From Miami to Australia—Dredging and industrial activities killing coral reefs

Erica Cirino of National Geographic writes: In the Port of Miami, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ recent dredging project has buried as much as 81 percent of the area’s reef in silty sediment with up to 95 percent of the reef area surveyed no longer suitable habitat for corals, leaving its corals vulnerable to death, according to new research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service. And half a world away in Australia, coral that’s bleaching at an unprecedented rate now faces a new threat: a major coal mining project on the Queensland coast. Read full article here.