Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, Mission to Restore Keys Coral Reef a Success; Jessica Silk, member of SCUBAnauts International, Billy Costello, member of the Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge and Dr. Michael P. Crosby, President & CEO of Mote Marine Laboratory, plant staghorn corals in the Florida Keys.

Working with Mote scientists, members of SCUBAnauts International, Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge and Gold Star Teen Adventures helped plant threatened staghorn corals in a special restoration site near the Looe Key Existing Management Area (EMA) over the last two weeks.

By the end of the day Tuesday, July 29, the groups planted 850 coral fragments and helped to create another 2,300 that will be grown in Mote’s underwater coral nursery and then planted on the reef in the future.

The event also marked the creation of a new restoration area set aside on a patch reef about a mile long that is located east of the Looe Key EMA to honor the sacrifices of American servicemen and women.

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