As many reefs across the world suffer from rising temperatures, some in South Broward wish to help these struggling ecosystems. The Coral Club started by Darrien Denna and Tyler Lopez have both made it their goal to create artificial reefs. However the initial goal did run into some major issues.

“We did have restrictions with the principal and funding.” Darrien said. In the meantime the Club has moved towards raising awareness in the local community about possible solutions to help struggling reefs.

While this year they most likely won’t be doing artificial reefs, both believe it’ll be the ultimate goal of the Coral Club. An artificial reef is a man-made area for corals and marine wildlife to grow and be protected in semi-shallow waters. Creating artificial reefs however is very difficult. While it depends on multiple variables, logistical costs could be at around “Twenty-thousand” dollar figure. There are more practical problems, such as keeping the area environmentally friendly and not trapping wildlife in the process.                       

“There have been large-scale artificial reefs done by the Boy Scouts,” Said Tyler. And they hope to do one for South Broward as well.

As well they do hope to grow corals. The main goal of the Coral Club is to do their part to help seriously endangered reefs. As CO2 levels continue to rise, the oceans get warmer, the ocean is also absorbing CO2 at a higher rate, turning it more acidic for some corals to stand. All of these factors contribute to the decline of corals around the world. Luckily, Tyler and Darrien, including others around the world, wish to turn this around.