Economic Stimulus Funding Will Help Restore Threatened Coral Reefs in Florida and U.S. Virgin Islands

Stimulus funds will support 57 jobs and expand efforts to restore threatened coral reefs at an “unprecedented” scale.

SUGAR LOAF KEY, FLORIDA — June 30, 2009 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced today that The Nature Conservancy and its partners’ staghorn and elkhorn coral recovery project will receive support from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which will fund all or part of 57 positions needed to develop large-scale, in-water coral nurseries and restore reefs along Florida’s southern coast and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Watch video of scientists and volunteer divers cultivate threatened staghorn coral at nurseries offshore as part of a Nature Conservancy project to increase the population of healthy, resilient corals throughout the Caribbean.

The Nature Conservancy will serve as coordinator of the overall project and a range of project partners, including the Coral Restoration Foundation, University of Miami, Nova Southeastern University, Mote Marine Laboratory, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, and Nautical Farms will conduct most of the hands-on nursery and restoration work. Government natural resource managers from NOAA, the National Park Service, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources and Broward County will be involved in permitting and oversight of the project.

“We are thrilled to be a recipient of economic stimulus funds for this project, which will create jobs and help restore one of Florida’s greatest natural assets,” said James Byrne, The Nature Conservancy’s marine science program manager for Florida and the Caribbean. “To conduct restoration of coral on this scale is unprecedented. Coral reefs are one of the main attractions for tourism in south Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fish that rely on reefs for habitat feed millions of people worldwide and provide income for thousands of people in Florida and the Virgin Islands.”

The project will expand four existing coral nurseries and establish two new nurseries in waters off the coast of south Florida and two new nurseries in waters surrounding the U.S. Virgin Islands. Over the next three years, the project will grow roughly 12,000 corals in Florida to enhance coral populations at 34 degraded reefs from the Dry Tortugas through Broward County. Nursery and restoration efforts are expected to extend beyond the three-year grant period.

Once abundant and productive marine habitat builders in Florida and the Caribbean, staghorn coral and elkhorn coral suffered severe population declines due to coral bleaching, diseases, hurricane damage and other threats. Both corals were designated as threatened species under the authority of the Endangered Species Act in 2006. With the ability to produce numerous branches that can each grow four or more inches a year, these corals are well suited to nursery propagation and restoration efforts.

Coral reefs are one of the Earth’s most productive and biologically diverse natural systems. Florida boasts one of the world’s most significant coral reef ecosystems. This scattered chain of individual reefs stretches from the remote Dry Tortugas to offshore of Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties to its northern terminus in Martin County. The extensive reef system surrounding the U.S. Virgin Islands is home to one of the most diverse population of reef fish in the Caribbean and provides examples of many reef types: patch, fringing, spur and groove and deep reefs. These reefs form part of the Greater Puerto Rican Bank, linking the British and US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

In addition to their ecological importance, coral reefs also are a substantial source for food and jobs, contributing millions of dollars toward the economies of South Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands:
• From May 2000-June 2001, reef-related expenditures generated $1.3 billion in sales in Miami-Dade County and $504 million in Monroe County.
• In Monroe County, the commercial fishing fleet supports approximately 1200 families, close to 5 percent of the county’s population.
• Fishers in the U.S. Virgin Islands reported landings of just over 1.9 million pounds of fish with a direct monetary value of $4.8 million.

In 2004, The Nature Conservancy and The Coral Restoration Foundation began a staghorn coral restoration project under a NOAA Community-based Restoration Program grant. At the center of the project was a privately owned, permitted live-rock farm within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Staghorn coral parent colonies that naturally settled on the liverock farm have been propagated since 2000 by The Coral Restoration Foundation. Cuttings of those parent colonies, along with other cuttings collected from colonies outside the live rock farm in the Upper Keys, were grown in an underwater coral nursery. After one year, the corals were outplanted to selected sites in distinct zones of the upper Keys.

In addition to this coral reef effort, the Conservancy received stimulus funding for seven other coastal restoration projects across the United States, to restore and protect oyster reefs, seagrass beds, salt marshes, salmon streams, and floodplains. Marine, estuarine and freshwater habitats such as these provide people and nature with a variety of essential services such as water filtration, fisheries, protection from the effects of natural disasters and storm surges, as well as other economic and recreational opportunities.

“During the selection process, NOAA received over 800 proposals totaling more than $3 billion in requests for restoration funding, yet only $167 million in NOAA funding was available,” said Lynne Hale, Director of the Global Marine Program at The Nature Conservancy. “This overwhelming response demonstrates the profound need for increased restoration and the stewardship of our oceans and coasts,” added Hale.

For nearly 10 years, the Conservancy and NOAA have worked in partnership to implement community-based restoration projects at sites across the United States. The projects selected under ARRA will employ nearly 450 people who will devote more than 500,000 hours of labor to the engineering, project management, contracting, planting, and monitoring associated with completing these eight projects over the next two to two and a half years. The Conservancy will begin work immediately in Alaska, Alabama, California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, US Virgin Islands, Virginia and Washington.

For more information about the Conservancy’s marine work, visit: www.nature.org/marine

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.