Pollution, Ships Harm Fla. Coral Reefs

Tim Keeney, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for oceans and atmosphere and a key high-level figure within the National Oceanic and Atmopsheric Administration, checks out one of the approximately two million old tires that were dumped in the 1970s with the intent of creating an artificial reef as he scuba dives Thursday, June 14, 2007, off the shore of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Keeney and other officials got a firsthand look at reef damage, repair and recovery efforts in the area. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) (Wilfredo Lee - AP)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Just below the sea's surface off Florida's southeast coast lies a virtual gold mine. It's not sunken treasure or some Spanish galleon but instead nature's bounty, rows of coral reefs that generate billions of dollars a year in tourism spending.

But pollution, warming waters from climate change, commercial fishing, development and ship groundings are putting that at risk. There have been 12 major ship groundings on reefs outside Port Everglades, just south of Fort Lauderdale, since 1993. That's the most in the country. The port has three parallel reefs off its shore and narrow channels and tight spots for maneuvering and anchoring among them.

With 84 percent of the nation's coral reefs located in Florida, officials are moving quickly to develop ways to protect them.

On Thursday, Tim Keeney, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary for oceans and atmosphere and a key high-level figure within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, got a firsthand look at reef damage, repair and recovery efforts.

"Just gorgeous. That's impressive," said Michael Sole, Florida's environmental chief, who joined Keeney. He had just returned to the boat after scuba diving off Fort Lauderdale. He viewed elkhorn and staghorn coral, recently listed as endangered species.

Sole said Florida is among the nation's leader in reef research intended to protect and restore damaged and dying coral along its 1,350 miles of coastline.

"Taking appropriate measures to improve our understanding is key because you can't manage what you don't understand," he said. "Our ocean resources pumps billions of dollars into our economy."

The state is managing underwater nurseries to grow coral that will be transplanted onto natural reefs, seeking to end the pumping of treated wastewater into the ocean and plowing ahead with research into artificial reefs.

Florida is also spending $2 million on a project to remove some 700,000 old tires from the ocean floor off Fort Lauderdale that were dumped there in the 1970s with the intent of creating an artificial reef. It didn't work, and now the tires are scouring the ocean floor and wedging against the natural reef, killing coral.

The project began last week with divers from the U.S. Army, Navy and Coast Guard cleaning up the mess.

"The first thing you think when you see it is these things don't belong here. It's a wasteland," Keeney said after spending about a half-hour underwater surveying the tires.

Coral reefs around the world are being destroyed by commercial fishing, development, pollution and warming waters, prompting some scientists to warn that up to half of these marine ecosystems could disappear by 2045.