'A blessing': Wounded soldiers help US scientists to save coral reefs

euronews (in English)

Wounded in combat, these US Army veterans are finding healing in restoring Florida's threatened coral reefs.

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00:54 - Every one of those fragments that we out planted today,

01:07 they're native species and native genotypes

01:12 here to the Florida Keys.

01:13 But our scientists have over the years identified

01:16 which of those thousands of genotypes of every given species

01:21 are actually more resilient to increasing water temperature,

01:26 to ocean acidification and to coral disease.

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01:41 Basically these coral will grow 40 to 50 times as fast

01:48 as a normal coral will grow.

01:50 And in two years through this microfragmentation

01:53 and re-skinning process, which is what we conducted today,

01:58 the actual out planting for re-skinning,

02:01 in two years, three years,

02:02 we will have created a 50 year old coral.

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02:09 Doing events like this, it's great for the heart and soul,

02:30 especially when you're around a group of veterans

02:35 that have gone through very similar situations

02:38 and have beat the odds or recovered in such a positive way.

02:43 It is such a blessing.

02:44 It's such a great part of what this whole week in Key West is

02:48 'cause we get a chance to go in and give back.

02:51 You know, we're helping these guys to restore the reefs.

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