NOAA: PortMiami dredging project severely damaged coral reef

A report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) concluded that the dredging at the Port of Miami caused damage to the area’s coral reef.

   A report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) concluded that the dredging at the Port of Miami caused damage to the area’s coral reef, according to the New York Times.
   The $220 million dredging project to deepen PortMiami Harbor to 50 feet was completed in September 2015, giving the port the ability to handle post-Panamax vessels.
   Although the project is beneficial for trade, NOAA’s report, which was based on a December survey undertaken by scientists for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, revealed that up to 81 percent of the reef near the dredging site was buried in sediment.
   NOAA’s analysis contradicts a December report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which primarily blamed the coral damage to white plague, a virus that bleaches and kills coral, the New York Times said. According to the Corps’ report from December, white plague was responsible for 85 percent of the coral deaths in the upper and middle parts of the reef and in the control site, along with 18.3 percent of the deaths closer to the shore.
   However, it did not shine light on how 93 percent of the corals closer to the dredging site had partially died due to the sediment, Nonprofit Environmental Organization Miami Waterkeeper Executive Director Rachel Silverstein said.
   The coral reef in South Florida, which is the only coral reef in the continental U.S., has also been damaged by a variety of other factors including ocean temperatures that have fallen too low or risen too high, acidification, sewage and pollution.
   Meanwhile, environmentalists are concerned over how the potential dredging project at Port Everglades will harm coral. That project was cleared by the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last week as part of a larger water resource bill that is now headed to the Senate floor for a full vote.