July 22, 2025 — Healthy coral reefs are vital to the survival of thousands of marine species and provide $6.3 billion in local sales and 71,000 jobs annually (PDF, 29 pages). But rising ocean temperatures are pushing these ecosystems to the brink. That’s why NOAA is investing in cutting-edge technology to create more heat-resilient corals.
In the wake of Florida’s severe 2023 coral bleaching event, NOAA and its partners are launching new strategies to restore reefs and prepare them for a hotter future. At the heart of this effort is NOAA’s Mission: Iconic Reefs. It’s an ambitious long-term initiative to boost coral cover from just 2 percent to 25 percent across seven key sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
In 2023, the Office of Habitat Conservation awarded $16 million to the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science for a project applying emerging science and technology to coral breeding and restoration. The goal: to grow and outplant corals better equipped to withstand future bleaching. Key approaches include:
- Selective breeding of corals that survived the 2023 bleaching to pass on heat-tolerant traits
- Breeding Florida’s remaining elkhorn corals with heat-adapted corals from warm-water reefs in Honduras (this work was funded through a previous NOAA award)
- Pairing baby corals with beneficial symbiotic algae and probiotic bacteria to improve their ability to withstand future bleaching
- Bioprinting coral babies—embedding coral larvae, algae, and bacteria in a protective hydrogel to increase settlement and survival
- Rearing baby corals in high-temperature environments to condition them to tolerate warmer waters
This work is funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is also supporting similar efforts by other Mission: Iconic Reefs partners. Mote Marine Laboratory and the Coral Restoration Foundation are:
- Breeding and rearing coral species that withstood the 2023 bleaching
- Accelerating the outplanting of massive brain and boulder coral species, which fared much better than branching corals like elkhorn and staghorn during the 2023 bleaching
- Expanding the capacity to store genetically diverse and heat-tolerant corals for future restoration
Many other partners and individuals support the Mission: Iconic Reefs program.
Finding a New Way Forward
Before the 2023 bleaching event, Mission: Iconic Reefs prioritized the outplanting of branching corals like elkhorn and staghorn at reefs in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. But a 2024 assessment on outplanted corals revealed that fewer than 22 percent of staghorn corals survived the bleaching, and less than 5 percent of the elkhorn remained alive.
In the face of this devastating impact, NOAA and its partners—alongside coral restoration groups from around the world—came together to chart a new path forward.
“I’ve never seen so many dedicated people rise to the occasion and say, ‘We have to try harder,’” says Maddie Cholnoky, Mission: Iconic Reefs implementation manager. “These incredible organizations are sharing knowledge, science, and lessons learned. It’s inspired us to take those insights and help create adaptive tools for our partners and for the mission.”
In February, NOAA staff joined partners from the Coral Restoration Foundation, Mote Marine Laboratory, and Reef Renewal USA to mark the fifth anniversary of the initiative. They celebrated by outplanting new corals propagated from survivors of the 2023 bleaching event.
“We’ve done a fantastic job across so many organizations of preserving genetic diversity, which will be important in future outplanting efforts,” says Dr. Katey Lesneski, Mission: Iconic Reefs’s research and monitoring coordinator. “We have a lot of confidence that the corals will continue to do well even in future warming conditions.”