The future of our reefs are in grave danger we have to save them. There are thousands and thousands of species that are in danger from this oil spill. We have to save them.
For the past three years, marine biologists at the Florida Aquariumhave taken damaged pieces of coral from reefs in the Florida Keys and nursed them back to health.
The process can take years, but once the coral is growing again, divers return it to the open water.
"The reality is, the work that we do is years and years in the growth process. It's a very slow process, but we need to do this," explainedThom Stork, president and CEO of the Florida Aquarium.
Stork wants to use the aquarium's coral farm to help preserve coral that could be impacted by the BP oil spill. He said the work being done here in Tampa could be integral in saving the coral, if the oil makes it as far as the Keys.
The aquarium is asking BP for $5.5 million to send its dive team to collect samples from the reefs. Stork said in a worst-case scenario, if the oil kills or damages most of the reefs, at some point, when the water is clean again, the coral species would still be alive to repopulate the Keys.
"It's a very Noah's Ark concept of taking these species in now and protecting them for the future and putting them back into the wild," he said.
The aquarium has hopes of collecting enough samples to cover an acre. It would need more space to house the coral. Stork said project organizers are looking for space now.
The aquarium said it could have a team of divers ready to go collect coral samples within a few weeks of receiving funding.
Published by tbo.com
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