(Note: This proposal has been rejected by the NFWF, April,2003)

GLOBAL CORAL REEF ALLIANCE

January 31, 2003

Sabino Sackarias

Governor

Hatohobei State

Republic of Palau

Dear Governor Sackarias

The Global Coral Reef Alliance (GCRA) is delighted to collaborate with the Hatohobei State Government, the Hatohobei Economic Development Authority, the Helen Reef Resource Management Project, and the people of Tobi and Helen Islands in this proposal. We believe that the project is crucial to restore the damaged coral reefs and fisheries of Tobi and Helen reefs and to develop and apply new methods to conserve and manage them sustainably.

GCRA staff will train the staff of HEDA and HRRMP, as well as the local community, in our new methods to design, construct, monitor, maintain, and repair coral nurseries, fish nurseries, clam nurseries, oyster nurseries, and lobster nurseries. These will improve the quality of the marine habitat, develop sustainable new methods of cultivating marine organisms of economic and food value, and serve as breakwaters to protect the islands from erosion.

We are honored to work with a community that recognizes the serious nature of the environmental destruction that has been wrought on their reefs by global climate change stresses that are beyond their control. We will do all we can to aid their determination to restore the damage in way that will have lasting effects in helping to preserve their ancient traditions. We look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration that we hope will serve as an inspiration to other island communities across the tropics.

Sincerely yours,

Thomas J. Goreau, Ph.D.

President, Global Coral Reef Alliance

HATOHOBEI STATE GOVERNMENT

State Liaison Office, 2^nd Floor Longshoreman Lumber Building

P. O. Box 1017, Malakal Hamlet

Koror State, Republic of Palau PW 96940

Phone/Fax: (680) 488-2218/5149 Email: hsg@palaunet.com

January 31, 2003

Michelle Pico

Coral Reef Conservation

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

1120 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 900

Washington DC 20036

Re: NFWF Proposal

Dear Ms. Pico,

The Hatohobei State Government, on behalf of the Hatohobei Economic Development Authority, wishes to submit the enclosed proposal, “Helen and Tobi Coral Reef and Fisheries Pilot Restoration Project” for consideration for funding by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Coral Reef Conservation Program. This project is a collaborative partnership between the local government of the State, the Hatohobei Economic Development Authority, the Helen Reef Resource Management Project, and a US based non profit (501 c 3) organization, The Global Coral Reef Alliance. It aims to restore the severe damage caused to our reefs and fisheries by high temperatures, and to place their management on a sustainable basis.

Hatohobei State is the smallest and most remote State of Palau: we rely almost entirely on the sea for our livelihood, and place the greatest importance on restoring our fisheries. We cannot do so without help to combine the best of our traditional management practices with most advanced and useful modern technology, which is the aim of this proposal. Because of the great importance of this project to our future, the Hatohobei State will commit the following resources as matching funds and in kind donations for the proposal:

a) The salaries of the Hatohobei personnel who will be most involved in the on site construction, monitoring, and maintenance of the project

b) The costs of travel and shipping personnel and materials to Helen and Tobi Islands

c) The costs of fuel and oil for the small boats needed in the project

d) Room and board for the non-Tobi collaborators in the project

e) 20 solar panels

We look forward to favorable response to this critically important project.

Sincerely,

Sabino J. Sackarias

Governor of Hatohobei State

HELEN AND TOBI CORAL REEF AND FISHERIES PILOT RESTORATION PROJECT

January 31, 2003

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Coral Reef Conservation Application Form

Submission Instructions:

One unstapled copy mailed to: Coral Reef Conservation, 1120 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 900, Washington DC, 20036 and One electronic copy via email to pico@nfwf.org Electronic copies should be saved in Word 2000 or lower, WordPerfect 8 or lower, or as Rich Text. All application information should be attached to 1 email with the name of the organization in the subject line. Email cannot exceed 5M.

