Major Milestone Reached As 9,000 Coral Babies Are Transferred To Restoration Partners

Florida’s investment in coral reef restoration reached a major milestone as The Florida Aquarium successfully transferred 9,000 juvenile corals to restoration partners Reef Renewal USA and The Reef Institute. This marks one of the largest statewide deployments of land-grown coral babies under the Florida’s Coral Reef Restoration and Recovery (FCR3) Initiative.

The corals — born and raised at The Florida Aquarium’s Coral Conservation and Research Center — are part of the state’s FCR3 Initiative, led by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The effort marks a critical step toward large-scale reef recovery and the long-term goal of restoring at least 25 percent of Florida’s coral reef by 2050. The initial phase of the initiative focused on increasing infrastructure for coral breeding and raising coral offspring on land in addition to training a workforce to scale coral production for reef restoration.

“This moment shows what’s possible when long-term state investment, science and collaboration come together,” said Keri O’Neil, Coral Conservation Program director at The Florida Aquarium. “Coral reefs are vital to Florida’s economy, tourism and marine life. These corals began as microscopic larvae here in Apollo Beach. Now, they’re on their way to our partners for further growth on land and, ultimately, Florida’s reefs — where they’ll help replenish coral populations that were heavily impacted by stony coral tissue loss disease. Thanks to the FCR3 Initiative, we now have a functional pipeline to scale coral breeding efforts and get these corals back to the reef.”

During the transfer, biologists carefully packed and transported corals from the 2024 and 2025 spawning seasons, including great star corals, boulder brain corals, symmetrical brain corals and grooved brain corals.

The Reef Institute received approximately 4,500 coral babies, which will continue growing at its new 23,000-square-foot, land-based facility in West Palm Beach before being outplanted onto reefs in Palm Beach and Martin counties.

Reef Renewal USA received its first group of corals in December 2025 and just received an additional 4,000 7-month-old grooved brain corals produced during the 2025 spawning season. These corals will continue growing at the organization’s landbased coral production nursery in Ruskin before being outplanted onto reefs throughout the Florida Keys over the next year.

“Scaling restoration is essential to keeping pace with the challenges facing Florida’s reefs,” said Martha Campbell, operations manager at Reef Renewal USA. “FCR3 funding allows us to bridge the gap between coral spawning and reef restoration by growing corals to a size where they are more likely to survive and contribute to reef recovery. This partnership helps turn science into measurable, real-world impact.”