June 2024

World Reef Day is June 1 and a good reminder to celebrate this delicate ecosystem today and every day! Coral reefs provide significant ecological, economic and societal benefits valued, globally, at about $9.8 trillion each year.

Yet reefs are taking a hit from climate change, unsustainable fishing practices and land-based pollution. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists, the world is experiencing a global coral bleaching event.

There are a lot of initiatives underway and passionate professionals working to save coral reefs. NOAA has established these critical initiatives:

Coral Reef Watch (CRW) program - remote sensing, modeled and in-situ data to predict, observe, and alert users globally to threats to the coral reef environment.
Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) - resilience-based management approach, focused on conservation that supports the ability of corals to withstand and recover from stress.
Mission: Iconic Reefs program - made significant strides to offset some of the negative impacts of global climate change and local stressors on Florida’s corals, including moving coral nurseries to deeper, cooler waters and deploying sunshades to protect corals in other areas.
International Coral Reef Initiatives (ICRI) - broadly sharing and already applying resilience-based management actions and lessons learned from the 2023 marine heatwaves in Florida and the Caribbean.