Advancing Sponge Restoration Success on Florida’s Nature Coast

Sponges perform important ecological roles in Florida coastal hard-bottom habitats. They provide most of the 3- dimensional structure in shallow water, and this structure provides habitat for juvenile and adult organisms that reside around, under, and in them; including economically important fish and crustacean species. Sponges also improve water quality and boost benthic productivity. However, habitat degradation, pollution, and disease can all negatively impact sponges if not mitigated. Given their ecological importance, it is clear that aquaculture-based restoration/enhancement of sponge communities should be a priority conservation goal and would pay dividends for ecosystem services and fishery productivity. Using seed funding from Florida Sea Grant and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation we recently identified several sponge species and developed methods for restoring or enhancing sponge communities. However, prior to scaling up efforts, we need to design best practices for sponge community restoration/enhancement by testing ecological drivers and developing metrics for success. To achieve that goal, with our co-producers, we propose a series of objectives that will: 1) Determine the optimal diversity of sponge outplants to achieve maximum ecological benefits from sponge restoration/enhancement aquaculture, 2) Identify the spatial distribution of sponge aquaculture outplants that maximizes survival, growth, and recruitment, 3) Test the effect of coastal influence on sponge restoration/enhancement aquaculture success using an inshoreoffshore gradient, and 4) Address a series of National Performance Metrics described in detail below. This project will result in a set of best practices for sponge aquaculture, while simultaneously benefitting our co-producers, coastal communities, and the environment.