Help Restore the Only Living Coral Barrier Reef in the Continental United States

This Green Scene story spotlights an environmentally focused attraction, event, person or place that enriches the Florida Keys

June 2023: Visitors to the Florida Keys can now help to create living pieces of coral reef alongside the world’s leading scientists.

The new microfragmentation experience ‘Slice of Paradise’, offered at Mote Marine Laboratory’s Key Largo Coral Nursery at Reefhouse Resort & Marina, enables holidaymakers to play a vital part in repairing the Florida Reef – the only living coral barrier reef in the continental U.S.  – without ever leaving land.

This personal, hands-on experience educates participants about endangered species of coral whilst giving them a chance to help restore the reef. Using a Mote-pioneered technique, they learn how to cut coral using a small jewellery diamond-bladed saw, creating small fragments. These fragments are then mounted on ceramic pedestals that are returned to grow in the land-based nursery until they are the perfect size to be taken to the ocean and ‘outplanted’ on the coral reef.

The microfragmentation process significantly increases the speed at which the newly-outplanted coral matures on the reef – helping the reef to regenerate much more quickly. Coral usually takes between 25 and 75 years to reach sexual maturity, whereas microfragmentation can achieve this in as little as three years.

The hour-long experience costs US$125 per person, bookable via the Mote Marine Laboratory website: https://mote.org/locations/details/international-center-for-coral-reef-research-and-restoration/keys-tours.

The experience includes an up-close view and tour of Mote’s land-based satellite nursery and insight into the research being conducted by Mote scientists. 

A teeming backbone of marine life running the 125-mile length of the Florida Keys about five miles offshore, the Florida Keys’ reef is protected as part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which also includes the island chain’s shallow-water flats and mangrove islets.

Mote Marine Laboratory is an independent non-profit marine research institution that focuses on conserving and restoring the ocean ecosystem. It began its large-scale coral restoration efforts in 2021 with the aim to outplant 60,000 fragments of nursery-raised coral off Key West to help the Mission: Iconic Reefs project restore seven coral reefs within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.