Florida Keys Marine Field Operations
Understanding processes and environmental factors that influence coral reef health.
Initiative Progress
The Initiative legislation requires beginning January 15, 2024, and each January 15 thereafter until its expiration, the Initiative shall submit an Annual Report that contains an overview of its accomplishments to date and priorities for subsequent years to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of Environmental Protection, and the Executive Director of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
- Winter 2024
- In January 2024, Mote published its first Initiative Report, provided below, a requirement of 403.93344(3)(e) Florida Statutes. It contains an overview of the Initiative's accomplishments to date and priorities for subsequent years
- Summer and Fall 2023
- In July 2023, the Seagrass Restoration Technology Development Initiative was passed in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate, then signed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
- In September 2023, Mote received funding from NOAA to begin the “Using Land-Based Seagrass Nurseries and Genetic Approaches to Increase Seagrass Restoration Success” Project.
- Mote Seagrass Postdoctoral Fellow, Jamila Roth, has begun to build up and stock Mote’s lab space to prepare for genetic and restoration research.
- Land at Mote’s Aquaculture Research Park (MAP) has been cleared and is being prepped for the building of the Ron and Marla Wolf Seagrass Restoration Center for Ocean Sustainability.
- This center will include a new greenhouse with 24 raceways for experimentation and restoration.
- In December of 2023, the first Seagrass Initiative “Request For Proposals” was published on the Mote website. This “Request For Proposals” will bring in the first wave of genetic-based and restoration focused project proposals that could be funded from the Seagrass Restoration Technology Development Initiative.
