The Nursery Hack That Pays for Itself

1
00:00:00,049 --> 00:00:04,079
This week we are focusing on coral
reefs and coral reef restoration.

2
00:00:04,286 --> 00:00:06,886
And when you have coral reef
restoration, you have coral nurseries.

3
00:00:07,053 --> 00:00:09,753
And coral nurseries need
constant maintenance.

4
00:00:09,753 --> 00:00:10,783
They need constant attention.

5
00:00:10,793 --> 00:00:14,099
That maintenance is super
expensive and is relentless.

6
00:00:14,326 --> 00:00:18,006
And when I talked to Mike Goldberg, which
you're gonna hear the interview on Friday,

7
00:00:18,086 --> 00:00:20,706
his answer wasn't just to hire more staff.

8
00:00:20,946 --> 00:00:24,696
It was to let paying customers
do it for the fun of it.

9
00:00:24,946 --> 00:00:29,123
Now, he owns a dive shop, so the paying
customers are scuba divers, and he

10
00:00:29,123 --> 00:00:34,200
wants to build a funding model so small
that in years of collecting it, not

11
00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,160
one person has ever really complained.

12
00:00:36,510 --> 00:00:41,310
But none of that makes sense until you
understand what coral actually is and

13
00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:43,400
why cutting a piece off doesn't kill it.

14
00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:46,260
We're gonna find out all about
that on today's episode of the

15
00:00:46,260 --> 00:00:47,530
How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

16
00:00:47,683 --> 00:00:50,283
If you like to listen to this kind of
stuff, where we're like talking about

17
00:00:50,293 --> 00:00:54,680
coral reef restoration, coral reef health,
ocean news, ocean updates, stories about

18
00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:56,886
the ocean, this is the podcast for you.

19
00:00:56,886 --> 00:00:59,726
So hit that follow button right now if
you haven't, and you've been listening

20
00:00:59,726 --> 00:01:01,456
for a while, don't worry, I'm not mad.

21
00:01:01,606 --> 00:01:03,846
But I'd love for you to hit that
follow button so you don't miss any

22
00:01:03,846 --> 00:01:06,166
of the episodes, Monday to Friday.

23
00:01:06,176 --> 00:01:07,576
So this week it's all about corals.

24
00:01:08,273 --> 00:01:10,353
If you've missed Monday's and
Tuesday's episode, you can go

25
00:01:10,363 --> 00:01:12,083
back and watch or listen to those.

26
00:01:12,213 --> 00:01:15,216
And if you wanna stay more in
tuned, just hit that follow button.

27
00:01:15,226 --> 00:01:17,196
You'll get it all in your podcast feed.

28
00:01:17,196 --> 00:01:18,936
So this is what is fun.

29
00:01:19,146 --> 00:01:19,396
All right.

30
00:01:19,490 --> 00:01:22,620
Before we get into the whole restoration
and how the funding model works, let's

31
00:01:22,620 --> 00:01:24,530
talk about what coral actually is.

32
00:01:24,630 --> 00:01:27,260
Because a lot of people think coral's
a plant, but it's an animal, not

33
00:01:27,260 --> 00:01:28,660
a plant or a rock, it's an animal.

34
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:29,940
It sits on a rock.

35
00:01:30,220 --> 00:01:33,136
It kinda looks like a plant in some
ways because it doesn't move very

36
00:01:33,136 --> 00:01:37,006
much, and sometimes it sways in the
water, but it's an animal, right?

37
00:01:37,006 --> 00:01:38,236
It's a colony of animals.

38
00:01:38,616 --> 00:01:42,976
And what looks like one coral head is
actually just a colony of thousands,

39
00:01:42,976 --> 00:01:47,203
sometimes even millions, of
individual tiny animals called polyps.

40
00:01:47,523 --> 00:01:52,613
And each polyp has a small sac-like
body with a mouth ringed by tentacles.

41
00:01:52,793 --> 00:01:56,353
And neighboring polyps in a
colony are physically connected

42
00:01:56,353 --> 00:01:57,603
to a shared living tissue.

43
00:01:57,993 --> 00:02:01,873
So each polyp secretes calcium carbonate
underneath itself, so right underneath.

