The race is on for USA-based marine biologists at Coral Morphologic to save urban corals collected from a Miami straight, known as Government Cut, following months of dredging.
A window of opportunity to collect and transplant the corals came at the end of May 2014 when the Army Corps of Engineers’ stopped their ‘Deep Dredge’ project which is being carried out to make way for the larger ships that will pass through the soon-to-be-expanded Panama Canal.
Collectively, the Miami Coral Rescue Mission removed over 2,000 stony corals that would have otherwise been destroyed in the process.
Most of the corals removed have now been transplanted to an artificial reef about one mile south from where they originated. Coral Morphologic biologists will now monitor them to ensure their long-term survival, but say they’re unsure of the possibility of their survival after being constantly smothered by silt deposition from the dredge operation.
The biologists say while they could’ve rescued more corals if they had more time, the fight isn’t over. Coral Morphologic is now entering a longer-term monitoring phase in which it will continue to assess the health of the surrounding coral reefs through July 2015.
Once complete, the Panama Canal will enable huge freighters to bypass West Coast ports and head directly to terminals on the Gulf and East coasts. The largest ships that can squeeze through the Panama Canal currently carry 4,400 to 5,000 containers. The widening project will allow ships with 12,600 containers.
