On February 2, 1998 a severe winter gale struck the Florida Keys. The wind direction positioned the fragile Elkhorn coral, growing in the northwest sector of Western Sambo reef, directly in the path of the storm.

 

West End, facing North

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{The following portion of this report was presented at Reef Relief’s l998 Annual Membership Meeting}

A positive, direct action coral reef restoration project was initiated after the “Ground Hog Day Storm” of February 2, l998. The following summer, a hurricane and a tropical storm slammed into Key West reefs, pulverizing many areas of shallow Elkhorn coral including the coral nursery. A large part of the Coral Nursery Project revolves around the community interest in seeing damaged coral restored. The storm event was a wonderful opportunity to present educational material to a public excited to see that these efforts could be carried out by members of their own community.

Perceived as a threat to tourism in the Keys, many people in the dive industry were bitter when storm-damaged coral became a front page story in Key West newspapers and Miami TV news stations. It was not considered to be in the best interests of the Keys tourist industry to suggest that the coral reef might be damaged. Emergency advertising funds were spent by the Monroe County Tourist Development Counsel to spread the claim that the “diving seems better after hurricane Georges.” With honest advertising, storm events can open the door to Eco-tourism in the dive industry. Counting fish or broken corals, mapping, taking pictures and video recording can be done by recreational divers eager to participate in volunteer projects. The data collected could be of great value to researchers and coral reef managers.