44
00:02:02,076 --> 00:02:06,006
And it's the buildup of that
limestone-like skeleton, generation

45
00:02:06,036 --> 00:02:10,556
after generation of polyps building
on top of what came before, that forms

46
00:02:10,586 --> 00:02:12,966
the physical structure of a reef.

47
00:02:13,516 --> 00:02:17,336
Now, most reef-building corals
also host a second organism

48
00:02:17,346 --> 00:02:19,246
living inside their own tissue.

49
00:02:19,466 --> 00:02:21,796
It's a photosynthetic
algae called zooxanthellae.

50
00:02:22,236 --> 00:02:23,846
It's a genuine partnership.

51
00:02:24,089 --> 00:02:28,586
The coral gives the algae a protected
home, plus carbon dioxide and waste

52
00:02:28,586 --> 00:02:32,879
compounds the algae needs, and the
algae photosynthesize, and hand back

53
00:02:32,879 --> 00:02:36,886
the majority of the coral's food
energy, plus its color, the beautiful,

54
00:02:36,886 --> 00:02:38,176
beautiful colors of the reef.

55
00:02:38,333 --> 00:02:42,903
Now, when a coral is badly stressed,
heat being the main trigger, it expels

56
00:02:42,913 --> 00:02:47,551
the algae, exposing clear tissue over
a white limestone skeleton is what

57
00:02:47,551 --> 00:02:52,041
bleaching actually looks like, and why a
bleached coral isn't automatically dead.

58
00:02:52,171 --> 00:02:56,764
It's lost its main food source and its
color, so it's vulnerable, but the animal

59
00:02:56,764 --> 00:02:58,894
itself may still be alive underneath.

60
00:02:59,334 --> 00:03:03,314
If the conditions that cause the
bleaching subside, then the zooxanthellae

61
00:03:03,314 --> 00:03:06,261
will come back, or they'll get new
zoo-xant-xanthellae in their system.

62
00:03:06,261 --> 00:03:08,501
So the algae will come back, it'll
go into the corals, the corals will

63
00:03:08,501 --> 00:03:10,021
revitalize, and they'll be saved.

64
00:03:10,224 --> 00:03:13,797
But if it's a long period of time,
they will go, it won't be good.

65
00:03:14,117 --> 00:03:19,057
Now, corals reproduce two completely
different ways, and ICARE's whole nursery,

66
00:03:19,057 --> 00:03:21,817
ICARE about the coral, like, that's the
one we're talking about with Michael,

67
00:03:21,937 --> 00:03:25,247
the whole nursery operation is built
on deliberately harnessing one of them.

68
00:03:25,357 --> 00:03:28,157
That's asexual reproduction
or fragmentation.

69
00:03:28,554 --> 00:03:30,974
And that is where coral
gardening actually is.

70
00:03:30,984 --> 00:03:34,034
So in nature, storms and
wave action routinely break

71
00:03:34,034 --> 00:03:35,894
pieces off of coral colony.

72
00:03:36,164 --> 00:03:40,004
If a broken fragment lands
somewhere stable, it can reattach

73
00:03:40,074 --> 00:03:44,014
and keep growing into a brand-new,
fully independent colony.

74
00:03:44,384 --> 00:03:49,144
A genetic clone, per se, of the parent,
so the genetic makeup is exactly the same.

75
00:03:49,581 --> 00:03:52,701
Now, restoration practitioners
deliberately recreate this.

76
00:03:53,064 --> 00:03:57,564
They cut a small fragment, typically
about 5 to 10% of a healthy donor coral,

77
00:03:57,564 --> 00:04:00,344
so like an adult coral, that's what
we call, like, the parent coral, the

78
00:04:00,344 --> 00:04:03,874
colony, which is why it doesn't harm the
parent, so you don't take off too much.

79
00:04:04,014 --> 00:04:08,204
The colony is made up of thousands of
genetically identical polyps, so losing

80
00:04:08,204 --> 00:04:12,414
a small piece is a bit like taking a
cutting from a large, healthy plant.