I. APPLICANT INFORMATION

Organization (to be named as Grantee): Hatohobei Economic Development Authority

Street: PO Box 1017

City, State, Zip: Koror, Republic of Palau 96940

Home Page: none

Project Contacts: Sabino Sackarias

Project Officer: Huan Hosei

Tele: (680)-488-5149/2218

Fax: (680)-488-5149/2218

Email: hsg@palaunet.com huanh@palau.edu hhosei@yahoo.com

Finance Officer: Albino Fernando

Tele: (680)-488-5149/2218

Fax: (680)-488-5149/2218

Email: hsg@palaunet.com

Tax Status (i.e. nonprofit, university, 501(c)(3) etc.): local government

Tax ID#: ________ Palau tax ID# 06-0631

Fiscal Year: ___/___ to ___/___ (mo/day) Jan 1 to Dec 31

II. PROJECT INFORMATION

Project Name: Helen and Tobi coral reef and fisheries pilot restoration project

Location(s) of Project: Helen Reef (131^o49’E, 2^o59’N), Tobi Reef (131^o11’E, 3^o01’N)

City: n/a

State: Hatahobei State

Country: Republic of Palau

Congressional District(s): n/a

Project Start Date: July 15 2003

Project End Date: July 15 2004

Application Submission Date: January 31 2003

Please check one or more of the following categories, your project falls into:

� Increasing community awareness through education and stewardship activities YES

Please list the names of organizations and the amounts that you plan to apply to for this project.

Budget category Total per category Challenge funds NFWF funds

Detailed itemized budget and justification

Challenge fund contributions from HSG include the salaries of the personnel that will be most directly involved in the field work:

NFWF funds include 1.5 months of salary for the GCRA personnel, to train HEDA and HRRM staff in design, construction, monitoring, maintenance, and repair. They are contributing their expertise to the project at greatly reduced rates, without benefits.

Challenge funds. Travel to the islands can only be made on the large HSG/Sonsorol supply boat due to the distance (600 kilometers). This boat and its crew will be made available for over a month for the project. The cost for operating the boat, including fuel and crew for this period is included.

NFWF funds. These include air travel for the two GCRA staff to Palau, a round trip ticket from Boston to Koror (Goreau), and from Dubai to Koror (Hilbertz), and for shipping of special equipment and supplies that cannot be obtained in Palau from the United States. It is likely that no connection can be made from Dubai to Koror on a US airline.

Challenge fund contributions include fuel and oil for small boats used on site to deploy the structures and transplant corals.

NFWF contributions to supplies include expendable film, PVC pipe, epoxy, silicone, electrical tape, and anodes

NFWF Contribution covers license fee for use of US patented Biorock technology at concessional rates

Challenge fund will include housing and food for GCRA personnel for one and a half months. Administrative overhead costs will be contributed by HSG gratis.

SIGNATURE OF APPLICANT (An original signature page must be received with this Application) I certify that the above information is true and accurate.

Pilot projects at Helen Reef and Tobi in the Southwest Islands of Palau will be started to restore coral and fisheries habitat in areas that were severely damaged after mass mortality of corals from high ocean temperatures in 1998. Solar-powered Biorock methods will increase coral growth and survival rates and provide superior habitat for fish and shellfish. The project involves collaboration between community-based management programs and NGO coral reef restoration programs for training and education in new technologies for sustainable management.

Project Title: Helen and Tobi coral reef and fisheries pilot restoration project

Foundation Federal Funds: $50,000

The Hatohobei State Government (HSG), the Hatohobei Economic Development Authority (HEDA), and the Helen Reef Resource Management Project (HRRMP) will work with the Global Coral Reef Alliance (GCRA) to establish pilot solar-powered coral, fish, clam, oyster, and lobster nursery projects. These aim to restore coral reefs and reef fisheries that the subsistence fishermen of Helen and Tobi Islands rely on, which were severely damaged following the high temperature coral bleaching event of 1998.

GCRA will train HEDA and HRRMP staff to design, construct, operate, maintain, and repair solar panel powered Biorock structures. These will grow solid limestone reef structures that greatly increase growth rates of corals, increase coral resistance to environmental stresses including high temperatures, increase growth of oysters and clams, provide superior habitat that increases fish and lobster populations, and acts to protect the shoreline of these low lying islands from erosion. The pilot project and adjacent control areas will be documented by HRRMP using video filming to evaluate growth and abundance of coral reef organisms, and for public education programs. If successful, the project will be used as the basis for greatly expanded community-based projects to restore, improve, and protect the marine resources of Helen and Tobi, as well as provide a model for the rest of Palau and the Pacific Island nations.

