Scientists are grasping at straws while trying to protect infant corals from hungry fish

By DAVID FISCHER
Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — South Florida researchers are using biodegradable drinking straws to prevent laboratory-grown coral from becoming really expensive fish food. Scientists around the world have been working for years to address the decline of coral reef populations. One solution has been to grow new coral in a lab and then place them in the ocean. Marine researcher Kyle Pisano said the problem is that predators like parrot fish attempt to bite and destroy the newly transplanted coral, leaving them with less than a 40% survival rate. Pisano and his partner, Kirk Dotson, have developed the Coral Fort, claiming the small biodegradable cage boosts the survival rate of transplanted coral to over 90%.