81
00:04:12,884 --> 00:04:16,794
That fragment is then mounted onto
a substrate, a cement or ceramic

82
00:04:16,794 --> 00:04:20,474
plug, or tied onto a nursery line
and it'll grow out before eventually

83
00:04:20,494 --> 00:04:22,204
being outplanted onto the reef.

84
00:04:22,584 --> 00:04:26,844
So usually fixed into place with
a non-toxic two-part marine epoxy.

85
00:04:27,314 --> 00:04:30,874
So as it is cut, it's placed on
this, like, ceramic tile or some

86
00:04:30,874 --> 00:04:33,211
kind of ceramic plug or cement tile.

87
00:04:33,324 --> 00:04:34,994
And then it has, like, a little of epoxy.

88
00:04:35,034 --> 00:04:37,184
It solidifies there, and
then it grows from there.

89
00:04:37,607 --> 00:04:41,557
Now, fragments from the same original
parent colony placed close enough to

90
00:04:41,557 --> 00:04:45,107
another, will recognize each other as
genetically identical and physically

91
00:04:45,107 --> 00:04:48,077
fuse into a larger seamless colony.

92
00:04:48,507 --> 00:04:50,797
So rather than staying a separate pieces.

93
00:04:51,057 --> 00:04:55,137
This is likely exactly what Mike means
later in the interview when he talks

94
00:04:55,137 --> 00:04:59,750
about it, when he describes his own
brain coral fragments, fusing eight

95
00:04:59,750 --> 00:05:01,150
to 10 months after being out planted.

96
00:05:01,180 --> 00:05:04,483
So what he does is he actually takes these
brain corals, and he puts them up into

97
00:05:04,483 --> 00:05:08,233
different spots on a rock, and they're
probably separated by a few centimeters.

98
00:05:08,673 --> 00:05:11,463
Then the corals will recognize each
other, and the colonies will start

99
00:05:11,463 --> 00:05:14,463
to grow on top of the rock and
actually fuse together to make one

100
00:05:14,733 --> 00:05:17,573
big colony, which is insane, right?

101
00:05:17,573 --> 00:05:18,193
It's insane.

102
00:05:18,617 --> 00:05:22,707
I just think it's such a cool way that
these animals can survive, like the wave

103
00:05:22,707 --> 00:05:25,527
actions and storms that hit shallow reefs.

104
00:05:25,857 --> 00:05:28,457
As they break off, maybe sexual
reproduction doesn't always happen,

105
00:05:28,457 --> 00:05:31,170
which we'll talk about in a sec, but
as they break off, they can continue

106
00:05:31,170 --> 00:05:35,290
to grow and grow out and cover the
substrate with corals, wall-to-wall

107
00:05:35,310 --> 00:05:36,550
corals, which is what we want.

108
00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:37,830
That's a healthy coral reef.

109
00:05:38,230 --> 00:05:41,140
Now, sexual reproduction is the
other path, and it's the source of

110
00:05:41,140 --> 00:05:42,970
real genetic diversity, not clones.

111
00:05:42,980 --> 00:05:46,107
These are like the asexual is
genetically identical, sexual

112
00:05:46,107 --> 00:05:46,997
is genetically different.

113
00:05:47,227 --> 00:05:51,090
About 85% of reef-building corals
species are broadcast spawners.

114
00:05:51,100 --> 00:05:55,253
So they release eggs and sperm into the
water at the same time in a synchronized

115
00:05:55,253 --> 00:05:59,863
event cued by water temperature, the lunar
cycle, and time of night, often just

116
00:05:59,863 --> 00:06:01,603
once a year, and it's a beautiful sight.

117
00:06:01,623 --> 00:06:03,423
Like, people have taken videos of it.

118
00:06:03,550 --> 00:06:05,330
People just love when it happens.

119
00:06:05,660 --> 00:06:09,600
Now, a fertilized egg, any kind of
fertilized eggs develop into free-swimming

120
00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:14,007
larvae called planulae, which drift,
eventually settle somewhere, and start

121
00:06:14,007 --> 00:06:16,317
a brand-new genetically unique colony.

