Reef Rescue: Saving Corals Before It’s Too Late

With frenetic determination, a group of scientists and students rescued 410 live coral samples Friday, an unprecedented worldwide effort to save the tiny animals from a mysterious disease. 

“We call them “reef”-ugees, said Lisa Gregg, a program coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and one of those leading the $4 million effort to snatch corals ahead of the expanding disease boundary.

Dozens of agencies and organizations have mobilized for the rescue. At the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, teams unloaded coral specimens from Dry Tortugas National Park, and gently placed them into shallow pools where they will be readied for the program. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums is helping by finding temporary homes for the corals.

The illness – Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease – has been killing coral for five years. It was first spotted off Virginia Key in 2014, but scientists aren’t sure whether it’s a bacterium, a virus or multiple organisms working in concert, Gregg said. 

“If a coral is affected by the disease,” she said, “it’s for the most part 100% mortality.” 

In this image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the recent death of the brain coral in the foreground indicates the diseased coral next to it will likely suffer the same fate. Looe Key, July 7, 2018. (NOAA Greg McFall via Key News)

The corals will stay at  aquariums across the United States until more extensive breeding faculties can be built in Florida. Construction of the first such center is expected to start this fall in Apollo Beach. 

“It is a very unprecedented effort that’s being done as quickly as possible,” Gregg said. 

There are 22 priority species scientists are trying to collect so that eventually, the sea floor can be replanted with coral.

But if the disease is still there, will the oceans be safe to return to?

It’s a problem that Gregg and other scientists quickly acknowledge they don’t have an answer for.

A number of research studies are underway to learn where corals might be safely repopulated, while other teams are looking at genetic modifications to make corals disease-resistant. Some species, like Elkhorn and Staghorn coral, are not affected. 

“It’s similar to a disease like HIV,” said Maurizio Martinelli, the coral disease response coordinator with Florida Sea Grant. “There might be an initial infection that allows other pathogens to come in and do the worst of the damage.”

Another factor is steadily worsening habitat for coral – everything from water quality to climate change, scientists said. 

“The Florida Reef tract has been rather stressed for many decades now,” he said. “The two are probably working together to make a system that allowed this coral disease outbreak not only to occur, but to persist for so long.” 

Scientists plan to rescue about 5,000 corals during the course of the project, but they concede the long-term prognosis is uncertain. 

“It’s too early,” Martinelli said, saying the spread of the disease is why 60 partner organizations mobilized so quickly. “They recognized how severe this outbreak has been.” 

“So far, the collaboration has been amazing.”