Coralpalooza 2024

About Coralpalooza

To celebrate World Oceans Day every year, Coral Restoration Foundation mobilizes hundreds of ocean lovers in Florida and around the world to take action to restore our planet's disappearing coral reefs.In 2023, the Coralpalooza  Community resulted in more than 15,200 new corals returned to wild habitats in a single day, thanks to over 20 organizations from 13 countries, mobilizing more than 960 staff and volunteers. These efforts were recognized as part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

About Janet

Hi, my name is Janet Wang and I'm originally from Southern California, USA. Currently, I'm a proud first year Graduate Diploma student at The University of Canterbury in New Zealand studying Biological Sciences.I had previously participated as a volunteer diver for Coralpalooza in 2023, an annual event organised by Coral Restoration Foundation. The event invites volunteers from all over the world to participate in an annual event of coral outplanting in the Florida Keys for World Ocean Day. This foundation has supported my journey in becoming a marine biologist since 2020. They provided me with resources to local conservation projects in New Zealand (Waiheke Marine Project and Kelp Gardeners), online education and training (GreenFins), and leading me to becoming the successful candidate of the Jorge Beale Hyperbaric Training Grant. I owe it to this organisation in so many ways.

Florida's Coral Reef

Running from north of Miami down to Key West in the south, right on Florida’s doorstep, lies Florida's Coral Reef. It is the third largest barrier reef in the world and the only barrier coral reef in the continental United States. Florida's Coral Reef was once dominated by two species of reef-building coral, staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn (Acropora palmata).

Florida's Coral Reef now hosts just two percent of the populations of the once-dominant staghorn and elkhorn coral that it had in the 1970s.

We grow and outplant endangered species of coral to restore reef sites to a healthy state. Our innovative methods are cost-effective and scalable.These became some of the first corals to be included on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, and are both now listed as “Critically Endangered” – one step away from a listing of “Extinct in the Wild”. We have developed a method for “farming” and “outplanting” colonies of staghorn and elkhorn.

By hanging finger-sized fragments of these corals to grow on Coral Trees, we can produce colonies that are large enough to be outplanted in just six to nine months.
To date, we have now restored more than 17,500 square meters of Florida's Coral Reef.

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If You Would Like To Support

I have created a GoFundMe in hopes that a few individuals around the world would believe in the reason behind my drive for wanting to participate again on the 8th of June 2024.
Thank you again for your support and donation, this means more to me than you know.

https://gofund.me/e4bf0e5f

To celebrate World Oceans Day every year, Coral Restoration Foundation™ mobilizes hundreds of ocean lovers in Florida and around the world to take action to restore our planet's disappearing coral reefs.