The word “extinct” still shocks the senses when applied to species that play such vital roles in our ecological and economic landscape.
So when NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reported that two key species in Florida’s iconic coral reefs had become “functionally extinct,” it took time for reality to sink in — even though the damage happened in 2023 when coral was obliterated by the hottest year on record in 130 years.
Scientists knew that elkhorn coral and staghorn coral, with their complex branching structures that create havens for fish and crustaceans and attract divers worldwide, had been hit hard by disease and previous hot summers.
In a few weeks, the water temperature hit a high that triggered the coral to jettison the beneficial algae living in its structures. The process, known as bleaching, causes the coral to lose its color and starve to death. The stark white skeletons may remain for a time, but the once-living coral is dead and it will not reproduce.
Mass extinction in the Keys
The study found that at least 97% of the two coral species off the Keys and Dry Tortugas are dead or dying. The damage is likely to be devastating at John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo, the most popular destination in the state park system, which each year draws more than a million snorkelers, divers and anglers to view 83 square miles of underwater reef.
The damage declines off the coasts of areas north of the Keys, but reefs off South Florida still showed a 39% loss just from warming.
A coral biologist told NBC News that the species were among the most important “reef builders” in Florida waters, and that the amount of living coral still holding on to life will not be enough to allow the species to repair the damage.
Heat is not the only threat. Coral species weakened by pollution and generally hotter water have become more vulnerable to disease.
The loss of tourism directly from divers and other visitors isn’t the only cost. Florida’s reef system — the only one in the continental U.S. — serves as a spawning ground for many fish and other sealife that feed the sportfishing industry that generates more than $13 billion in revenue every year in Florida.
Reefs fight erosion
When people think of natural attractions in Florida, the first thing that comes to mind are the state’s 1,200-plus miles of beaches.
A functioning reef system can absorb up to 90% of offshore wave energy, reducing the intensity of waves crashing into the coastline and eroding beach sand. Florida is already leaning on dredging operations to replace sand lost to erosion and save some of its most iconic beaches.
In 1989, the state’s first survey of critically eroded beaches came up with nearly 218 miles of shoreline and another 115 miles of beaches at risk.
The most recent survey shows 226 miles of critically eroding beach along the east coast and 433 miles in the Gulf. Depending on how you measure the state’s coastline, that’s more than half the state’s beaches.
At some point, erosion will take so much beach that it will be impossible to save it all, even at the cost of billions. Florida may have to abandon some barrier-island coastal communities because the very ground under the condo towers, hotels and restaurants is washing away.
Sounding the alarm
This is an environmental emergency, and one whose damage could spread statewide.
Unfortunately, the current crop of Florida officials may not take it seriously. For years, they’ve insisted that global climate change isn’t primarily caused by human activity and thus it is not reversible.
While scientists at several marine institutes around the nation are working on ways to revive coral species along Florida’s coasts, the ultimate determiner of the reefs’ survival comes down to a matter of degrees.
Hotter oceans mean dying coral. That’s an equation that can only be reversed with a nationwide commitment to reduce carbon emissions and treat the earth with more respect.
Even the most adamant climate deniers should be unable to look past the evidence of bleached, brittle skeletons of reefs that once teemed with life and heed the alarm blaring over threats to the state’s reefs and to Florida itself.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.