A. Project Need‑‑ describe the conservation need(s) the project will address.

The people of Hatohobei State are traditional subsistence fishermen living on the smallest and most remote islands of Palau (see appended map). During 1998, high ocean temperatures killed almost all the corals on the reefs, and fish populations have catastrophically declined, according to Tobi and Helen fishermen. A survey of the reefs by Maragos et al. in 1992 found the corals reefs in excellent condition, with the highest diversity of corals and fish recorded for any oceanic Pacific Island, and no signs of stress or of overfishing (except for turtles and giant clams). A survey by Birkeland et al. in 2000 found live coral cover of only around 10-15%, and complete loss or severe depletion of many previously abundant coral, fish, and shellfish species. Based on the presence of juvenile corals, they predicted that some reef areas would recover in only 3-4 years. Nevertheless, examination of Helen Reefs by Smith et al. in 2002 found little or no signs of recovery. Death of the corals has resulted in increased erosion of these low sand islands. Although community-based management efforts have established closed zones and restricted fishing effort, natural recovery has been so slow as to have minimal impact. Active restoration is essential to maintain coral reef fisheries, biodiversity, and coastal protection. Previous funding has been restricted to assessment, protected area enforcement and turtle monitoring, but has not aided recovery of coral and fish populations. This project will be first in a small oceanic Pacific island to apply the best new methods for coral reef restoration, which have been applied successfully in many countries in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Southeast Asia.

1. To build the maximal area possible with the funding available of coral, fish, clam, oyster, and lobster nurseries to increase their growth rates, populations, and reproduction.

2. To preserve and propagate rare coral species threatened by global warming, and to maintain populations that can survive the next hot water event.

3. To train fishermen in new methods of habitat improvement to selectively increase populations of economically valuable fish and shellfish.

6. To educate the Palauan people about conserving, restoring, and improving their marine resources.

C. Methodology‑‑ describe the project's methodology and timetable for implementation.

The project will use the Biorock method, patented by Wolf Hilbertz and Tom Goreau, which uses low voltage direct current (supplied by solar panels) to grow solid limestone structures on steel frameworks in the sea. Corals, clams, oysters, and other calcareous organisms exhibit greatly increased growth and reproduction on these nurseries, and due to their healthier condition, are able to resist environmental stresses like high temperatures and pollution that would normally kill them. The structures provide superior habitat for fish and shellfish, rapidly building up very high densities of adult and juvenile marine organisms. As the structures grow more massive with corals and electrochemically deposited limestone, they act as breakwaters that have been able to turn eroding beaches into growing ones. Biorock projects are currently operating in 8 countries, and provide the best and most cost effective technique for marine ecosystem restoration, shore protection, and many forms of mariculture. They are being used by marine parks to destroy damaged habitat, by fishermen to increase fish and lobster populations, by oyster farmers to increase growth rates, and by hotels and dive shops as ecotourism attractions. Previous projects have won the Maldives Environment Award, the Theodore M. Sperry Award for Pioneers and Innovators of the Society for Ecological Restoration, the Indonesian KONAS Award for best community-based coastal zone management project, and the SKAL Award for best underwater ecotourism project in the world.

During the first stage of the project, taking one month, Dr. Tom Goreau and Prof. Wolf Hilbertz of GCRA, inventors of the method, will work on site on both Helen and Tobi Islands to train the HRRMP staff to wire and install solar panels on the shore, design and build the coral, fish, clam, oyster, and lobster nurseries/breakwaters, transplant corals, clams, and oysters, and to maintain and repair the project. The coral, clam, and fish nurseries will be built in shallow lagoon and reef flats to the north of the islands. This area was used in the past by Tobi fishermen for traditional fish habitats built from stacked stones, from which fish were periodically collected by driving them into nets. Such structures have not been built or maintained for 30 years. This lost tradition of building stone fish habitat will be revived in this project by building traditional structures near the Biorock structures in order to compare the amounts of fish that occupy them, in contrast with control areas having no structures.

In the second phase, occupying the following 11 months, the HRRMP staff will monitor and maintain the projects, and document the abundance and growth rate of corals, oysters, clams, fishes, and invertebrates in the structures and in adjacent control areas using digital video and photography. In the third phase, during the final three months of the project, these records will be compiled and used to prepare a report documenting the results of the project in terms of the number of organisms grown, their growth rates, and changes in the coastline. In the forth phase, during the final month of the project this report will be used to prepare proposals for continued funding and expansion of the pilot project if the results warrant it. In the fifth phase, also during the final month of the project, the video records will be edited to prepare a documentary film of the project results.

