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
- Robert$Jabout 13 yearsThe problemwas that the coral reefs temperatures of the ocean went down.The reason this was happening is because a hurriacan hit ocean and killed them.Ken Nedimyer found a method to help this problem,he tried to re-plant all of the coral reefs.
- kenzieabout 13 yearswow! That must of took alot of time to do that.
- Mikaylaabout 13 yearsSo cool I wonder how the coral got broken
- serenaabout 13 yearsThat would be really cool to find coral reefs.
- Byrdieabout 13 yearsThis is amazing! It must be neat to restore Florida's coral. I wish I could go to Florida's and help.
- Milan$Kabout 13 yearsThe problem was the coral reef temperatures from cold fronts. Later Ken found a method to make the coral a better. He told the goverment about his plan. People started funding for the coral restoration plain.
- Christian C.about 13 yearsThe problem is how the coral are getting severely impacted by the temperature from cold fronts & hurricanes. They got white band disease. Later, Ken brought back the coral reef in 2004
- Joseph $.about 13 yearsThe problem for the coral reef was the temperature from cold fronts and hurricanes. After that they got the white band disease.Then a man name Ken found a way to bring back the coral reef.Ken went to the Florida Keys National Marine. They said that he could and in 2004 he added more coral reefs in Florida.
- di@nte' C.about 13 yearsThe probelm is that the coarl was disapering. The cause was that the cold ness and the hurracains were killing the coarl.The way the people solved it was that they cut pieces off the coral and planted them to make more. this is the reasons.
- Nathan N.about 13 yearsThe coral started to change tempreture from the severel cold fronts. Soon, the coral got white band desease. Later on, Ken found a method to restore the coral. He told the goverment about his plan. People started funding for the coral restoration project to help save the coral.