Coral reefs are central to the health and diversity of our oceans. In addition to providing a home for a quarter of all marine life, reefs regulate carbon dioxide levels in the water and prevent shoreline erosion by mitigating the effects of offshore currents and hurricanes. Florida’s Coral Reef, the largest in North America, runs from Martin County to the Dry Tortugas. The 360-mile system has suffered many stresses in recent years, from extreme temperatures, excessive salinity, invasive lionfish, and the mass die-off of sea urchins that keep the reef clear of algae.
In 2014, another threat appeared: stony coral tissue loss disease. It spread across the entire reef in five years, attacking 22 of the 45 species of stony corals. In many areas, mortality approached 100 percent. More than 2,000 healthy stony corals were rescued in advance of the disease by FWC and
NOAA, now held in 19 facilities in 13 states.
Since 2020, our Foundation has operated the largest such facility in partnership with SeaWorld, Disney Conservation, and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Located in Orlando and known as the Florida Coral Rescue Center (FCRC), this state-of-the-art gene bank has also propagated corals, some for the first time in human care. FCRC’s 500+ adult corals represent 18 stony coral species, some of which are classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The corals at FCRC are flourishing, growing daily and successfully spawning.
In fact, in just one week of July 2024, 160,000 brain coral larvae were produced, literally creating the future of Florida’s Coral Reef. Over time, these corals will be cross-bred to maximize their genetic diversity and resistance to disease and higher ocean temperatures. This is just the start of their journey— and ours—to rebuild our reefs.
