South Florida scientist works to save damaged coral reefs

An anchor from a large ship damaged this coral reef. (c) Wolcott Henry 2005/Marine Photobank

From an article by Susan Cocking in The Miami Herald:

Biscayne National Park's veteran chief scientist bends over a tile saw in the hot sun, cutting what looks like a piece of rock in half. Out pop three wriggling orange worms.

''We're making them very unhappy,'' Richard Curry chuckles.

Nearby, a half-dozen helpers are forming what appear to be popsicles, gluing the cut rock fragments onto PVC dowels. Each is numbered, measured, weighed and photographed. The worms go into a vial of water where they commence spewing ink on each other.

Curry and his band of volunteers are not working with rocks, but with live coral fragments beaten and cut by boat groundings, hurricanes and underwater construction. Nursed back to health at a nondescript triage facility on Virginia Key, they are destined for one of four underwater nurseries in the park where they will remain for more than a decade until they grow large enough to be replanted to create new reefs.