Palm Beach County is home to many species of hard corals, reef-building organisms that not only protect our coastlines by breaking up wave activity but that create habitat, adding to a greater diversity and abundance of marine organisms off our shores.

aquarist club and coral database

The latest global coral reef assessment estimates that 19 percent of the world's coral reefs are dead. Aquarists have the opportunity to be part of the solution by joining our Aquarist Club and registering with our coral database network which tracks the health and successes.

research internships

Our research internships are available to high school seniors, undergraduate students, and graduate researchers. Currently, The Reef Institute has two research internship options available. Past research projects include the effects of sunscreen on coral reefs and Peanut Island monitoring.

spawning and seedbanking

With South Florida’s developmental growth, it has become more important to be create a seed bank of coral that once flourished throughout the Florida Reef Tract. The Reef Institute is part of a consortium to ensure the survival of several coral species.

Research at The Reef Institute is currently focusing on three main initiatives. First,

participation in the Florida Coral Rescue Project. Second, working with Department of

Resource Management, TRI has been monitoring coral health and more recently

biodiversity at Peanut Island in the Lake Worth Lagoon to assist with disease research

along the Florida Reef Tract. Additionally, we are working with Michael Singer Studios

researching materials that can be best used on artificial reefs for best invertebrate

attraction. This project titled, the “Marine Living Structures Initiative,” seeks to create

intentionally designed and material driven structures that can grow living coral and attract

animals living in a coral reef.

The Florida Reef Tract runs approximately 330 - 360 miles from the Florida Keys to Martin

County, FL. Hailing as the third-largest barrier reef globally, it is the only reef system in the

continental US. Some estimates suggest that this reef system continues as patch reefs as

far north as the Carolinas. Coral reefs protect the shoreline from erosion and storm surge as

as well as produce habitat for fish important for the tourism and fishing economy. Florida

Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found that, "Coral reefs provide the foundation

for 71,000 jobs and $6.3 billion in sales and income in South Florida."

Unfortunately, Florida's coral reefs are struggling to survive. Rising sea temperatures, ocean

acidification, and disease have all been contributing factors to their decline.

Florida's coral reefs are experiencing a multi-year disease-related mortality event resulting

in massive die-offs of more than 21 species of coral. These include a few that are

Endangered Species Act-listed as well as most of the primary reef-building species. The

disease, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease or (SCTLD), was first observed near Virginia Key

in late 2014 and has since spread across Florida’s entire reef system short of the Dry

Tortugas. The best available information indicates that the disease outbreak is continuing to

spread southwest and throughout the entire Caribbean.

The Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Project (CREMP) along with the Florida Fish and

Wildlife Conservation Commission found that over the past 40 years coral cover has

diminished from around 90% to less than 5% along surveyed portions of the Florida reef

system. Several government partners have pulled together to form the Florida Coral Rescue

Team to address issues related to Florida's Coral Reef (FCR). These include NOAA, Florida

Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC), and Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection

(DEP). This group has developed a long-term plan for coral conservation and restoration

including creating and maintaining land-based coral seed banks and nurseries impervious

to the increasing threats of disease, climate change, hurricanes, and other unforeseen

circumstances.

Using versatile indoor closed systems capable of simulating natural conditions, The Reef

Institute (TRI) is now set up for gene banking, natural spawning, and maximizing coral

growth. The coral systems are capable of controlling chemistry and lighting to perform

research or accelerate growth in amplification schemes for restoration.

Funded by DEP and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation TRI has built four of these

systems including 16 vats totaling over 3000 gallons. Two original systems built in 2019

currently hold disease endemic zone corals and two comparable new systems provide

biologically secure separation from the original holding space to allow for keeping endemic

zone (non-naïve) and/or pre-invasion zone (naïve) corals for gene banking, research, and/

or amplification. As part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) partnership with

the Florida Coral Rescue Project, the Reef Institute now holds its first round of "rescue

corals" collected from Fisher Island.

The Reef Institute is the first non-AZA long term holding facility as part of the Florida Coral

Rescue Project. Additionally, it is the first holding facility for corals intentionally rescued

within the disease endemic zone. TRI is holding 62 colonies of golfball coral, Favia fragum,

representing all of the colonies of this species in the Florida Coral Rescue Project.

The Reef Institute currently has the infrastructure in place for both coral hospital and

quarantining systems outside of these main 4 systems. These systems allow for receiving,

quarantine, and treatment of corals while minimizing potential disease spread to other

resident colonies.

Projects:

Project