In the spring of 2008, an 84 foot
pleasure boat departed from Fort

Lauderdale bound for the Caribbean.

Thirty miles south of Miami it strayed from

marked navigation channels into the
shallow waters of Biscayne National Park.

Suddenly, running at full speed, it
collided with a coral reef near Elliott Key.

Corals, sponges and sea fans were
instantly obliterated as the boats twin

propellers plowed through the reef. The
engines were disabled and the powerless

vessel drifted in the wind until
rounding on a second reef. Here, the wind

and waves rocked the boat on its hull,
shattering the ancient coral mounds and

pounding the reef into rubble. A coral
reef that had taken centuries to grow

was destroyed in just moments. Two and a
half years later, coral researchers and

resource managers are searching for
solutions to help the oceans declining

coral reefs. Can new technologies and
naturally occurring biological

mechanisms help restore lost coral
communities.

And can ecological balance be returned to Florida's coral reefs?