June is nationally recognized as World Oceans Month and today, June 1st, is World Reef Day! On World Reef Day, we celebrate the global influence of coral reefs. These incredible ecosystems provide habitat for an abundance of fish species and are foundational to a thriving ocean all over the world.
Corals support a food chain that supplies a food source for over half a billion global citizens and also attract many ecotourism operations, in total providing an estimated 375 billion dollars annually to the world economy. There are reefs scattered across the globe, but we also have one in our backyard. Today, the Conservation League celebrates South Carolina’s very own deep-sea coral mounds on the Blake Plateau.
Situated only 60 miles off the South Carolina coast, the Blake Plateau provides the perfect home for deep-sea corals. At about 2,000 feet deep, the cold waters where the deep-sea corals are found maintain an ideal temperature, while the gulf stream brings plenty of food. This is why the Blake Plateau is considered the world’s largest deep-sea coral reef habitat, and is home to several coral “neighborhoods”, such as the Stetson-Richardson Complex and Central Blake Knolls.
