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Carina Bernadel

Kacee Belcher

ENC 1102

A Proposal to Repair Damage Reefs Due to the Port Miami Dredging

On September 18, 2015 Port Miami celebrated the completion of the deep dredge project.

Governor Rick Scott spoke at the celebration stating “The deep dredge project is expected to

have a massive impact on commerce across south Florida ”. The Port Miami is expected to

welcome bigger ships, which means more tourists, which means more money. It is also expected

to accept bigger trading ships to send and receive more goods, which means more money. This

plan to deepen the Port sounds a little too good to be true. One might wonder if there are any

negatives to this plan. Shortly after the construction was completed environmental inspectors

found a “blanket of silt and clay over the bay bottom that is smothering coral and damaging sea

life” (Miami Port Dredging). This is due to the government, specifically Governor Rick Scott,

ignoring the environment and not taking proactive actions prior to construction. Governor Rick

Scott and the government failed to protect the coral and sea life and is now facing ridicule for

their decisions. The Government has exaggerated the impending surge in shipping and

misjudged the environmental damage it will cause. Due to the Port Miami Dredge we have now

lost several acres of reefs and additional damage to reefs and sea grass from silt and sediment

(staleovich). There are several solutions to aid in future protection of coral reefs and repair coral

reef, however the best solution is to transfer the damaged coral to coral reef nurseries.

We first realized the damage while in construction, after it was revealed that there was

damage, “federal environmental agencies tried to required the U.S Army to take steps to monitor

the sediment and stop work to give water time clear”(STALETOVICH), however that never
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happened thus increasing the damage done to the reefs. Environmental inspectors observed the

coral after construction was completed. A group of Environmentalists sued the U.S Army, since

they managed the project, to repair the damaged coral and sea grass. A major reason why the

coral was damaged is because “more than five million cubic yards of mud, rock and sand was

barged to an offshore dump site “(STALETOVICH), which clouded water and damaged marine

life. As Port Miami completed state and federal regulators found that far more damage was done

then expected. Governor Rick Scott should step in and demand something be done.

Many violations were issued to the U.S Army and great Lakes dredge and Dock, who

contracted the port, however no repercussions were brought up from it. State divers found Coral

buried and dying from the construction as well as leaky barges. The Corps reportedly covered

damage “four times the area allowed in its permit” (STALETOVICH). The Fisheries Service, an

office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration”(NOAA), has asked the

Miami Dade government and the U.S. Army to specify how much marine life was damaged and

what can we do to repair it. However, it seems as if they pick and choose certain data to make it

seem like the damage done was far less then the actual damage (Staletovich), “They’re claiming,

‘We don’t know what this area looked like before the dredging, so we don’t know what’s natural

and what’s dredging,’” said Rachel Silverstein, the executive director of Miami Waterkeeper, a

group that urged and fought for better monitoring of the reefs. She states that “There’s many

ways to tell whether it’s dredging.” Something needs to be done to protect the marine life and the

damaged coral reefs.

Coral reef lay the foundation for many different species of fish. Reef fish feed about 30

and 40 million people every year. Coral are essential in controlling how much carbon dioxide is

in the ocean water. They also make great pets, diversify our world, and people make a living off
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catching and selling these animals. Their most important function is protecting coasts from

strong currents and waves (Importance of Coral Reefs). Without the reefs fish are left homeless,

people are left hungry and unable to make a living, the carbon dioxide levels in the ocean would

drastically rise thus affecting all living things on earth. Also waves and currents would terrorize

our coasts. Coral reefs have many purposes and destroying them for any reason has negative

impacts that would be felt worldwide. For these reasons and many more we should all see how

this is effects us personally and as a community and want to make a change.

The best and most effective way to repair the coral is to transfer the damaged coral to

coral reef nurseries, also known as coral restoration. How it works is “broken bits of coral

collected from the sea floor are incubated on the metal-and-rope moorings”(Marsa), where they

grow like any other plant. It takes about a year or two until they are ready to be transplanted into

the wild. Once a healthy coral is transplanted it forms hundreds of clusters. It is a relatively new

advancement in marine biology, one or two students tinkered with the idea in the 1980s, and the

first serious attempts came in the mid-1990s out of marine biologist Baruch "Buki" Rinkevich's

lab at the University of Haifa in Israel. It began when he went to check on some underwater fish

cages in the Red Sea and noticed that a few Acropora corals had grown around them. Curious, he

set up an experiment to track growth and see how many would die in a nursery over a year and to

his surprise he had 100% survival rate(Vance). However to preform this we need the help of

Governor Rick Scott, to find room in the budget, approve and facilitate the coral restoration.
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Works Cited

Marsa, Linda. "How to Fix a Coral Reef." TakePart. N.p., 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.

"Miami Port Dredging Damaging Sea Life, State Inspectors Say."Miamiherald. Miami Dade

County, 11 Nov. 2015. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

STALETOVICH, Jenny. "PortMiami Dredge Finally Done but Questions Remain about Reef

Damage." Miamiherald. Miami Dade County, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

Vance, Eric. "Can Coral Nurseries Bring Reefs Back from the Brink?" Scientific American. N.p.,

14 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.

NOAA. "Our Mission." NOAA FISHERIES. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016