TRAVEL continued staff, interns, donors, sponsors, and scientists. It is proof positive that people can make a vast difference for ocean conservation. Stony corals were in great decline, prompting researchers to state that live coral coverage in the Keys is only 5%. That compares to live coral coverage of 90% a scant seventy years ago. “Our overall survival rate since we began five
about coral and sponge restoration in their conference room with hands-on demonstrations and explanations. Divers then board their 42’ Newton ‘Giant Stride’ and head out to reefs designated under permit for restoration. Under close supervision of scientists, volunteer divers not only enjoy hands-on experience, they come away with the satis- faction of helping to restore once pristine reefs.
years ago, inclusive of the 2023 mass bleaching event, is 43%,” Mike Goldberg added. That the owner of a dive op- eration joined with scientific experts like Dr. Kylie Smith and Dr. Bobbie Renfro, a sponge researcher, to restore offshore reefs with living coral and sponges is testimony to what private enterprise can ac- complish when members of
Coral and sponges are grown by I.Care on ‘trees’ off a reef called The Maze. This ocean- grown coral includes staghorn and brain corals as well as three species of sponges. Dr. Renfro calls sponges the ‘glue of the reef,’ integral to healthy reef ecology interspersed with out- planted coral. “Corals we are outplanting now survived 2023. They are
Keys Dive & i.Care Partnership
William Cline & Amber Wagenknecht
the community and generous private donors support the cause of ocean conservation. While government grants have helped, I.Care’s base for education and logistical sup- port for interns, fuel, logistics, and educational programs has come from the private sector. Key Dives donates 2% of profits back to I.Care and has organized other dive op- erations to do the same. Dives are guided by Key Dives instructors and divemas- ters. For those wishing to participate, I.Care offers seminars
the most resistant and resilient corals we know of today. Sponges, once decimated by past hurricanes, are integral to the reef. We’re learning more and more as we observe sponges living with reef corals in the same lo- cation, one benefits the other. Dr. Bobbie Ren- fro alludes to the fact that a single tennis ball-size sponge filters 1.5 gallons of water a minute. This filtering creates cleaner water. The more sponges on the reefs, the more healthy our corals will email Amber
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