The Florida Aquarium Unveils New State-of-the-Art Coral Conservation & Research Center

Tampa, FL (March 22, 2024) – The Florida Aquarium, a world renowned leader in coral reproduction and restoration, officially opened a new 4,200 square-foot expansion of its Coral Conservation and Research Center in Apollo Beach today.

During a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning, dignitaries, partners, and stakeholders from across the state joined the celebration, highlighting the Aquarium’s unwavering dedication to advancing critical coral conservation efforts.

The Florida Aquarium’s innovative Coral Conservation Program has made international headlines with its reproductive breakthroughs, including:

• Making scientific history spawning Atlantic pillar coral in a lab setting for the first time:
  Scientific Breakthrough at Florida Aquarium Could Save Florida’s Endangered Coral Reefs | CBS News
• Being the first in world to reproduce ridged cactus coral in human care:
  The Florida Aquarium just made a breakthrough that will help save the third largest coral reef in the world | CNN
• Successfully spawning elkhorn coral that produced offspring in a lab setting:
  Scientists make major breakthrough in race to save Caribbean coral | CNN

The expansion nearly doubles the current facility and is a pivotal step for the Aquarium’s acclaimed coral restoration and research work. This addition holds added significance in the wake of the detrimental impact of last summer’s record-breaking warm ocean temperatures that resulted in the bleaching and mortality of corals along Florida’s Coral Reef.

“Florida’s coral reefs are essential to our health, our economy and marine wildlife and over the past several decades, they have been in decline. With this state-of-the-art facility, we are significantly increasing our restoration impact and providing hope for recreating a thriving reef,” said Roger Germann, President & CEO of The Florida Aquarium. “Thanks to the support from our partners at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we are bolstering our efforts to address the urgent threats facing our oceans’ ecosystems and rapidly declining coral populations.”

The new area provides space beyond the Aquarium’s existing coral greenhouses and spawning laboratories, now with a combined 9,000 total square feet. The facility opened on the Apollo Beach campus in 2016 and is dedicated to preserving, breeding and rearing corals facing the risk of extinction in the wild.

>> DOWNLOAD BROADCAST-QUALITY VIDEO AND PHOTOS OF THE EXPANDED CORAL COMPLEX+ INTERVIEWS WITH REPRESENTATIVES <<

“Here, we will be able to expand our work to protect and reproduce a greater diversity of corals and produce thousands more coral offspring each year. Our ability to not only protect the corals in our care, but also to spawn them and rear thousands of babies with new and unique genetic combinations, is more important than ever given the threats these animals are facing in the wild,” said Keri O’Neil, The Florida Aquarium’s senior scientist and coral conservation program director.

The center is home to the largest living collection of Atlantic pillar corals in the world. The species is rapidly declining in the wild due to disease and the Aquarium is the only organization able to spawn and raise this threatened coral to prevent extinction. Partners believe the expanded center is a hopeful step in the right direction in the statewide effort to ensure Florida’s corals survive.

“Infrastructure dedicated to coral propagation and rearing is a major limiting factor to scaling up coral restoration efforts in the state,” said Gil McRae, Director, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. “The expansion of The Florida Aquarium’s Coral Conservation & Research Center, in partnership with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, will significantly increase the number of corals produced and outplanted along Florida’s Coral Reef.”

This year, biologists are working on breeding the next generation of resilient corals, reaffirming their dedication to pioneering solutions in marine conservation. It is estimated that Florida’s coral reefs have an $8 billion value and support 70,000+ jobs.

“This is something all Floridians should care about,“ said Toby Overdorf, Florida Representative, House District 85. “Without healthy corals, the reefs will no longer provide areas for recreation and tourism, habitat for seafood or coastal protection to beaches our state relies upon. The Florida Aquarium’s work is making a significant difference.”

Highlights from The Florida Aquarium’s recent coral restoration and reproductive efforts:

• Elkhorn coral was severely impacted by the 2023 marine heat wave. Before it was lost in the wild, biologists added more fragments to The Aquarium’s breeding program.
• The Aquarium’s experts joined the Heat Response Team in the Keys this past summer, an unprecedented, international mobilization aiding in the care of 5,000 temporarily relocated corals.
• The Florida Aquarium completed its fifth successful year of spawning at the facility, producing millions of coral babies in the laboratory.

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Contact The Florida Aquarium communications@flaquarium.org