NOAA’s Worldwide Coral Restoration Project Highlights

NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has been around for more than 200 years! It is an incredible agency that fosters ocean life through action, public education, and science. The NOAA reef restoration foundation program is massive and important. The organization helps with aiding in the protection of not just our sea world and coral – it protects our entire planet.

“Our reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the public informed of  the changing environment around them.” -NOAA

NOAA’s mission includes:

• Daily weather forecasts
• Climate monitoring
• Severe storm warnings
• Coastal beach restoration
• Coral reef restoration 
• Fisheries management
• Supporting and building marine commerce

Their mission is backed by many individuals and agencies – they have a global network from all around the world with the joint goal of protecting our coral reef and our shorelines. 

Coral Restoration Projects
Coral reefs can be damaged by various natural and unnatural events. Water temperatures are drastically changing and this affects our coral reefs. Pollution and ocean acidification also create damage; as do invasive species, human/boat errors, and intense storms. 

In response to these dangers, NOAA created the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program. They recognize the huge value of our beautiful worldwide corals across our oceans, and their global restoration services aim to protect these magical undersea worlds from these severe threats. NOAA has developed clear steps to restore these habitats – for healthy sea life, recreation, tourism, and countless other benefits. 

Coral conservation programs and 5 steps for growth:

1. Coral Habitat Improvement: There are many invasive species that can harm the natural balance of worldwide coral habitats. These include lionfish feeding on smaller fish near coral reefs, black rats invading the ecosystem, and the northern pacific seastar which depletes the natural shellfish populations near coral reefs. To improve the habitat for the coral to thrive, NOAA is developing ways to reduce these invasive species near coastal coral reefs.
2. Protecting Coral Health: There are many diseases that affect the lifespan of coral. Stony coral disease is a highly dangerous threat that sickens healthy coral. This disease has deeply impacted more than 96K reef acres in Florida alone. NOAA set up the NOAA Strategy for Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Response and Prevention to aid in this fight in the Atlantic and Caribbean.
3. Saving Seven Key Reefs: NOAA has a plan to save and restore life to seven of the coral reefs within the National Marine Sanctuary in the Florida Keys. These beautiful coral reefs have steeply declined over the past four decades, and the phases of this restoration plan are setting into motion a careful plan for coral reef rehabilitation in these Florida undersea communities with emergency response to prevent future loss. 
4. Helping Coral Population: NOAA uses incredibly innovative techniques to grow and plant new healthy coral. They have set up “coral nurseries” specifically for regrowing coral reefs in the Caribbean and elsewhere, giving life to more than 40,000 new corals each year. Protecting coral larvae is crucial to maintaining and building the coral population.
5. Emergency Response: NOAA has set up the Coral Emergency Response Fund which partners with various national organizations to help with worldwide restoration with non-federal aid. This addresses issues like coral collecting, ship groundings, and other damaging incidents. The use of products like Seatak™ (an underwater solution, a reef adhesive that is safe for sea life) can be used during emergency response efforts to safely repair and revive coral from these incidents. SeaTak™ development was funded by NOAA. It is an adhesive designed to enable the scaling of global coral restoration growth.

These five huge coral reef restoration methods – and the use of innovative and safe products – are a solid plan to preserve and build the resilience of our coral reefs.

Restoration In Action
NOAA coral reef conservation works program has received incredible support this year – over 20 million dollars in support has been given towards their coral conservation projects and research. This has allowed for many exciting coral reef projects. Want to see this work in action? Check out this incredible video.

How You Can Help 
NOAA Coral Restoration Program is leading efforts to protect and preserve our ocean’s coral reefs through coral rehabilitation centers. So, are you wondering how you can help? There are many small steps each and every one of us can take to do our part in protecting our oceans and our coral reefs. 

Small coral-safe steps everyone can do:

• Volunteer in your community with clean-ups and planting coral reefs
• Choose to eat sustainable seafood
• Don’t pollute your oceans and waterways
• Practice safe boating and diving
• Read up on conservation facts

Be sure to share what you’ve learned. We can all protect our beautiful coral communities.