MIAMI – It’s estimated that the planet has lost half its coral reefs since the 1950s, with 14% lost between 2008 and 2019.

“In 2021 … a new paper came out that found that there was 24.4 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean now, which is 60 times the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy,” Kaufman said.

On this day, with the help of Diver’s Paradise in Key Biscayne, Kaufman led a team of 11 divers committed to preserving one of Florida’s most valuable resources.

“Our reefs are the crown jewel of Florida — specifically of Miami,” she said. “They protect our coastlines. When storms come in, reefs can buffer wave energy by like 97%. They provide the food we eat, they provide recreational opportunity.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that South Florida’s coral reefs have an annual asset value of $8.5 billion.

But right now our reefs are under threat. Climate change is increasing ocean temperatures, changing the ocean’s chemistry, causing bleaching — outbreaks of algae, bacteria, and disease — as human pressure strangles our corals with pollution and marine debris caused by irresponsible fishing.

“When there is fishing debris that’s out on the reef that’s left behind, it can float around and trap our turtles and trap our fish, trap rays and trap sharks,” Kaufman said. “And they’re not able to get out.”

And so on this dive, we picked up the many pieces of abandoned traps, painstakingly removing yards of abandoned rope that’s tangled and tied, careful not to remove any living coral now growing on some of those ghost lines.

“There’s like hundreds of thousands of derelict traps that are left by the commercial fisherman and commercial lobster fish industry every single year,” Kaufman said.

After about an hour we surfaced, pulling up 60 pounds of debris

A second dive at another nearby patch reef showed that it too was littered with fishing line, pieces of traps and plastic. At the end of that dive, 38 pounds of debris were removed that otherwise would’ve stayed on the ocean floor.

That’s almost 100 pounds of trash collected in total.

“We definitely saved some corals by getting rid of all this rope,” Kaufman said.

And for this team of devoted divers, protecting what they love is what it’s all about.

“I love our ocean and it’s a beautiful place and we want to keep it like that,” diver Katy Roth said.

Added diver Lucia Speroni: “It inspires people to make a change. To boat more responsibly, to fish more responsibly to try to use less plastic, so I think that’s kind of mission accomplished.”