SXSW 2025
Blake Plateau—A Southern Treasure
Description:
Did you know the world's largest deep-sea coral habitat is in US waters?
Roughly 100 miles offshore the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, the Blake Plateau’s coral mounds tower over the seafloor. Floating seaweed meadows shelter and feed sea turtles, sportfish, and elusive seabirds and whales. As oceans warm, parts of the plateau provide refuge for reef-building corals and other marine life. The plateau holds cultural significance for the Gullah/Geechee, whose enslaved ancestors crossed the Middle Passage.
Dive in with the coalition seeking to protect this seascape for future generations.
Related Media
Other Resources / Information
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/news/oer-updates/2024/million-mounds-news.html
https://conserveblakeplateau.org/
https://www.nrdc.org/resources/blake-plateau
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_rr42-it_A
https://www.nrdc.org/resources/blake-plateau-southern-treasure
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7418/4/1/2
Takeaways
- We have an opportunity to protect key environmentally significant ocean ecosystems and the culturally significant sites of the Blake Plateau.
- This is a critical climate change refuge for deep-sea corals and 100s of other species that rely on the corals as their habitat.
- Through community engagement and education, marine conservation can be inclusive, accessible, and transformative.
Speakers
- Grey Gowder, Executive Director, Carolina Ocean Alliance
- Brian Kennedy, Chief Scientist, Ocean Discovery League
- Lisa Suatoni, Director, Fisheries & Deputy Director, Oceans, Nature, Natural Resources Defense Council
- Queen Quet Marquetta Goodwine, Chieftess and Head-of-State for the Gullah/Geechee Nation, Gullah Geechee Nation
Organizer
Grey Gowder, Executive Director, Carolina Ocean Alliance
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