2022-2023 SE FL ECA Reef-building-coral Disease Intervention and Preparation for Restoration

To ensure the survival of priority coral colonies in southeast Florida, monitoring and intervention techniques have been applied to pre-identified large corals as necessary to maintain their health. This year had two months with the highest number of treatments and treated corals in the four years of this work. Of the 107 monitored corals between July 1 and May 31, 2023, a total of 455 antibiotic ointment treatments were conducted on 55 colonies with a 75.4% effectiveness on lesions. Monitoring efforts are also being used to support future restoration activities, treat additional diseased colonies, and apply novel intervention techniques when appropriate. As of June 15, 2023, a total of 1,451 colonies were treated by the coral disease interventions strike teams in the Coral ECA since 2018. In addition, three newly identified recon sites we discovered including the largest patch of yellow finger coral ever reported anywhere, and two rare large bolder star coral colonies, one in a patch of dense corals.