122
00:06:16,673 --> 00:06:20,583
The remaining species brood,
fertilizing internally and releasing

123
00:06:20,643 --> 00:06:22,643
some developed larvae directly.

124
00:06:23,039 --> 00:06:27,309
This is the biological basis for larval
propagation, like coral IVF technique

125
00:06:27,409 --> 00:06:29,249
covered in Monday's episode that we did.

126
00:06:29,389 --> 00:06:31,899
It's a completely different way
to restoration method from the

127
00:06:31,899 --> 00:06:34,889
fragment-based nursery work that
we're gonna describe in a second.

128
00:06:35,319 --> 00:06:37,395
What's nice though is, like, you
have these two different ways.

129
00:06:37,405 --> 00:06:40,355
One is genetically identical, which
doesn't help the diversity of the

130
00:06:40,355 --> 00:06:42,755
reef from a genetic standpoint,
but allows the coverage to

131
00:06:42,755 --> 00:06:44,575
happen in case it's breaking off.

132
00:06:44,815 --> 00:06:46,262
But it's easier to fragment.

133
00:06:46,272 --> 00:06:50,182
IVF is something that I would imagine is
fairly new over the last decade or so,

134
00:06:50,245 --> 00:06:53,155
and we're get- learning more and more
about it, and there's, there are pop-up…

135
00:06:53,165 --> 00:06:56,865
We're gonna actually talk to somebody
later on in the next couple of months

136
00:06:56,905 --> 00:07:01,222
about coral IVF and what that takes,
what it is, and how difficult it is.

137
00:07:01,222 --> 00:07:04,082
Like, what are the challenges and how
they've overcome some of those challenges.

138
00:07:04,082 --> 00:07:06,012
It's quite interesting to
be able to cover, so looking

139
00:07:06,012 --> 00:07:07,012
forward to that interview.

140
00:07:07,460 --> 00:07:10,840
Now, what's interesting is when you
combine the fragging and the sexual

141
00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:15,237
reproduction, you kinda come into, like, a
really good success for replanting reefs.

142
00:07:15,247 --> 00:07:18,037
So if you think about it, if you frag
reefs, so going back to that brain

143
00:07:18,037 --> 00:07:22,100
coral example that Mike talks about
in the interview on Friday, you have

144
00:07:22,140 --> 00:07:26,047
these brain corals that come up, and
they're up on the rocks, and then

145
00:07:26,047 --> 00:07:28,987
they start to fuse together, and
there's, like, one big brain coral.

146
00:07:29,373 --> 00:07:32,890
But then it's healthy, so it says,
"Hey, you know what? We can sexually

147
00:07:32,890 --> 00:07:37,540
reproduce." So the eggs and the fertile,
and the sperm go up into the air, it

148
00:07:37,540 --> 00:07:41,090
gets fertilized, and then the eggs kinda
drop down wherever the larvae starts

149
00:07:41,090 --> 00:07:42,300
to drop down wherever they need to.

150
00:07:42,687 --> 00:07:44,417
Now, that's genetic diversity.

151
00:07:44,447 --> 00:07:49,317
So by fragmenting genetic clones, you
start to increase the potential down

152
00:07:49,317 --> 00:07:53,380
the road as they become healthy and
become adults, you get sexual maturity,

153
00:07:53,473 --> 00:07:56,393
you'll get sexual reproduction, you'll
get genetically different offspring.

154
00:07:56,660 --> 00:07:57,870
Not just the clones itself.

155
00:07:58,020 --> 00:07:59,000
So that's pretty cool.

156
00:07:59,470 --> 00:08:02,660
Now what's interesting is like now
you can do this on a local level.

157
00:08:02,660 --> 00:08:04,670
This is very difficult to do
on a global level, as we talked

158
00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:05,800
about on Monday's episode.

159
00:08:05,987 --> 00:08:07,697
So you have to do it on a local level.

160
00:08:07,737 --> 00:08:11,147
And ICARE, which is the organization
that we're gonna be talking to,

161
00:08:11,147 --> 00:08:12,713
like Mike Goldberg from ICARE.

162
00:08:12,910 --> 00:08:13,650
He's the president.

