Our History
The Reef Institute was founded in 2015 by two veterinarians as Healthy Aquatics Marine Institute of Florida. The two veterinarians had a goal of improving ocean health while teaching students to care about their environment. In 2018 Healthy Aquatics changed its name and identity to The Reef Institute. It was a natural change since the decision had already been made to move the organization towards a mission of coral conservation through education, research and restoration. It was also during this time the Environmental Protection Agency’s Stewardship Continuum was adopted for all programming in order to ensure The Reef Institute’s efforts would be effective and sustainable.
Today research and education work in partnership to both grow better stewards of the ocean while taking a distinct action to save our seas. Our staff scientists direct our research department in endeavors to work towards protection and growth of Caribbean coral in the North Florida Reef Tract. Our education department has grown from humble beginnings of reaching a few hundred students primarily through field trips to reaching almost 9,000 students annually.
The disease has now spread over the entire Florida reef systems, but The Reef Institute is part of the collaboration with government agencies, research labs, and public aquariums to mitigate the tragic effects of SCTLD and be ready to rebuild the reefs in the future.
Our Philosophy of Engagement:
The Florida Reef Tract (FRT) is the largest coral reef ecosystem in the continental US. Its extensive shallow coral reefs spans roughly 360 miles from the Dry Tortugas near Key West, to the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County. It is estimated that more than 1,400 DIFFERENT species of marine plants and animals, including more than 40 species of stony corals and 500 species of fish live on our Florida reefs. NOAA estimates there may be between 1 to 8 MILLION undiscovered species living in and around reefs worldwide. Additionally, in Florida our reef system creates a much needed barrier against the ever rising rough seas. For this reason and so many more we are committed to creating stewards to ensure the future health of our Florida Reef Tract. In an effort to help grow better stewards of our oceans, the Reef Institute relates all programming, education and research back to the EPA’s Stewardship Continuum. Beginning at the awareness level with basic outreach events and ending with stewards gaining a clear understanding of how they can play a role in marine conservation. We focus on three main areas: environmental sensitivity + scientific skills = oceanic stewards.
SENSITIVITY
• Awareness - The Reef Institute works with local governments, schools, and partners to create meaningful outreach events and field trips for the public to gain understanding and awareness of our Florida Reef Tract.
• Knowledge - Through distance learning, students from all over the world can interact directly with our Marine Biologists, Scientists, and Marine Veterinarian to learn about the importance of the Florida Reef Tract to the global community. Outdoor classrooms allow for students to experience the Florida Reef Tract. Citizen Science at Peanut Island helps students see what their efforts can do to save the ocean at large.
SKILLS
• Critical Thinking - With current threats to our Florida Reef Tract, The Reef Institute focuses education on gaining critical thinking and skills by infusing Next Gen Standard curriculum with Social and Emotional Learning.
•Problem Solving - The Reef Institute utilizes a student-centered approach for in which K-12th grade students learn about a subject by working in groups to solve an open-ended problem, which motivates them and drives learning
•Decision Making - Interns work in our Peanut Island monitoring project to help check on the health of our local coral. Use marine science as a backdrop to teach leadership skills.
STEWARDS
•Action - The key to the survival of our Florida Reef Tract is to ensure marine scientists take action in the face of disaster. Our scientists are working on several research projects, including the spawning and seed banking of Caribbean coral.
• Stewardship - If there’s a will, there’s a wave. Through all of The Reef Institute’s programming and efforts, our greatest hope is to prepare the next generation to be stewards with an internal drive to continue to learn and utilize their skills.
Peanut Island Initiative
In 1918 “spoil” from dredging of what was then known as the Lake Worth inlet was deposited onto a shoal from the old inlet, and Peanut Island was born. Originally called “Hood Island,” it became an immediate sensation with local picnickers who would arrive by boat. One form of oral history dictates the island got its modern name when county commissioner, Gus Jordahn declared the island was not “worth peanuts.” In 2005, the island was renovated, and an artificial reef was created. Artificial reefs are man-made underwater structures to promote marine life. Peanut Island has since become a well known tourist destination for snorkelers because of its shallow artificial reefs attracting a wide array of high biodiversity. The Coral Monitoring Project on Peanut Island began in the summer of 2018 as a way to help High School students understand what a career in marine science looked like. Through these endeavors it was discovered that healthy coral was growing at the island, in an area heavy in tourism. From this discovery a full research project was launched, studying the health of coral in local waters. This initiative was approved by Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management to be carried out by Reef Institute interns with Palm Beach State College Environmental Studies, Palm Beach Atlantic University and local High School students. Since that time high school interns have taken the lead in our research projects at Peanut Island. Citizen Science projects allow students to see our monitoring in action and participate in the work of marine scientists. In this method we use marine science to teach leadership skills like: Stewardship, Conservation, Integrity, Slowing Down and Paying Attention, Team Building, Communication, and Conflict Resolution. We have now identified 12 different species of coral and tagged over 50 individual corals and counting! Data is being collected on a monthly basis on each species, survival, growth, color, skeletal condition, etc., to find out information on their survivorship and resilience. As interns and marine biologists collect the data, The Reef Institute is analyzing resiliency of Palm Beach County coral vs that we have brought in house to seed bank from less ideal environments in Broward and Miami.