Along Florida’s barrier reef, the only living coral barrier reef in the United States and the third largest barrier reef system in the world, marine scientists and coastal communities have witnessed decades of severe ecological collapse. Widespread coral bleaching, rising sea surface temperatures, ocean acidification, and infectious conditions such as stony coral tissue loss disease have drastically reduced historic living coral cover across the Florida Keys. According to habitat data published by NOAA Fisheries , nearly 90 per cent of the live corals that once dominated these reefs have been lost. For years, conventional ocean conservation focused primarily on passive protection measures, such as establishing marine sanctuaries, while wild coral populations continued to decline.
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