Julie Cheon, director of communications for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this mornign to talk about what’s going on in the sancutary.
While temperatures have dropped from their summer highs in some areas, most of the sanctuary’s seven Mission Iconic Reef sites are still spending much of the week above the historic coral bleaching threshold of 30.5 degrees Celsius.
Cheon says some areas have experienced brief periods of cooler water, but temperatures have rebounded, and conditions vary significantly from one location to another.
The sanctuary is closely monitoring the situation with data loggers and detailed forecasts from the National Weather Service.
“We’re just going to still stay vigilant,” Cheon said, noting that the 2023 marine heat event resulted in catastrophic losses to Florida Keys reefs. She says even smaller losses now can be significant because of the damage already suffered during that event.
Meanwhile, the sanctuary’s buoy team recently completed a six-day mission to the Dry Tortugas, about 70 miles from Key West.
The six-person team maintains a system of 12 mooring buoys in the Tortugas Ecological Reserve North. The buoys are rotated among 40 anchors installed in the seafloor, allowing different areas to recover from repeated use while giving boaters and divers new locations to secure their vessels without dropping anchors onto sensitive habitat.
Cheon says the team encountered additional challenges this year after storm damage and infrastructure problems prevented some work in 2025. Workers found missing buoys, entangled trap lines and heavily worn components during this year’s mission.
The operation required extensive logistical planning, including transportation of dive equipment, fuel, food and hundreds of pounds of gear. Cheon credited Dry Tortugas National Park, the National Weather Service and the U.S. Coast Guard for helping the team complete its work during a limited weather window.
One of the sites visited by the team, Cooper’s Reef, also has a personal connection to the sanctuary. The reef was named for Doug Cooper, a member of the sanctuary’s Lower Keys buoy team who died in 2002.
A mooring plaque at the site honors Cooper, and one of his close friends, who is now a member of the buoy team, cleans the plaque whenever the team has an opportunity to visit.
Cheon says stories like Cooper’s are an important reminder that the sanctuary is about more than coral reefs and other natural resources.
“There are all of these human stories woven throughout these waters,” Cheon said.
Those stories will be highlighted during NOAA Heritage Week next week, when the sanctuary encourages residents and visitors to explore the Florida Keys’ maritime history both on and off the water.
Cheon says the Keys contain more than 500 years of maritime history, with artifacts displayed at museums, parks, sanctuary facilities and other locations throughout the island chain.
At the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce, visitors can see a four-foot cast-iron cannon dating to the late 18th century. It is one of 13 cannons discovered in the Upper Keys.
The sanctuary’s Key Largo office, located at mile marker 95, will also have staff available next week to discuss artifacts on display there. Additional maritime artifacts can be found at Crane Point in Marathon when it reopens in October and at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West.
Cheon says artifacts such as cannons, coins, pottery, navigational instruments, buckles and even medical syringes can help archaeologists reconstruct the lives of people who lived and worked aboard vessels hundreds of years ago.
She says the location and circumstances surrounding an artifact can be just as important as the object itself, which is why many artifacts are preserved in place rather than removed.
“It’s not really just about collecting objects; it’s about preserving the information and the stories,” Cheon said.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s free Marine Sanctuary Explorer app also highlights maritime heritage sites, along with sanctuary boundaries and regulations. The app is available for both Apple and Android devices.
For more information click here: https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/