163
00:08:13,963 --> 00:08:17,497
He's installing, like the organization
with Dr. Kylie Smith, they're

164
00:08:17,497 --> 00:08:21,507
installing nine offshore pop-up
nurseries, one per restoration site.

165
00:08:21,507 --> 00:08:22,737
So they have nine restoration sites.

166
00:08:22,737 --> 00:08:26,617
And what's happened here is that the
restoration sites, if you have like

167
00:08:26,637 --> 00:08:30,630
one headquarter, it's more challenging
to bring them from like the central

168
00:08:30,630 --> 00:08:34,857
headquarter where you have the nurseries,
where you're growing these frags, and

169
00:08:34,857 --> 00:08:36,327
bring them out to all the different sites.

170
00:08:36,327 --> 00:08:37,167
It's more stressful.

171
00:08:37,167 --> 00:08:39,557
There's more of a risk of these
things not doing well because

172
00:08:39,557 --> 00:08:40,627
there's a distance there.

173
00:08:40,887 --> 00:08:44,567
The further the restoration site is from
the headquarter, the more risk there

174
00:08:44,567 --> 00:08:48,100
is of that fragment not surviving, not
only the journey, but the outplant

175
00:08:48,100 --> 00:08:49,160
and everything like that, right?

176
00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:50,810
When you actually go plant it in the reef.

177
00:08:51,083 --> 00:08:53,417
So what Mike wanted to do is say,
"Hey, you know what we're gonna

178
00:08:53,417 --> 00:08:56,207
do," and ICARE wants to do, is they
want to install these pop-up sites.

179
00:08:56,427 --> 00:08:59,787
And so the concept itself originated
from Ken Nedimyer, who piloted

180
00:08:59,787 --> 00:09:01,147
it in a couple of locations.

181
00:09:01,353 --> 00:09:03,133
So Mike describes it in the interview.

182
00:09:03,143 --> 00:09:06,563
He's talking it like taking it to
another level, giving every restoration

183
00:09:06,563 --> 00:09:09,533
site its own dedicated nursery, which
I think is pretty cool, 'cause then

184
00:09:09,533 --> 00:09:13,513
you can start looking at what that
restoration site had in the first place,

185
00:09:13,603 --> 00:09:16,503
and you're trying to recreate that
site with the frags that were there.

186
00:09:16,747 --> 00:09:19,327
So you're not just making all
the same restoration site.

187
00:09:19,327 --> 00:09:20,857
You're not making all the same corals.

188
00:09:20,857 --> 00:09:22,437
It could be different corals in
different areas 'cause that's

189
00:09:22,437 --> 00:09:23,547
what made it possible, right?

190
00:09:23,547 --> 00:09:24,297
Natural selection.

191
00:09:24,593 --> 00:09:28,393
Now this problem solves like the offshore
nursery maintenance is, is intense.

192
00:09:28,463 --> 00:09:29,563
It's intense and it's constant.

193
00:09:29,563 --> 00:09:30,703
It never stops.

194
00:09:31,107 --> 00:09:35,070
So ICARE's dive boats and partner
boats in the Keys take paying

195
00:09:35,070 --> 00:09:38,580
customers, paying scuba diving
customers out daily, like anyway.

196
00:09:38,580 --> 00:09:40,980
They're out there just doing the
work, like just scuba diving,

197
00:09:40,980 --> 00:09:42,090
'cause like I'm a scuba diver.

198
00:09:42,090 --> 00:09:45,360
I would go and I would pay Mike's dive
shop to be like, "Hey, take me out.

199
00:09:45,410 --> 00:09:48,690
I wanna go see these reefs in the
Keys." The Florida Keys are beautiful.

200
00:09:49,170 --> 00:09:51,550
I know they're not what they used
to be, but I wanna go out there,

201
00:09:51,550 --> 00:09:52,400
I wanna see what they've done.

202
00:09:52,410 --> 00:09:55,550
And then I would actually… They-- He
would say, "Hey, do you wanna participate

203
00:09:55,550 --> 00:09:57,760
in planting some coral?" Like, "Yes.

204
00:09:58,120 --> 00:09:59,440
Absolutely I wanna do that.

