Two South Florida Republicans are leading the charge on Capitol Hill to reauthorize the “Coral Reef Conservation Act" originally passed in 2000.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen brought out the “Conserving Our Reefs And Livelihoods (CORAL) Act" last week with fellow South Florida Republican Carlos Curbelo as well as Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen from American Samoa and Pedro Pierluisi from Puerto Rico as co-sponsors.
Ros-Lehtinen’s office noted “South Florida is home to the third largest barrier reef in the world, but coral cover has declined on the Florida Reef Tract and on many other Caribbean reefs by up to 80 percent since the 1980s” and insisted the bill would help restoration efforts.
"I authored the CORAL Act and am proud to introduce it along with my friend, Carlos, to begin to solve these largescale and long-term problems and develop effective solutions that improve our coastal environment and buoy our local economy through better fishing, diving, snorkeling, other recreational opportunities, and tourism,” Ros-Lehtinen said on Thursday. “Our community faces a stark choice: we can continue to view sea level rise and ocean change as insurmountable threats that will engulf our livelihoods, or we can focus on the opportunity that South Florida has to revitalize our coral reefs, our coastal economy, and our unique, seaside lifestyle by meeting these challenges head on. My CORAL Act charts a course to tackle the real problems impacting our reefs and incentivizes research to develop the cutting edge techniques and tools that will be needed to restore our coral reefs for the benefit of generations of South Floridians to come.”
“Amidst significant disease outbreaks, coupled with coral bleaching events, the health of our coral reef ecosystems are being threatened on a constant basis,” Curbelo said. “Rising sea levels are only amplifying these complications and continue to impose a threat to South Florida’s community and way of life. The CORAL Act works to build upon and amend the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 by restoring our coral reefs through revitalization projects. I am proud to co-sponsor this legislation with my friend and colleague Rep. Ros-Lehtinen. This bill serves as an excellent catalyst to ensuring the safety of our South Florida aquatic plants and animals.”
The bill has the backing of the American Sportfishing Association, the Center for Coastal Conservation, the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, the Florida Aquarium, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the National Marine Manufacturers Association and SeaWorld.
