The Coral Restoration Foundation

https://www.coralrestoration.org/

The Coral Restoration Foundation is the largest coral reef restoration organization in the world. It was founded in response to the widespread loss of the dominant coral species on the Florida Reef Tract. The Coral Restoration Foundation is headquartered in Key Largo, Florida.

The Florida Reef Tract runs from north of Miami down to Key West in the south. It is the third largest barrier reef in the world and the only barrier coral reef in the continental United States. The Florida Reef Tract was once dominated by two species of reef-building coral, staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn (Acropora palmata).

The Florida Reef Tract now hosts just three percent of the once-dominant staghorn and elkhorn cover that it had in the 1970s. These became some of the first corals to be included on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, and are both now listed as “Critically Endangered” – one step away from a listing of “Extinct in the Wild”.

The Coral Restoration Foundation has developed a method for “farming” and “outplanting” colonies of staghorn and elkhorn. By hanging finger-sized fragments of these corals to grow on Coral Trees, it is possible to produce colonies that are large enough to be outplanted in just six to nine months. 

To date, The Coral Restoration Foundation has planted more than 66,000 corals back onto the Florida Reef Tract.