D. Research/Management Implications‑‑ describe anticipated project results/outcome.

Healthy populations of corals and other reef organisms are expected to grow, settle, and reproduce more rapidly on the nurseries than in nearby control areas. These organisms are expected to form an important refuge of surviving organisms to maintain biodiversity and repopulate the reefs after the next hot water bleaching event. These will include species of corals found in Helen and Tobi which are not known to occur in other parts of Palau. As the nurseries grow they are expected to stabilize the coastlines by turning eroding beaches into growing ones and protecting them against global sea level rise. The data collected will allow assessment of the potential of such nurseries as improved habitat for increasing populations of economically valuable fish and shellfish and their sustainable harvests. The staff of HRRMP and the fishermen of Hatohobei will learn new methods to restore their damaged habitat, allowing improved sustainable yields and economic returns.

E. Evaluation‑‑ describe the strategy for monitoring and evaluating program results, including

Periodic digital film and photographic records will provide permanent records for monitoring the results of the project and obtaining quantitative data on the abundance, diversity, and growth of marine organisms on the Biorock nurseries, traditional stone nurseries, and in nearby control areas. Changes in the shorelines next to the nurseries and in nearby control areas will be measured using stakes and tapes.

F. Coordination - discuss how the project is consistent with relevant international, national, and state or territorial coral reef management programs.

This project is consistent with all international, national, state, and territorial coral reef management programs that aim to restore damaged coral reefs, restore reef fisheries, and promote new approaches to effective sustainable marine resource management. It will be the first time that a Biorock reef restoration project has been funded by a governmental or international funding program, as all previous projects have been supported only by very small private donations, usually raised locally.

G. Overall context ‑ if this proposal is part of a larger program, please describe the larger

This project forms a central part of efforts by the Hatohobei State Government to restore the damaged marine resources of Helen and Tobi and develop methods to sustainably manage them. It will serve as a pilot project to determine how best to protect these low lying islands from disappearing due to the combined effects of global warming and global sea level rise, which would cause the loss of the richest part of Palau’s Exclusive Economic Zone and the national revenues obtained from tuna fishing licenses to foreign fleets. It also forms a part of the GCRA Coral Ark program to develop technology that allows coral reef countries to restore damaged marine ecosystems, to create refuges to preserve coral reef species from extinction from global climate change, to change fishermen from hunters to farmers, to protect coastlines from erosion, and to develop new applications of renewable energy for poor coastal communities.

H. Dissemination ‑ describe how the results of the project will be communicated to appropriate

An educational documentary film will be prepared in English, Tobian/Sonsorolese, and Palauan versions to be used to educate the citizens of Hatohobei State, Palauan fishermen, schoolchildren, and policy-makers, and the people of other Pacific Islands on the relevance of the project to their sustainable marine resource management.

The mission and goals of this project are to preserve the islands, marine resources, and people of Helen and Tobi from extinction from global climate change, to develop methods of preserving and sustainably managing these unique ecosystems, and to train the people of Tobi and other Pacific Islands to implement them to solve their environmental and economic problems.

Sabino Sackarias, Governor Hatohobei State, Community Health Worker for 16 years

Marcus Hangaripaii, Chairman HEDA, Vice Chairman HRRMP, BA in Sociology from George Mason University, MA in Criminal Justice from George Mason University, MA in Criminal Justice from Chaminade University, Hawaii

Huan Hosei, Chairman HRRMP, HEDA, Faculty of Palau Community College, BA in Anthropology from University of Guam, M.Ed. in Educational Leadership Management from San Diego State University

Steven Patris, HEDA. Manager Giant Clam and Trochus Hatchery Project, Fisheries Specialist 1 for 25 years in the Palau National Marine Resource Department, certificates in Marine Management from Singapore, South Korea, and New Caledonia

All of the above are actively involved in Hatohobei State marine resource management, and are also lifelong traditional Tobi and Helen fishermen.

Dr. Tom Goreau, President of the Global Coral Reef Alliance, a non-profit organization for coral reef conservation and sustainable management, has been involved in pioneering work in coral reefs all around the world for all of his life. Author of nearly 200 publications on coral reefs, community-based whole watershed and coastal zone management, global climate change, atmospheric chemistry, and rainforest biogeochemistry, among other subjects, he was educated in Jamaican schools and at MIT, Caltech, Yale, Woods Hole, and Harvard.

Prof. Wolf Hilbertz, President of Sun and Sea, a non-profit organization for applying innovative new methods to produce materials in the sea, is a pioneering architect who first developed Biorock technology around 30 years ago in order to grow buildings in the sea. He has applied the methods for underwater construction and shore protection projects around the world. He has worked with Tom Goreau developing applications to ecosystem restoration for the last 15 years.

Map of the Republic of Palau (prepared by the Palau Bureau of Lands and Surveys) showing the location of Tobi and Helen Reef.