Abstract
During coral spawning events, coral colonies will release gametes (bundles of eggs and sperm) into the water column. These events are prompted by the lunar cycle, sunset time, and water temperature which makes them difficult to predict. The gametes contain fatty lipids which make them buoyant. Restoration practitioners and researchers take advantage of this buoyant property to capture the gametes with collection devices made from fabric, a funnel, buoyancy control, and a collection tube. This internship project focused on the design and creation of improved individual colony gamete collector prototypes aimed at more efficient gamete collection, collection in high energy environments, and ease of use and transportation underwater. Five variations of individual colony collectors were created, and ten total prototypes were assembled. Improvements included a 3D printed custom fabricated funnel system, new material for the fabric section, and an optimized method of cutting the fabric. These new prototypes were then subjected to testing under different field conditions and used during spawning events in September of 2021. The collectors did not function as expected and experienced defects according to user feedback. The issues were a direct result of the adhesive material used, material composition of the 3D printed custom fabricated funnel, and permeability of the fabric section. Although some materials may make manufacturing and assembly easier, it is important to evaluate beforehand how they will react with other major parameters in real time. Needed revisions for future improvement were discussed. It is hoped that a standardized process will be able to be created and used by different SECORE project sites and other restoration practitioners across the world one day so that they can more efficiently build and utilize individual colony collectors in an optimized fashion for coral gamete collection.