High ocean temperatures are harming the Florida coral reef. Rescue crews are racing to help
Associated PressLAYTON, Fla. — Steps away from the warming waters of Florida Bay, marine biologist Emily Becker removed covers from the dozens of water-filled tanks under her watchful eye. University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science senior research associate Dalton Hesley swims out with supplies, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, on Paradise Reef near Key Biscayne, Fla. Students and volunteers cement coral fragments from a coral nursery into cement "cookies" to be affixed to the reef, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, near Key Biscayne, Fla. Grad student Berfin Sagir, left, and Research associate Catherine Lachnit sort numbered bags that will be used to collect coral fragments, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, in Key Biscayne, Fla. “We’re already seeing not just bleaching, but actual coral death out on the reef because the temperatures were so hot,” said Cynthia Lewis, director of the Keys Marine Lab, a research institute on the island of Long Key, some 100 miles south of Miami, where rescue groups have already brought more than 1,500 pieces of coral. Scientists and volunteers clean equipment in a coral nursery, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, near Key Biscayne, Fla. Research associate Catherine Lachnit checks coral for signs of bleaching on Paradise Reef, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, near Key Biscayne, Fla. A diver holds coral fragments from a coral nursery to be cemented into the reef, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, near Key Biscayne, Fla. Grad student Berfin Sagir, left, and Research associate Catherine Lachnit collect coral fragments to be transplanted, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, near Key Biscayne, Fla. Reef Renewal founder Ken Nedimyer called the coral bleaching “hard to watch and hard to experience” and said his group knew that coral stress would increase under climate change, but didn’t think it would come so soon. University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science senior research associate Dalton Hesley cements coral fragments to the reef, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, on Paradise Reef near Key Biscayne, Fla. A nurse shark swims past a newly placed “cookie”, lower left, containing three coral fragments, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, on Paradise Reef near Key Biscayne, Fla. Jamison Gove, co-author of a new article in Nature about how Hawaii coral reefs weathered a 2015 marine heat wave that pushed ocean temperatures to their highest levels in 120 years of record-keeping, said his research suggests some corals off Florida may survive better than others depending on the health of local fish populations and runoff from land.