Last month on Rappin’ With ReefBum we had the opportunity to interview Dr. Dean Miller from the Living Coral Biobank. Dr. Miller is a marine biologist, film maker, photographer and the managing director and project coordinator of Great Barrier Reef Legacy, a non-profit organization based in Port Douglas Australia dedicated to conservation of coral reefs around the world with an array of innovative projects.
Dr. Miller is overseeing the Living Coral Biobank project, which was started to “bank” stony corals on the Great Barrier Reef impacted by mass bleaching events caused by global warming. The project is being funded by private donations and on the live stream Dr. Miller said they received a very large donation from an organization in the U.S.
Well, last week the Washington DC Area Marine Aquarist Society (WAMAS) announced it has donated $20,000 USD to the Great Barrier Reef Legacy Living Coral Biobank Project.
WAMAS Hopes Donation Leads to Other Donations
Since 2015, WAMAS has donated nearly $90,000 to ocean conservation and educational causes aligned with its mission principles. Asked about the selection of Living Coral Biobank Project, WAMAS President Tom Land says, “We are alarmed by the threat climate change poses to global reef ecosystems. Solutions to safeguarding the biodiversity of these habitats is urgently required. The Great Barrier Reef Legacy team is doing excellent, innovative work that WAMAS is proud to support.
We are very pleased and excited to be able to continue giving meaningful contributions to leading-edge reef-conservation programs such as the Living Coral Biobank project and for the new, larger facility in Cairns. And we hope that our donation can help lead the way to even greater support from reefing communities in North America.”
Currently, there are over 132 species of corals in the biobank collection representing just over 33% of the Great Barrier Reef coral biodiversity, with a plan to collect up to 50% before the end of the year. To learn more about the the Living Coral Biobank or to contribute you can visit their website.
Additional Resources
If you would like some help with a new tank build, including help designing a custom aquarium, or help re-configuring your current setup then you can visit this page for more information. And if you are looking to add some equipment, I do sell GHL, Pax Bellum, Reef Octopus Calcium and Kalk Reactors and Royal Exclusiv products, including Dreamboxes, which is the equipment I use and recommend. I also sell Reef Brite metal halide and LED fixtures as well as Maxspect & IceCap Gyres.
As for additional insights and information, please explore my many other reef tank and SPS related articles as well as my YouTube channel. For an even deeper dive into reef tank care you can check out my Reef Keeping Master Class. This online course is an immersive and one of a kind educational tool designed to help reef aquarium hobbyists build and maintain a beautiful SPS reef tank. The course is a series of video presentations with some supplemental video from my YouTube channel. There are also quizzes to help students retain and understand the information presented in the course.
Need some frags…..I can help with that as well 
Please visit my SPS Frag store to see what is available.
