Unless the Port of Miami agrees to postpone the work, the Army Corps of Engineers will begin dredging a deep channel on Friday, killing many coral in the process.
The mitiagation process in the original plan saved some coral and moved it to other reefs but it included only a narrow area. Researchers have gone back in to see what was left and realized that the mitagation area was to narrow and that there are thousands of specimins left in the channel where the dredging will take place.
The researchers found much larger colonies of healthy, stony coral than they expected in a busy shipping area. The researcher say that these colonies are important because they show resilience and that study of them could offer insite into saving ailing coral reefs.
The Army Corps of Engineers says they cannot delay the dredging because the contract says that any delays will cost the corps $50,000 to $100,000 a day in fines for construction delays. The Port of Miami needs to wave these fines and allow researchers time to move these vauable corals to safety.
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/us/researchers-race-to-save-coral-before-dredging-starts-in-miami.html?ref=science
