WEBVTT

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

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Lauderdale bound for the Caribbean.

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Thirty miles south of Miami it strayed from

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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resource managers are searching for
solutions to help the oceans declining

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coral reefs. Can new technologies and
naturally occurring biological

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mechanisms help restore lost coral
communities.

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