Coral reef. Photo credit: Susan White/USFWS
Healthy coral reef systems like those at Palmyra and Kingman National Wildlife Refuges support countless species of reef fish and other animals, but portions of the reefs were being smothered by invasive organisms that gained nutrients from the iron leaching off shipwrecks. Removing the wrecks gives the reef its best chance to resist impacts of global climate and oceanographic changes into the future.