Abstract Summary
The juxtaposition of the continental U.S.’s only living bank-barrier reef with the significant South Florida population center of over 6.5 million people presents unique challenges for resource managers. Expanding commercial and private development combined with necessary infrastructure repairs to roads, bridges, and seawalls impacts sensitive nearshore marine habitats such as mangroves, seagrasses, corals, and hardbottom. NOAA’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) is charged with protecting and managing all marine resources in the 3840 square mile sanctuary, not just the iconic offshore barrier reef. In 2003, FKNMS staff pioneered an innovative coral “rescue nursery” in response to corals threatened with destruction during military pier repairs. Over 3500 individual coral colonies were removed from the construction zone and placed in a specially constructed underwater nursery. Since that time, corals have been rescued from hundreds of similar projects and moved to FKNMS coral rescue nurseries. Corals in rescue nurseries are moved to vessel grounding restoration sites, provided to research institutions for laboratory studies, and made available to support educational displays at public aquariums. Using rescued corals for these purposes relieves pressure on natural habitats of the sanctuary and supports management-based research. Since inception, more than 10,000 coral colonies have been rescued by FKNMS and partner organizations. When impacts to corals from coastal construction cannot be avoided and options to transplant corals to nearby habitats are not available, coral rescue nurseries provide a low-tech tool for protecting critical resources.
