For more information:

NOAA Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

United States Coral Reef Task Force

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science

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Counting the Fish in the Sea

Scientists are diving in the Florida Keys with the ambitious goal of estimating the number of fish and marine animals on the Keys' coral reefs. The month-long count will include more 2,500 scientific dives, in an effort to evaluate the relative health of the Keys' coral reef ecosystem. Steven Smith is a research scientist on the ecosystem project...

A Marine Census for the Florida Keys

Scientists are in the midst of an ambitious project to get a census snapshot of the marine life in the Florida Keys. They're doing this with a series of thousands of dives to literally count all the fish and marine animals that divers can lay their eyes on. Research scientist Steve Smith describes the process...

How Healthy are Florida's Coral Reefs?

Evaluating the health of the Florida Keys' coral reef ecosystem is one of the goals of a survey project now underway that has divers literally counting the fish and marine animals they see. Research scientist Steven Smith says while many studies are limited to fish with commercial or economic value, the present survey is much greater...

Evaluating Marine Reserves

Five years ago, the federal government gave some innovative protection to parts of the coral reef in the Florida Keys, hoping to protect fish and marine life there. Whether these marine reserves are working is one of the questions scientists hope to answer with a marine life survey that's underway right now. Steven Smith is one of the research scientists...

Mixed News for Florida's Coral Reefs

It's too early to say what scientists will conclude about a month-long effort to count the marine life in the Florida Keys. Research Scientist Steve Smith is also a diver on the project, and has participated in some of the 2,500 scientific dives being made as part of the coral reef survey...