dean Miller's name. He's the speaker at our meeting on next Saturday, August 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefdUp July 29, 2022 Share July 29, 2022 I love this group! What an amazing and novel cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn.reef.nerd July 29, 2022 Share July 29, 2022 THIS IS GREAT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menglish July 29, 2022 Share July 29, 2022 Excellent organization to be a part of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schg July 29, 2022 Share July 29, 2022 This is amazing, so glad to be part of this group! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme July 29, 2022 Share July 29, 2022 Wow! Very proud of the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abe July 29, 2022 Share July 29, 2022 Awesome! A perfect reminder to make WAMAS your AmazonSmile organization if you shop with Amazon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM August 2, 2022 Share August 2, 2022 Now live in Coral Magazine: https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2022/08/01/wamas-donates-20k-to-the-living-coral-biobank-project/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezie August 3, 2022 Share August 3, 2022 I love everything about this <3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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