Mission Statement: Dedicated to preserve and protect living coral reef ecosystems through local, regional and global efforts.
201 William St.
P.O. Box 430
Key West, FL 33041
Phone: 305 294 3100
E-mail: reef@bellsouth.net
Web site: www.reefrelief.org
Formed: 1987
Membership Cost: $30 a year
Chapters: Florida, California
Executive Director: DeeVon Quirolo
From the Beach: contributions, 68%; events, 14%; retail, 14%; other, 4%
To the Beach: programs, 92%; administration, 8%
Roots | Past Victories | Present Battles
Roots
In 1987, a group of Key West charter boat captains recognized that every anchor they were tossing overboard was causing permanent and serious damage to the coral reefs. Led by Craig Quirolo, the group installed and maintained more than 100 mooring buoys at major Key West coral reefs. To complement the buoy program, they began using pamphlets, cautionary signs and lectures to educate locals and visitors about how to protect the fragile coral reefs. Reef Relief was born and has spent the last 14 years committed to what Executive Director DeeVon Quirolo calls "representing the interests of the coral polyp."
The success of the Key West programs encouraged Reef Relief to implement buoy installation and education programs elsewhere. Since 1987, Craig Quirolo and his team have transplanted the Key West model to Jamaica, Honduras and the Bahamas. In each case, Reef Relief has worked closely with local communities to gain their support and to discover cooperative solutions that are acceptable to all parties involved. By including the locals and teaching them how everyone benefits from reef conservation, Reef Relief ensures that its programs will keep working long after its team has returned to Key West.
In the early '90s, Reef Relief began wading into the political forum in an effort to protect coral on another front -- water quality. It has been involved -- both directly and as organizers of grassroots campaigns -- in multiple legislative battles throughout the Keys, and its victories have resulted in improved water treatment systems, reductions in phosphate emissions and bans on offshore oil drilling.
After more than a decade of representing the interests of the coral polyp, Reef Relief is still working to protect the reefs and to make people consider the environmental impact of their lifestyles. Quirolo laments, "Fundamentally, our whole society needs to realize that we have been galloping along at an unsustainable pace." Until we do, be thankful that Reef Relief is out there fighting for the reefs.
Past Victories
(1992-1997) Key West Mooring Buoy and Reef Protection Project
Helped protect Key West's coral reefs by installing and maintaining more than 100 mooring buoys at major Key West-area coral reefs
(1991-1994) Jamaica Mooring Buoy and Reef Protection Project
Worked with the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society to install 35 reef-mooring buoys around the reefs of Negril, Jamaica. In subsequent years, Reef Relief returned to train local preservationists to patrol the reefs, maintain the buoys and to help create the Negril Marine Park.
(1999) Spearheaded legal campaign to improve water quality in the Keys
Wrote and obtained passage of a ban on phosphate detergents in the Florida Keys. Served as the organizing force behind grassroots-driven legislation to upgrade Key West and Key Largo's water treatment systems to the highest level of treatment available. Worked to get an EPA designation of Key West's waters as a No Discharge Zone for boater sewage.
Present Battles
Photomonitoring of the coral communities in the Key West Area
Since 1987, Craig Quirolo has monitored the reef growth and health of many coral sites in Key West. This information is shared with leading coral reef scientists, providing them a continuous stream of detailed data that is invaluable in their studies of coral health and has led to the discovery of several new diseases. The survey has been expanded to incorporate coral reefs in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and the Bahamas.
Bahamas Mooring Buoy and Reef Protection Project
Implementing a coral reef conservation plan in Bahamas that includes mooring buoy installations, educational programs, zoning of marine protected areas and implementation of advanced wastewater treatment.
Creation of a Coral Nursery in Key West
Working in conjunction with Dr. Herald Hudson and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Reef Relief has set up an experimental coral nursery that is testing the merits of collecting storm-damaged or ship-damaged coral and nursing it back to health for future reintroduction into coral reefs.
Cuba Coral Reef Project
Reef Relief has worked with Cuban scientists to survey the health of Cuban coral reefs. While the Cuban embargo has prevented the implementation of practical solutions such as buoys, future surveys and on-going information gathering should help Cuban conservation efforts. -- Robert Longnecker
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