As Florida ocean temperatures soar, a race to salvage imperiled corals

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Inside a low-slung building in the heart of the Florida Keys, Cynthia Lewis is running what she calls a “coral mass triage unit.”

As a blistering marine heat wave persists off the coast, a full-blown emergency is unfolding along the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States.

“If it remains this hot for the next six weeks, we are going to see a lot more coral mortality out there,” said Lewis, director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography’s Keys Marine Laboratory.

Already, scientists have reported widespread coral bleaching along parts of the roughly 360-mile-long reef, the third largest on the planet. If the heat drags on, they say, a massive coral die-off could follow, with grave consequences for fish and other ocean organisms that depend on the reefs, tourism, commercial fishing and part of the state’s very identity.

https://wapo.st/3rNhLcB

At least they're not woke - Ron DeSantis.

[BigmanPigman]

1. Yet, more people are STILL choosing to move there.

This boggles the mind....

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-move-to-florida-regret-fastest-growing-state-2022-12

[orthoclad]

2. Carl Hiaasen, columnist for Miami Herald, native Cracker,

in his novels begged people to hold off on moving there until the state came to its senses. And this was WAY before MAGA. He used his novels to highlight the problems the natural and human environments of the state were and are having.

Many of his characters are proto Florida Man, but he swore the events and characters came out of the newsroom, lightly fictionalized.

I wouldn't miss winter. I'd love to see lizards running up my walls, coconut palms dropping fruit, brilliant colors and rich life. But I think I'll leave the state alone. More humans ain't what it needs. And I can do without fair-weather floods and increasing tropical storms.

[rubbersole]

3. Aw, come on down...

..everybody else is. Your home insurance is doubling yearly. And a studio apartment in Orlando is $1,600 a month, if you can find one. Florida has had too many people for 25+ years.

[orthoclad]

6. And more than 25 years

I used to love camping in the lower Keys, back in the 70s. "Balefish" news was in the financial section of the Miami papers. There was a mock secession of the Conch Republic.

I also liked the Redneck Riviera, because it was so much more laid back than the Gold Coast.

I'd be afraid to see what the Keys are like now. Developments, cruise ships.

[Deep State Witch]

4. Saw This A Few Years Ago

Following a cruise out of Miami, we stayed over and took a 5-hour bus ride to Key West. One of the places that we went was the aquarium there. (Hubs and I love a good aquarium!) They're doing remarkable things with saving the corals at the KW aquarium.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. NPR: How rising ocean temperatures will impact ecotourism in Florida

How rising ocean temperatures will impact ecotourism in Florida

July 27, 20234:47 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
A Martínez

NPR's A Martinez speaks with Jennifer Pollom, executive director of the Ocean Conservation Foundation, about the effects of high ocean temperatures on ecotourism in the Florida Keys.

(Follow the link to listen.)