Over the decades he's watched the health of the coral reefs decline, and 2023, he says, is the worst he's ever seen. "When I first started coming down here it was a magical paradise," he says. He's been diving the Florida Keys since 1969. Nedimyer is considered the godfather of coral reef restoration. Peer-reviewed scientific studies reveal about 90-percent of that excess heat is absorbed by the oceans. The main driver of warmer oceans, say climate scientists, is humans burning fossil fuels, steadily cranking up the planet's thermostat. "If a coral bleaches, it doesn't mean it's dead, but if conditions don't improve and it can't recover within a couple weeks to a month, it will die," Lesneski says. "We've seen temperatures hit 93, 94 degrees on the bottom, which in terms of recorded data history, is unheard of," says Katey Lesneski, a coral scientist with the Mission Iconic Reefs program at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Scientists say unusually-warm ocean water is stressing the tiny animals to their breaking point. Just offshore near Key Largo Florida, a small armada of boats gathers for an unprecedented mission: saving corals in critical danger.īelow the ocean surface is what has coral experts worried: widespread, bone-white patches of bleached coral. Ken Nedimyer and his crew are headed to sea for an urgent rescue.
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