Mooring buoys to protect precious coral reefs
by Lee Mylchreest on 21 Oct 2012
Sailing boats on moorings in Bonaire, Caribbean. 60 have been installed to protect the sea floor SW
Mooring buoys are being acknowledged around the world as the best way to preserve our coral and sealife in popular sailing and anchoring areas. Now another Florida area is moving to copy the world trend. Is the coral in your precious cruising grounds similarly protected? Or are sailors still destroying the coral with every sinking anchor?
28 new mooring buoys are about to be installed on reefs in Florida from Boca Raton to Juno Beach.
'Our reefs have enough challenges without anchor damage,' said Janet Phipps, a coral reef ecologist with Palm Beach County’s Department of Environmental Resources Management. 'Anchors destroy corals that require hundreds of years to grow.'
The white buoys with a blue stripe on them will have a thick line attached to them with a loop on the end. Sailors then run their bow line through the loop and tie off to the bow cleat.
Funding for the new buoys came from Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and from boat registration fees.
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