Fellow of the International Society for Reef Studies Director, Marine & Coastal Programs at Dial Cordy and Associates Inc.
Recently, there has been a call for large-scale restoration programs to be implemented throughout south Florida. The rationale behind this has not been science based, but has been founded on a lot of hype and rhetoric. In fact, there are calls for south Florida to become the first “climate ready - tech hub” using coral restoration as the centerpiece of that program. There have also been calls to scale-up coral restoration projects throughout the region from tens of thousands to millions of corals. While there is great optimism in these words, none of it is backed by restoration science or field success. Just think of the cost to implement restoration programs at scales that are orders of magnitude greater than anything that’s been performed to date. That doesn’t mean we need to stop trying. In fact, it’s time to re-double our efforts and figure out what works and why? And maybe more importantly, figure out what the problems are because we will learn more from our failures than our successes. The attached manuscript shows the abysmal failure of recent restoration programs throughout the Florida Keys with most corals dying only two years after outplanting. Similar results were shown in a paper by Ware et al. just a few years ago. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work
Mr. Precht. Restoration efforts in South Florida are absolutely based on science & have been underway for more than five years. Would you rather see nothing be done while Florida's Coral Reef ecosystem collapses? More than two-thirds of it stretches through Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and draws more than 5 million tourists annually to dive, snorkel, boat, and fish. This contributes to approximately 60 percent of the Florida Keys economy, thousands of jobs, and more than 4.7 billion in spending and annual generated income. It protects us, too. For the 77,000 citizens who live here, research proves that coral reefs help dissipate the 25-foot waves generated by hurricanes before reaching shore. More than fifty Mission: Iconic Reef partners work across multiple disciplines utilizing the most recent, cutting-edge science and state-of-the-art restoration techniques to facilitate and reinforce ecosystem recovery and resilience- intervention methods backed by the National Academies of Science.
Craig Downs
5mo
You can't restore until the stressors that killed the reef in the first place are recognized and mitigated. And I am not talking climate change, but the dozens of various sources of local/regional pollution that killed the reef in the first place.
I believe the "disease" of water quality needs to be addressed before replacing corals.
Fellow of the International Society for Reef Studies Director, Marine & Coastal Programs at Dial Cordy and Associates Inc.
5moTo add salt to the wound. The paper deals with data collected between 2012-2020. Therefore, does not include the catastrophic bleaching and mortality observed in the summer heat wave of 2023 (see below NPR story). So if we thought the results were abysmal before - they are even worse now. Nothing upon which to base future restoration programs. Importantly, we need to be honest and transparent with not just the concerned public but with overselves - we need to turn hype into hope! https://www.npr.org/2024/02/21/1233009399/scientists-in-the-florida-keys-havent-had-great-success-revitalizing-coral-reefs