Restoring Reef Ecosystems with Scott Sensenbrenner

Scott Sensenbrenner is the Founder & CEO of Enzymedica, which has partnered MOTE Marine Laboratory & Aquarium to restore Florida’s coral reefs. While 1% of the world’s oceans are coral reefs, they support 25% of all marine life and feed more than 500 million people. In some areas of Florida and the Caribbean, coral cover has declined by 50% to 80% in the last 30 years. Ocean plants are responsible for producing 85% of the oxygen we breathe – and coral reefs are on track to die off by 2050 if more restoration is not completed. Mote has developed a “microfragmentation and fusion” method to grow corals 50 times faster in their nurseries than they grow naturally. These born-in-a-lab baby “reefs”, which are implanted in the dying reef, look a bit like Reese’s peanut butter cups. They have a 95% survival rate when placed onto the reef. Mote has outplanted more than 70,000+ new corals to-date with the help of financial support from Enzymedica.

Episode Notes