Florida's Coral Reef Tract

Florida's Coral Reef runs from the Dry Tortugas to the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County, a span DEP gives as over 350 nautical miles (Florida DEP).

NOAA's Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary states the length as over 350 miles and adds that Florida is the only state in the continental U.S. to have extensive, shallow coral reef formations near its coast (NOAA FKNMS). The two agencies use different units for the same reef, so a figure quoted for Florida's Coral Reef should say which one it follows.

The Keys portion is a true barrier reef. NOAA describes the reefs inside Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary as North America's only coral barrier reef, built in a spur and groove pattern of coral ridges separated by channels with sediment or rubble, with smaller patch reefs between the islands and the outer reef (NOAA). The Florida Keys hold more than 40 species of reef-building coral, including the federally protected staghorn and elkhorn corals, and those corals grow just centimeters per year.

DEP notes that the five counties bordering the reefs are home to over 6 million people, and that the reefs support fisheries and tourism and protect the coastline from storms and flooding (Florida DEP Coral Reef Conservation Program).

Florida's Coral Reef is split between three managers: Florida DEP for the northern reef off Martin, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the National Park Service at Biscayne and Dry Tortugas, and NOAA with the State of Florida in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

DEP's Coral Reef Conservation Program manages the northern section of the reef, from the St. Lucie Inlet to the northern border of Biscayne National Park, known as the Kristin Jacobs Coral Aquatic Preserve (Florida DEP). The program leads the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative, supports Florida's seat on the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, and coordinates the response to vessel groundings and anchor damage in southeast Florida.

Biscayne National Park, within sight of Miami, protects coral reefs in a park that is 95% water (NPS Biscayne). In the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA cooperatively manages the sanctuary in the areas that intersect the State of Florida boundary, which NOAA puts at just over one-half of the 4,539 square miles (NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries). FWC's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute publishes the state's overview of stony coral tissue loss disease (FWC FWRI).

Florida's Coral Reef is in deep decline: NOAA Fisheries says nearly 90 percent of the live corals that once dominated the Florida Keys reefs have been lost over the last 40 years (NOAA Fisheries).

FWC says stony coral tissue loss disease has affected nearly 90% of Florida's Coral Reef, over 109,700 acres, and remains active. Beginning in fall 2014, an outbreak of the previously undescribed stony coral tissue loss disease was identified near Virginia Key, Miami. By 2017 the disease had reached the northern end of the reef in Martin County, and by late spring 2021 it had reached Dry Tortugas National Park (FWC FWRI). FWC says over 20 of the approximately 45 species of Florida's stony corals are susceptible, and that the outbreak showed no seasonal pause and continued through Hurricane Irma.

Heat followed disease. NOAA Fisheries calls 2023 Florida's severe coral bleaching event, and a 2024 assessment of corals planted out by restoration teams found that fewer than 22 percent of staghorn corals survived the bleaching and less than 5 percent of the elkhorn remained alive (NOAA Fisheries, July 21, 2025). Massive brain and boulder corals fared much better than branching elkhorn and staghorn during the 2023 bleaching, and NOAA says their apparent resilience prompted an urgent pivot toward outplanting them.

A practical reading of the numbers: the 90 percent figure describes the Florida Keys over four decades, while the 2023 survival figures describe planted restoration corals, not every wild colony on the Florida reef tract. The two measure different things and should not be added together.

The flagship effort is NOAA's Mission: Iconic Reefs, a decades-long plan to restore seven reef sites in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary: Carysfort Reef, Horseshoe Reef, Cheeca Rocks, Newfound Harbor, Eastern Dry Rocks, Sombrero Reef and Looe Key Reef (NOAA Fisheries).

Mission: Iconic Reefs works in phases. Site preparation removes nuisance and invasive species such as algae; Phase 1 uses rapidly-growing coral species to restore the reefs to an average of 15 percent coral cover across the seven sites; NOAA says 25 percent coral cover is generally considered necessary to support a healthy ecosystem and targets that average across the seven sites by the end of Phase 2 (NOAA Fisheries). NOAA Fisheries describes the long-term aim as raising coral cover from just 2 percent to 25 percent across the seven Florida Keys sites (NOAA Fisheries).

After 2023 the approach shifted toward heat tolerance. In 2023 NOAA's Office of Habitat Conservation awarded $16 million to the University of Miami Rosenstiel School for coral breeding and restoration, including selective breeding of corals that survived the 2023 bleaching; NOAA also lists breeding Florida's remaining elkhorn with heat-adapted corals from Honduras, work funded through a previous NOAA award (NOAA Fisheries). Mote Marine Laboratory and the Coral Restoration Foundation are accelerating the outplanting of massive brain and boulder corals (NOAA Fisheries).

The sanctuary rules now make room for this work. Fifteen of the new marine zones created under the Restoration Blueprint facilitate coral reef restoration in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (NOAA FKNMS).

The Restoration Blueprint, final in December 2024, expanded Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary from 3,800 to 4,539 square miles and added 37 marine zones, including 20 wildlife management areas (NOAA FKNMS).

NOAA's summary lists the main changes for the Florida Keys: a boundary expansion of 20 percent aligned with the existing Area to Be Avoided, open fishing kept in 95% of the sanctuary, consistent rules across sanctuary preservation areas, and a ban on cruise ships discharging any material other than cooling water (NOAA, updated January 15, 2025). The Blueprint removed fishing restrictions in some areas by eliminating five existing zones, including the Looe Key Conservation Area and the Rock Key and French Reef Sanctuary Preservation Areas, citing resource condition changes and an opportunity to evaluate different management approaches (NOAA FKNMS).

The sanctuary protects more than coral. NOAA notes that Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary also holds the largest documented contiguous seagrass community in the Northern Hemisphere, along with mangrove-fringed shorelines and hard-bottom habitat (NOAA FKNMS). The new wildlife management areas extend protection to seagrass, nesting birds and sea turtles.

Anchoring is prohibited on living coral anywhere in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and NOAA says more than 600 mooring buoys are available on a first-come, first-served basis at no cost to the boater (NOAA FKNMS Buoy Program).

The white mooring buoys with a blue stripe have been used in the Keys since 1981 as an alternative to anchoring. When no mooring buoy is free and the boat is outside a no-anchor zone, NOAA allows anchoring in sandy areas away from coral and seagrass (NOAA FKNMS).

Sanctuary preservation areas protect shallow reefs along the reef tract. There are 17 SPAs within the sanctuary, which together cover a total of about 12 square miles (NOAA FKNMS). Diving, snorkeling and boating are allowed in SPAs, but the listed prohibitions include fishing (except catch and release trolling at Sand Key), touching or standing on living or dead coral, and anchoring when a mooring buoy is available. In 2027, anchoring of any kind will be prohibited in SPAs except for Hen and Chickens, Cheeca Rocks, Newfound Harbor Key, Eastern Dry Rocks, Rock Key and Sand Key (NOAA FKNMS). The two NOAA pages do not match on one point: the SPA page still lists Rock Key among its 17 SPAs and its 2027 exceptions, while the Blueprint page lists the Rock Key SPA among the zones eliminated (NOAA Restoration Blueprint).

At the far end of the reef, the entrance fee for Dry Tortugas National Park is $15.00 per person and is good for 7 consecutive days; visitors 15 and under are exempt, and ferry tickets include the entrance fee but not camping (NPS Dry Tortugas). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the NOAA Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary website.