About CWORI

Coral World Ocean and Reef Initiative (CWORI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). CWORI is dedicated to conserving marine habitats and wildlife through rescue, rehabilitation, restoration, research, and empowering public education. CWORIs core initiatives include coral reef conservation, sargassum research, education and community outreach, and marine animal rescue and rehabilitation.

Purpose of the Position

The Aquaculture Operations Manager leads the propagation of native invertebrate species to restore herbivory across coral reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This is achieved primarily through land-based aquaculture facilities and offshore nurseries designed to rear herbivorous invertebrates to viable outplanting and reintroduction sizes.

This role directly supports the restoration of ecologically, economically, and culturally vital reef ecosystems around St. Thomas and St. John. Restoration targets align with 10-year milestones outlined in the

U.S. Virgin Islands Coral Reef Restoration Plan and collaborative initiatives with the National Park Service in the Virgin Islands National Park.

Note: This position is entirely grant-funded until September 30, 2029; continuation beyond the current grant cycle is contingent upon funding availability and organizational priorities.

Job Summary

The Aquaculture Operations Manager directs the day-to-day operations of CWORIs herbivore aquaculture program. This is an autonomous, hands-on technical role responsible for driving the entire aquaculture pipeline, supported in routine maintenance by Conservation Technician I and II staff.

The manager oversees modular containerized mariculture facilities, including a dedicated 20-foot aquaculture container, a 40-foot mariculture grow-out container, outdoor land-based raceways, and permitted in-water structures (e.g., enclosures and settlement traps). Primary responsibilities include closed-cycle sexual propagation of the keystone long-spined sea urchin (

Diadema antillarum) using mechanical shaker tables and/or kreisel tanks, wild recruit capture via settlement traps, and live-feed cultivation (microalgae and macroalgae).

Additionally, the role establishes and manages captive rearing protocols for other Caribbean herbivores, including sea eggs (

Tripneustes ventricosus), variegated urchins (

Lytechinus variegatus), reef urchins (

Echinometra viridis), and crustacean grazers such as the Caribbean king crab (

Maguimithrax spinosissimus). The ultimate objective is rearing behaviorally conditioned, predation-resilient organisms, exhibiting site fidelity, for targeted reef restocking to control macroalgae overgrowth across USVI coral restoration sites.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Diadema antillarum Life-Cycle Cultivation and Husbandry

Closed-Cycle Sexual Propagation:

Independently conduct broodstock conditioning, spawning induction, gamete extraction, in-vitro fertilization, and embryological staging.

Larval Culture Operations:

Rear echinopluteus larvae to metamorphic competence using shaker-table or kreisel tank methodologies. Optimize water quality parameters, microalgae feeding regimes, larval stocking densities, photoperiod, and temperature to maximize survival and settlement yield.

Settlement Induction and Metamorphosis:

Cultivate microbial biofilms and crustose coralline algae substrates to facilitate larval competency and trigger high-rate settlement.

Juvenile Grow-Out:

Manage land-based raceway systems and offshore enclosures to rear post-settlement urchins to predation-resilient test diameters.

Behavioral Conditioning:

Apply environmental conditioning (filtered natural diel light cycles and rugose structural habitats) to promote necessary diurnal sheltering behavior prior torelease.

Multi-Taxa Restorative Herbivore Husbandry

Protocol Development:

Design, execute, and refine scalable breeding, larval staging, and grow-out pipelines for a broad guild of Caribbean grazing species.

Echinoid Diversification: Establish production pipelines for additional native herbivorous urchins (Tripneustes ventricosus, []{style="padding: 0cm; border: 1pt window

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Coral World Ocean & Reef Initiative

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