205
00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:00,410
Show me how.

206
00:10:00,500 --> 00:10:03,860
I will do it, and this will be
amazing." So he's like, "Okay, cool.

207
00:10:03,860 --> 00:10:07,280
But a part of your dive, whether you do
it or not, you're gonna pay an extra $2.

208
00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:12,050
You're gonna pay an extra $2 'cause this
goes into the fund that helps us grow

209
00:10:12,050 --> 00:10:15,160
out each of these corals." Now it's not
enough to have a whole program for ICARE.

210
00:10:15,383 --> 00:10:19,073
But it adds to the pot of funding
that allows… 'Cause like I said,

211
00:10:19,293 --> 00:10:21,493
it's very expensive and it's tireless.

212
00:10:21,643 --> 00:10:23,453
You've gotta be on there all the time.

213
00:10:23,867 --> 00:10:27,667
The divers can choose whether they wanna
dive the reef for fun or make a left

214
00:10:27,667 --> 00:10:31,080
turn into the nursery and say, "Hey,
Can we do restoration work instead?"

215
00:10:31,420 --> 00:10:32,400
You know, it's their choice.

216
00:10:32,895 --> 00:10:34,275
The financial logic is great.

217
00:10:34,275 --> 00:10:37,805
Like, you don't have to pay as a group
every time you go out and do these reefs.

218
00:10:37,855 --> 00:10:40,915
Everybody's paying because everybody
benefits from a healthy reef.

219
00:10:40,945 --> 00:10:43,055
Everybody benefits from a restored reef.

220
00:10:43,289 --> 00:10:47,079
And the more you restore, the more
resilient that reef can get to all the

221
00:10:47,079 --> 00:10:51,269
other factors that are affecting it,
climate change, nutrient loading, coastal

222
00:10:51,269 --> 00:10:52,869
development, all that kind of stuff.

223
00:10:53,332 --> 00:10:56,989
Now, coral and sponges are nursed
just feet away, like from where

224
00:10:56,989 --> 00:10:59,799
they're actually gonna be outplanted
because of these pop-up nurseries.

225
00:11:00,155 --> 00:11:02,975
So they never have to be
removed from the water, boated

226
00:11:02,975 --> 00:11:05,279
somewhere else and put back in.

227
00:11:05,359 --> 00:11:07,959
Like a stressor, like especially
damaging for sponges if you

228
00:11:07,959 --> 00:11:08,889
take it out of the water.

229
00:11:09,062 --> 00:11:10,012
So they're actually in there.

230
00:11:10,022 --> 00:11:11,532
Like, they're actually in the site.

231
00:11:11,582 --> 00:11:14,252
They're in the ocean where they
are, which I think is pretty cool.

232
00:11:14,612 --> 00:11:15,732
Now, they're semi-temporary.

233
00:11:15,985 --> 00:11:19,995
They need regulatory approval is granted,
you know, for five years to start, and

234
00:11:19,995 --> 00:11:23,575
they're extendable of course with the
explicit long-term goal of not needing a

235
00:11:23,575 --> 00:11:25,555
nursery, there once the reef stabilizes.

236
00:11:25,565 --> 00:11:29,765
So the goal is to build it up so
much that they don't need it after.

237
00:11:30,195 --> 00:11:31,235
I think that's pretty cool.

238
00:11:31,595 --> 00:11:35,722
And like ICARE's per dive fee has
been running for years, and since

239
00:11:35,722 --> 00:11:39,622
before the very first coral was
even planted, a $2 add-on for every

240
00:11:39,622 --> 00:11:43,912
$100 dive started with two shops
and now running across three shops.

241
00:11:44,342 --> 00:11:47,932
Nobody has ever objected
to the $2, nobody.

242
00:11:47,992 --> 00:11:51,325
'Cause it's minimal and you're a
diver, you care about the ocean.

243
00:11:51,729 --> 00:11:53,449
That's what's the best part of it is.

244
00:11:53,762 --> 00:11:57,192
You can say, "I-- not only did I dive,
but I contributed to this happening."

