One Man's Quest To Restore Florida's Coral Reef
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Ken Nedimyer first dived into the pristine waters off the Florida Keys at the tender age of 13, whilst on vacation with his parents. He loved it so much, that he returned in 1969, to obtain a degree in Zoology from the Florida Atlantic University and never left.
Everything went well until 1977, when a series of cold fronts resulted in such extreme temperatures that two of Florida's reef building corals - the Staghorn and Elkhorn were severely impacted. The ones that were not killed were weakened and destroyed by an outbreak of the 'White Band disease' - A condition that peels off the coral skeleton in a uniform band.
In 1985, just as the corals were beginning to recover, a couple of destructive hurricanes hit Florida's coast forcing them into such a serious decline, that they had to be placed on the endangered list.
While distressed at seeing the beautiful coral disappear, Ken had no idea how to fix the issue. Then in 2000, he noticed tiny Staghorn coral beginning to grow in his underwater live rock farm. Intrigued, his daughter and he decided to try artificially cultivate some for a high school project.
They were so successful, that Ken decided to approach the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to see if they could use their method to help restore Florida's coral. Ken received his first grant in 2004 for a pilot project and since then, there has been no looking back!
While things are still not back to normal, a lot more funding has been granted and the Coral Restoration Project has now been extended along the entire Florida Reef Tract and all the way down to the US Virgin Islands.
Though Florida's issue was unique, disappearing coral is a problem worldwide. Scientists estimate that about 25% of the world's coral has been lost, primarily due to the rising sea temperatures and higher carbon dioxide levels caused by global warming. They believe that if something is not done soon, more than half of the world's coral will vanish within the next 50 years. Ken Nedimyer believes that his method of coral re-planting can be implemented anywhere in the world and hopes, that others will follow his lead.
Resources: coralmagazine.com,www.fla-com, reefresileince.org
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320 Comments
- Antonio Garciaalmost 13 yearsThe problem is that coral reefs are dieing. The reason they are dieing is because they have been expereincing extreme weather. Right after they were recovering from the Band disease a Hurricane destroyed the coral reefs. They tried to plant more coral reefs and then used the same method to help restore Florida's coral. If they had not done this the Global Warming that is predicted in 50 years would have done more damage to the coral reefs. They still keep planting coral reefs so when the Global Warming come they will not do as much damage.
- Alexis Lalmost 13 yearsThe problem is that coarls are getting weak so this is causing many things to happen than we will not have coarls. So than the coarls skin falls off.
- Alex Perezalmost 13 yearsThe coral is being destroyed. Scientist estimated about 25% was destroyed. And maybe in 50 years more than half of the coral will be lost. The rising sea level temperature and high carbon dioxide from global warming is destroying the sea. Also a disease called White Band destroyed coral. And hurricanes destroys coral. All this destroys coral to make a problem of disappearing coral. To fix this they re-plant coral. They call this coral re-planting. I hope the coral re-plant will work and save all the coral.
- Alex Perezalmost 13 yearsThe coral is being destroyed. Scientist estimated about 25% was destroyed. And maybe in 50 years more than half of the coral will be lost. The rising sea level temperature and high carbon dioxide from global warming is destroying the sea. Also a disease called White Band destroyed coral. And hurricanes destroys coral. All this destroys coral to make a problem of disappearing coral. To fix this they re-plant coral. They call this coral re-planting. I hope the coral re-plant will work and save all the coral.
- Rebecca L.almost 13 yearsThe coral reefs were being wiped out! What is causing this is are the cold fonts! Also if that is not bad enough a couple of hurrcains blew right past when they werre recovering. After that all happened they desised to plant plants to save the coralreefs.
- Ryan Callananalmost 13 yearsThe problem for the Florida coral reefs is they are not growing due to bad weather. There are two thing causing the problem with the reefs. One was two series of cold fronts that hit the Florida area in 1977 that caused a severe impact to the two Florida coral reefs Staghorn and Elkhorn. The second was in 1985 when two very powerful hurricanes hit Florida endangering the two coral reefs Staghorn and Elkhorn. The way they're trying solving the problems is they are planting more Staghorn every year in hopes of making them not endangered anymore. They also have a program called the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary where people protect and try to restore the coral.
- Camryn H.almost 13 yearsThe problem is that the coral reefs are getting weak and dying. This is happening because the water is getting cold, there are hurricanes, and the White Band Disease. The solutions that are being attempted to solve this problem are that the Marine Biologists are planting coral reafs in the ocean floor to help the number of coral reefs increase.
- josealmost 13 yearsThe problem is people are cutting corals for there own needs, and rising sea level.There are cold temperature that is the last reason why they are dieing.One why they can survive is hot temperature.
- Gabby T.almost 13 yearsThe problem is that Florida's coral reef is disappearing and 25 percent of the world's coral is gone. Hurricanes are hitting the coast, extreme temperatures, and the White Band disease are killing the coral. But, the Florida Keys' National Marine Sanctuary are helping and the people are working on the Coral Restoration project.
- lucas L.almost 13 yearsThe problem with Florida's Coral Reef was they were not surviving because of White Band disease and hurricanes. In the story it said that a series of cold fronts and hurricanes destroyed the Coral Reef. To solve this problem Ken and his daughter are trying to grow Corals. The Florida National Marine Sanctuary gave him money to use and help the Coral to grow.