Sombrero Reef (FL Keys) is dead?

[mattfish]

On July 20th, CRF teams visited Sombrero Reef, a restoration site we've been working at for over a decade. What we found was unimaginable — 100% coral mortality

From an article over at CBS

I’m dreading what the reefs off the Keys will look like by the end of August.

 

[Johnoly]

Well to be fair,,,,CRF is slightly biased and several members wanted to stop divers from diving in the ocean. So they aren't exactly friendly to us.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

However.. these ocean temps are not typical of this time of year. The warm came at least a month early. Am seeing bleaching in Broward.
Photo of bleached maze coral, July 8, off Hollywood Beach

 

[mattfish]

It’s gotten worse already: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/us/florida-ocean-heat-coral-bleaching-climate/index.html

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

It’s gotten worse already: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/us/florida-ocean-heat-coral-bleaching-climate/index.html

Cannot Like.

These ocean temps are a month - 6 weeks early this year. We've had light west winds since mid June which is warming up the near shore areas. The cooler, deeper water is not being pushed in by the trade winds.

Only sliver of good news.. the Saharan dust which is atop us right now is inhibiting storms from forming.. even though as I type there are two small storms in the Atlantic with less than 10% chance of developing.

 

[Eric802]

"100% mortality" is a little heavy-handed, I think. Bleaching is by no means good, but it's also not necessarily a death sentence for the coral.

I'm sure one of our resident marine biologists will chime in.

 

[mattfish]

Thank you for sharing your direct observation @Scuba_Jenny

To some of the comments about the CRF exaggerating: I had hoped that they were too, but I’m seeing enough of these reports from multiple sources, including including first-hand, that have all said the same thing. Coral is very badly bleached and in many places dead already. Even if they all were exaggerating for the clicks, we still have 6-8 more weeks of these high temps (or higher). I don’t see how the corals will survive this.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

The ONLY way the corals will survive is if the winds shift back to coming from the east and that cooler water gets pumped in. A drop in air temps would be helpful. And a few early cold fronts too.

BleachWatch Report Form

Submit reports of coral bleaching and/or coral disease observed in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, or Martin counties to BleachWatch

survey123.arcgis.com

is form to fill out for bleaching. If you are diving and notice bleaching in SE Florida plesase submit a report.
I'm seeing white band disease of staghorn corals. Very sad..

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Thank you for sharing your direct observation @Scuba_Jenny

To some of the comments about the CRF exaggerating: I had hoped that they were too, but I’m seeing enough of these reports from multiple sources, including including first-hand, that have all said the same thing. Coral is very badly bleached and in many places dead already. Even if they all were exaggerating for the clicks, we still have 6-8 more weeks of these high temps (or higher). I don’t see how the corals will survive this.

I doubt they are dead yet.. Some of the more fragile varieties could be.. but since the bleaching just really started in the past couple weeks, the corals can hang on, though stressed.... just not too long..

 

[Here There be Lobsters]

We’ve even been seeing soft corals and fire coral bleaching in the upper, middle, and lower Keys. Lobsters are shifting out of their usual spots to cooler waters, but I talked to a research team the other week and they saw many dead lobsters on one of their dives.