(환경)전세계의 산호초를 구하라
(환경)전세계의 산호초를 구하라
And can the world’s dying coral be rescued?
Elian Kihano dives into a bold experiment
that just might save the reefs!
“I get real excited, and I can't wait to see what it looks like in five more years.”
A new report this week says climate change
could damage 70 percent of the world's coral by the year 2030.
It's a problem here in Florida.
So we sent Elian Kihano to meet a man who has pieced together
a way to save the reefs.
Marine biologist Ken Nedimyer sounds like a proud parent
when he talks about coral,
the tiny organisms living on limestone석회암
that he's growing off the coast of Florida.
"Especially when they start getting big, and they're spawning and there's fish living inside them,
I get real excited, I think that’s great I am thinking,
you know, can't wait to see what it looks like in five more years."
Over the last decade, Nedimyer and a small team
have developed new techniques to grow and replace coral damaged by environmental changes.
We dove 30 feet below the surface with him to see how he does it!
Because of disease, pollution and warming ocean temperatures,
coral coverage in Florida has decreased
from about 50 percent 30 years ago to 7 percent today.
“What happens if the reefs die off here?
The tourism collapses,
you know the whole economy of the Florida Keys changes, and the whole ecosystem just degrades."
Nedimyer’s solution is to remove pieces from healthy coral,
then, using a waterproof adhesive접착제,
he mounts them onto concrete slabs or hooks평판 또는 걸이
where they grow until they are ready for transplant이식.
"We're starting to transplant Elkhorn coral
out to the reef, which is a very exciting coral, the coral us is no other coral like it in the world."
"The Elkhorn coral forms these huge massive barrier reefs보초 on the outside, and they like waves smashing on them.
If we don't have them, taking the brunt예봉 of those waves, then your beachfront house is going to take the brunt of those waves."
Nedimyer recently received permission from the government
to plant 50,000 pieces of coral on protected reefs in the Florida Keys.
But he needs money to do that.
His group, the Coral Restoration Foundation,
relies mostly on private donations.
He only has enough money to keep operations running through January.
"I'm not ready to quit, we have a lot to, and we're confident that we'll find some way, somehow to make it happen."
Nedimyer plans to go global, restoring not only Florida's lost coral
but saving coral around the world a small piece at a time.