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Goreau Testimony Regarding Broward County Dredging Project Testimony by Thomas J. Goreau, Ph.D., President, Global Coral Reef Alliance to Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet Members of the Board of Trustees for the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, for the May 13 2003 hearing on the Broward County beach dredge and fill project. My name is Tom Goreau, President of the Global Coral Reef Alliance, a non-profit organization trying to protect the world's coral reefs from disappearing, and developing new ways to restore and manage them. I'm very sorry that I can't come personally to this important hearing to speak to Governor Bush and the Cabinet of the State of Florida about the plan to dredge-fill the beach right next to the best remaining nearshore reefs in Florida. Unfortunately I am tied up restoring damaged reefs in other parts of the world. As I am the only coral reef scientist who has ever written a report describing and assessing the unique conditions of the Broward County Inshore Reef, my comments are uniquely relevant to this issue. The Broward County Inshore Reef is the single most important coral reef conservation issue in the entire United States at this time. It is the only healthy coral reef left in North America that you can swim to from the beach. I travel all around the world working on protecting coral reefs, but I was astonished when I saw the healthy condition of the Broward County Inshore Reef. This reef lies right in front of downtown Fort Lauderdale and is way north of where the last real coral reefs were known to exist by scientists. There are many remarkable things about this reef. First, it has extremely high live coral cover, 30 or 40 percent, and this stretch runs for miles on the nearest ridge in close to the beach. Second, it has fields of huge heads of ancient corals that are 500 to a thousand years old. There are not many of these left anywhere in the Caribbean. Third, this reef has the largest forest of beautiful staghorn coral that I know of remaining anywhere in the Caribbean region. This used to be one of the most common corals in the whole area and it's virtually extinct everywhere now. Fourth, the reef is densely packed with fish, more than I now see anywhere else in the Caribbean. This reef is the last place along the coastline where the baby fish that are being carried out of the Caribbean region by the Gulf Stream can find good reef habitat to settle and grow. So it's just full of incredibly beautiful fish. There is no finer place for our children to see and learn about the wonders of coral reefs, because it is so shallow and accessible. It's not only a very remarkable place; it is the last one of its kind left. There used to be reef just like this all up and down the southeast coast of Florida, but all of the rest of them were killed after the beaches were filled in with dredged material, and the mud was resuspended by waves and washed out onto the corals and killed them. Only a handful of the oldest divers now remember how these lost paradises used to look, and they could cry when they remember how they were smothered in sediment from dredge-filled beaches. The reef in front of Fort Lauderdale survived because it was the only place where they had not already filled in the beach with dredge material. Because it has a live reef to protect it, the beach is not eroding in Fort Lauderdale, as it is everywhere else in Broward, Palm Beach, and Dade Counties where the reefs were killed by dredge material from the beaches. This has caused even more erosion and led to a never-ending cycle of dredge-filling the beaches and watching them vanish again. I have personally watched coral reefs around the world killed by dredging, starting with the reef I learned to swim in 50 years ago. The staghorn corals, which begin only about 150 yards from the beach, are the most sediment-sensitive of all the Caribbean coral species. This branching species provides the best habitat for fish because it is full of places to hide, but it is now almost extinct throughout the Caribbean. This is the largest and best staghorn forest remaining anywhere, to my knowledge. They are so sensitive to sediment that they will definitely be killed if that beach is filled in. Please don't allow this to happen to your last remaining healthy nearshore reef. The Broward County Inshore Reef is like the last Giant Redwood forests. It's a truly remarkable place: a real National Treasure. Florida is blessed to have an incredible reef like this that you can swim to right from the beach in front of a major urban area! There is hardly anything like this left anywhere in the world, so I hope you have seen the amazing video of this reef bursting with life, or better yet in person. Why would anyone who has seen this beauty want to destroy it? I urge you to do everything you can to stop this senseless and pointless dredging project. It's not needed because the beach in Segment II is not eroding. It will kill a reef that brings in billions of dollars a year of boating, fishing, diving, and snorkelling income to Broward County, and it will destroy a unique national treasure as surely as sending arsonists into the last Giant Redwood groves. This ancient reef deserves the very strongest protection and I beg you, Governor Bush and the Cabinet of the State of Florida, to save it forever for our children and our grandchildren. No one else will ever have another chance like this to save a priceless national treasure like this last good nearshore reef if you fail to do so. There will be no place for our descendants to see these marvels if you don't act responsibly. Please provide real leadership on this issue and reject this irresponsible, economically and environmentally destructive proposal, as your legacy for future generations. Thank you Dr. Thomas J. Goreau President Global Coral Reef Alliance |
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