SEAFAN and SCTLD

 Today we went snorkeling at Hens and Chickens reef and I saw something interesting. One of the pieces of coral had a tag on it that made me wonder what it was for. after some research I learned it was for the Southeast Florida Action Network (SEAFAN) and citizen science. SEAFAN uses these tags to track the affects and progression of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). Anyone why sees these tags can take pictures of the coral and add them here in order to help the their ongoing research. You can find these tags on coral on many reefs in the Florida Keys. This coral I saw today had SCTLD and the tissue loss is visibly significant. SCTLD causes the affected coral to lose tissue and lie quickly.

SEAFAN also has projects to report and track other marine incidents and coral bleaching. Coral bleaching is also important to track though it is different from SCTLD because the coral is not yet dead when it is bleached. Other marine incidents that are reported can include fish disease, anchor damage, vessel grounding, algal blooms, derelict traps, and most significantly, marine debris. SEAFAN is helping monitor all these events from the St. Lucia Inlet all the way down the Florida Keys and anyone can help. Anyone who sees these events form those who just enjoy a day at the beach to researchers and even us students can report them and help the conservation and restoration of the coral reefs around Florida. If you want to learn more about SEAFAN and previous incidents reported click here.