245
00:11:57,552 --> 00:12:02,122
Now, Mike personally donates 2% of
all of his own dive revenue on top

246
00:12:02,122 --> 00:12:05,299
of the $2 that everybody pays per
dive, per hundred dollar dive, which

247
00:12:05,299 --> 00:12:09,019
he uses deliberately to signal to
customers that he has skin in the game.

248
00:12:09,372 --> 00:12:13,382
He's candid about this being a meaningful
amount of his own retirement savings.

249
00:12:13,542 --> 00:12:15,062
He puts this in because he cares.

250
00:12:15,062 --> 00:12:16,742
It's not just about business to him.

251
00:12:16,932 --> 00:12:18,982
It's not just about
continuing his business.

252
00:12:19,172 --> 00:12:20,402
This is bigger than that.

253
00:12:20,582 --> 00:12:22,052
He wants to restore this reef.

254
00:12:22,052 --> 00:12:25,412
He wants the next generation
of divers, not only divers, but

255
00:12:25,412 --> 00:12:27,412
people, to benefit from the reef.

256
00:12:27,939 --> 00:12:32,739
So local divers that participate in
ICARE's coral law plans pay an additional

257
00:12:32,739 --> 00:12:37,569
dollar as a kind of, like, user fee, not
free participation, which is kinda cool.

258
00:12:37,775 --> 00:12:41,665
Like ICARE, you know, has a fiduciary
responsibility to everyone that's

259
00:12:41,665 --> 00:12:45,375
a participant at any level, whether
it's $2 or a large donation.

260
00:12:45,725 --> 00:12:50,775
There is a thing that he does to
make sure that everybody knows what's

261
00:12:50,775 --> 00:12:54,385
happening with the reef, and we're gonna
talk about that in tomorrow's episode.

262
00:12:54,435 --> 00:12:56,525
We're gonna dive into
that a little bit more.

263
00:12:56,985 --> 00:13:00,135
Now, one of the thing that Mike kinda
bragged about and he's gonna brag

264
00:13:00,135 --> 00:13:03,080
about, which I think is kinda cool, is
he says that The Key Dives, his, dive

265
00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,830
shop, was voted number one in North
America across all seven categories in

266
00:13:06,830 --> 00:13:11,474
Scuba Diving's magazine's reader poll
for 2025, and he expects hopefully

267
00:13:11,494 --> 00:13:13,164
to get the same result in 2026.

268
00:13:13,477 --> 00:13:15,837
It's gonna be announced in the first
week of September, which is this week.

269
00:13:15,837 --> 00:13:18,157
I believe it'll be this week
when you're hearing this.

270
00:13:18,507 --> 00:13:23,110
So I think that's kinda cool to see that
people are enjoying this because he cares.

271
00:13:23,347 --> 00:13:24,347
He cares about the reef.

272
00:13:24,347 --> 00:13:25,987
It's not just about scuba diving to him.

273
00:13:26,277 --> 00:13:28,557
He cares about the reef, and
I think that's important.

274
00:13:29,007 --> 00:13:32,157
And he, like an award for him for
this is it's like tying a business

275
00:13:32,157 --> 00:13:33,607
case directly back to conversation.

276
00:13:33,637 --> 00:13:36,247
Like, the more people that come
here, the more he gets to donate.

277
00:13:36,417 --> 00:13:39,217
2% of his funds go towards the reef.

278
00:13:39,577 --> 00:13:40,897
So it's bigger than just diving.

279
00:13:40,897 --> 00:13:42,327
It's bigger than just a business.

280
00:13:42,687 --> 00:13:44,924
This is a guy who has
a business in the Keys.

281
00:13:44,924 --> 00:13:48,877
He cares about the Keys, and he cares
about the reef, and he wants to see

282
00:13:48,877 --> 00:13:50,787
the reef, wall-to-wall reef again.

283
00:13:51,234 --> 00:13:54,794
So like when you look at this episode,
what we cover is like cutting a fragment

284
00:13:54,794 --> 00:13:58,601
off a healthy coral, it doesn't hurt it
because it could become a coral colony.

285
00:13:59,141 --> 00:14:03,181
And it really is thousands of genetically
identical animals, not a single organism,

286
00:14:03,181 --> 00:14:04,671
like the way a fish or a mammal is.

