6.2% Coral Cover? Say no More

Elizabeth Jolin
Elizabeth Jolin Director Florida Bay Forever Save Our Waters, a local nonprofit dedicated to preserving the Florida Bay.

NOAA’s Restoration Blueprint was introduced at the Sanctuary Advisory Council’s meeting in August, and the community has been buzzing about it since. The proposal seeks to balance the need to bring our marine environments back to health while still promoting the economies and industries depending on those resources.

Four alternatives were presented, but constituents were invited to comment upon as much or as little of the proposals as they wanted – whether that be a specific reef, certain regulations, or an entire alternative. Alternative 3, the sanctuary’s preferred plan, would result in major changes in terms of expanded boundaries, additional zoning, tighter regulation and a new management plan.

Keys Weekly spoke with environmentalists and stakeholders in affected industries about NOAA’s Restoration Blueprint. Here’s what the community has to say:


6.2% Coral Cover? Say no More

Sarah Fangman, Superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and her dedicated team have been making the rounds to explain, answer questions, and even defend the recently unveiled Restoration Blueprint.

She begins her presentation with these facts:

  • 1 million people visit the Keys every year
  • $4.6 billion tourist dollars fuel the Keys economic engine
  • 2% coral cover is all that remains on our reefs (according to a 2015 study) — and that figure is dropping

These facts tell an astonishing story with a predictably tragic outcome.

Can Regulation Rewrite History?

Yes, regulation rewrites history.

Regulation has changed the way we use lead in our pipes, pesticides, and BPA in cans. Regulation has allowed the recovery of local redfish, snook, and grouper populations. Regulation forced kids to get an education to produce a literate and thinking population.

Yes. Regulation can rewrite history and can change the trajectory of a rapidly declining resource.

We can be realistic about the fact that one law, one protected area, or one closed zone isn’t going to solve all the problems we are currently experiencing.

Some of the biggest assaults on our reefs, seagrass beds and fisheries comes from climate change, coral diseases, hurricanes, nutrient laden run-off, and warming ocean temperatures. These all affect our nearshore coastal resources and are elements we have very little control over.

And yet, an ironclad case can be made for doing what we can to make our resources as resilient as possible and mitigate factors out of our control as well as the physical impact we cause by groundings, anchoring on coral and other sensitive haptitas, and even fishing during the spawning aggregations.

Regulation improves resilience when it is used to protect our resources.

The Restoration Blueprint and the Florida Bay

Increased protections in the National Marine Sanctuary are one piece of a larger preservation and management puzzle that incorporates the Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.

The blueprint doesn’t address Everglades Restoration specifically, but its function is to prepare the Florida Bay for when restoration projects finally do bring benefit to the bay.

The Restoration Blueprint is part of a larger conversation about how we, as Florida Keys residents and visitors, must take action to protect our natural resources… the Restoration Blueprint and all its alternatives, shines a day-glo light on the reality of our fragile ecosystem.

Consensus and Compromise

The Florida Keys is experiencing a paradigm shift caused by a serious decline in the health of our natural resources. Change is painful and almost always inconvenient — but we know that the alternative, in this case, would be worse.

Florida Bay Forever is witnessing and supports a Florida Keys community that is on board with taking action to support compromise for the good of stakeholders, the resource as well as the longevity of a thriving Keys economy.

The Florida Keys is at a tipping point. We are faced with an unprecedented opportunity.

We can get on board with protecting and preserving our resources, or we can continue to bulldoze our fragile ecosystem right out of existence.

  • Elizabeth Jolin

Director Florida Bay Forever Save Our Waters, a local nonprofit dedicated to preserving the Florida Bay.  


Public comments can be submitted in person, online, and by mail through January 31, 2020. To provide online public comment, visit www.regulations.gov and use docket number NOAA-NOS-2019-0094. For more information on the Restoration Blueprint, visit https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/blueprint/.


The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council meeting will have a meeting place on Dec. 10 at 1 p.m. at the Islander Resort, 82100 Overseas Highway, Islamorada. Members will discuss NOAA’s proposed changes to the sanctuary’s boundaries, marine zones, regulations and management plan. The sanctuary has expanded time allotted for oral public comment during the meeting, from 3:30-5 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Speaker signups