Almost 90% of the live corals in the Florida Keys are gone.

Climate change, pollution, overfishing and other man-made impacts, have been killing the reefs.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is partnering with state and local agencies to help save them.

According to NOAA, this will be the largest coral restoration project. They’ll be restoring 3,000,000 square feet of reefs, which is roughly the size of 52 football fields.

Seven sites will be restored: Carysfort Reef, Horseshoe Reef, Cheeca Rocks, Newfound Harbor, Eastern Dry Rocks, Sombrero Reef and Looe Key Reef.

To restore the reefs, marine biologists will remove nuisance and invasive species introduce disease-resistant and climate-resilient corals. According to NOAA this will be the first time they will intervene with naturally-occurring organisms.

Coral restoration is set to begin immediately.

The Florida Keys aren’t the only reefs endangered by climate change. According to a study by Nature.com, baby coral in the Great Barrier Reef declined almost 90% because of mass bleaching  in 2016 and 2017 alone.