NOAA is lighting five birthday candles for Mission: Iconic Reefs, just as the world-wide restoration community celebrates Corals Week at the international Reef Futures Symposium in Mexico. The NOAA-led, partner-driven program to restore seven reef sites in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary was launched on December 9, 2019.

“When Mission: Iconic Reefs launched it was only an idea—nothing more than words on paper,” says Jennifer Moore, the program’s senior manager and co-chair of Reef Futures. “There was no staff, other than the goodwill of partners and NOAA employees working “other duties as assigned,” yet today, we are 20 strong as a team with over $35 million raised from various sources to implement the plan. Most importantly, practitioners are outplanting corals on the reef, research is underway alongside restoration, and terabytes of data are being collected and analyzed. Given the typically-slow wheels of government, our five-year pace has been nothing short of astonishing. Even the need for my new role as senior manager is evidence of how far we have come.”

The anniversary arrives with the launch of a new Mission: Iconic Reefs website, a five year report and the trailer for a soon-to-be released mini-documentary on the program, produced by the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

“When Mission: Iconic Reefs launched it was only an idea—nothing more than words on paper,” says Jennifer Moore, the program’s senior manager and co- chair of Reef Futures. “There was no staff, other than the goodwill of partners and NOAA employees working “other duties as assigned,” yet today, we are 20 strong as a team with over $35 million raised from various sources to implement the plan. Most importantly, practitioners are outplanting corals on the reef, research is underway alongside restoration, and terabytes of data are being collected and analyzed. Given the typically-slow wheels of government, our five- year pace has been nothing short of astonishing. Even the need for my new role as senior manager is evidence of how far we have come.” The anniversary arrives with the launch of a new Mission: Iconic Reefs website, and the trailer for a soon-to-be released mini documentary on the program, produced by the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

A formal celebration for the anniversary will take place in the Keys during the New Year.