287
00:14:04,924 --> 00:14:08,484
Coral restoration nurseries are really
just deliberately organized versions of

288
00:14:08,484 --> 00:14:12,174
something that already happens naturally
when a storm breaks a coral apart.

289
00:14:12,434 --> 00:14:16,504
So the innovation is doing it on
purpose, at scale, with a plan

290
00:14:16,504 --> 00:14:18,604
for each fragment that it ends up.

291
00:14:18,828 --> 00:14:19,758
That ends up being a coral.

292
00:14:20,151 --> 00:14:22,701
And like the most labor-intensive
part of coral restoration is

293
00:14:22,711 --> 00:14:23,981
offshore nursery maintenance.

294
00:14:24,391 --> 00:14:26,761
He's got that solved, like, with
a business idea, not a science

295
00:14:26,761 --> 00:14:29,721
one, making something paying
customers want to do anyway.

296
00:14:30,104 --> 00:14:32,044
And the funding model for
Icare isn't a big ask.

297
00:14:32,084 --> 00:14:35,664
It's very small, mandatory,
low-friction fees layered together.

298
00:14:36,044 --> 00:14:40,424
And then it also, Mike puts on 2% as well
to say, "Hey, look, you're putting in

299
00:14:40,424 --> 00:14:45,154
$2, I'm putting in 2% of my revenue."
So a conservation program can double

300
00:14:45,154 --> 00:14:46,604
as a competitive business advantage.

301
00:14:46,798 --> 00:14:50,208
Key Dives' award recognition
and its restoration work are, in

302
00:14:50,208 --> 00:14:52,298
Mike's own framing, the same story.

303
00:14:52,488 --> 00:14:55,618
It's not just about diving, it's
about taking care of the reef.

304
00:14:55,998 --> 00:14:59,668
I'm gonna ask Mike to walk you through
exactly how that $2 add-on like adds up

305
00:14:59,668 --> 00:15:02,961
over the years, and whether he's ever
had a customer who actually says no to it.

306
00:15:03,291 --> 00:15:04,401
And you're gonna hear that on Friday.

307
00:15:04,534 --> 00:15:05,404
It's a great episode.

308
00:15:05,414 --> 00:15:09,014
I want you to hit that follow button
to be able to listen to it because it's

309
00:15:09,014 --> 00:15:13,164
something that I just love when we have
somebody like Mike on who's so dedicated.

310
00:15:13,244 --> 00:15:14,054
It's just amazing.

311
00:15:14,264 --> 00:15:17,044
I only have to start doing these
interviews on Monday instead of Friday,

312
00:15:17,044 --> 00:15:20,664
like publishing on Monday, and then we can
just debrief afterwards Tuesday to Friday.

313
00:15:20,828 --> 00:15:22,358
But we'll have to maybe
change that up next week.

314
00:15:22,358 --> 00:15:22,788
Who knows?

315
00:15:22,924 --> 00:15:24,794
But anyway, that's it for today's episode.

316
00:15:24,814 --> 00:15:25,954
I wanna thank you so much for joining.

317
00:15:25,954 --> 00:15:29,204
You learned a lot about coral restoration
and about the corals, the animal itself.

318
00:15:29,401 --> 00:15:30,371
Love to hear what you think.

319
00:15:30,371 --> 00:15:32,001
If you're on Spotify, leave me a comment.

320
00:15:32,011 --> 00:15:35,638
If you wanna just give me a DM on
Instagram or TikTok or Facebook,

321
00:15:35,688 --> 00:15:36,838
please feel free to do so.

322
00:15:36,838 --> 00:15:37,938
Or LinkedIn, of course, I'm on LinkedIn.

323
00:15:37,938 --> 00:15:41,544
All the links are in the show notes,
and, uh, I wanna thank you so much

324
00:15:41,554 --> 00:15:44,174
for joining me on today's episode of
the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

325
00:15:44,624 --> 00:15:45,194
Have a great day.

326
00:15:45,194 --> 00:15:47,064
We'll talk to you next time,
and happy conservation.