Chaffin Luhana Partners Eric Chaffin and Roopal Luhana, and their families headed to Key West in October 2014, but they didn’t go there to sunbathe and swim. Instead, they spent time “Doing Good by Doing Right,” by participating in a Reef Relief service project organized by the Injury Board in Key West, Florida. The Injury Board conference was held between October 9, 2014 and October 12, 2014.
As part of Reef Relief’s Clean Water Campaign, Eric, Roopal and other trial lawyers from across the country helped remove marine debris to protect the wildlife and keep the coral reef healthy in Key West.
What is Reef Relief?
According to Reef Relief, North America’s only barrier reef is “approximately six miles seaward of the Florida Keys in waters that are typically fifteen to thirty feet deep.” Reef Relief is a non-profit organization that started in 1987. The organization also helps reduce pollution brought in from travelers and helps to educate those on the importance of our reef system. Reef Relief has several programs and projects designed to improve and protect the coral reef ecosystem, including:
- Clean Water Campaign: Helps improve water quality in the Florida Keys.
- Jamaica Coral Reef Protection Program: Installed 35 relief mooring buoys in Negril, Jamaica in 1991 and returned to train preservationists on how to patrol the reefs.
- Key West Reef Mooring Buoy Program: Installed and maintained 116 mooring buoys at Key West coral reefs.
- Coral Reef Conservation Program: Helps educate people on how to protect the reef ecosystem and the benefits of doing so. It maintains the Environmental Education System in Key West.
- Guanaja Bay Islands, Honduras Project: Installed 36 reef mooring buoys to protect fragile coral reefs around Guanaja.
- Coral Nursery Project: Helped save storm-ravaged corals and helped them survive.
- The Bahamas Project: Coral reef conservation plan in the Bahamas to help educate, install reef mooring buoys, among other things.
- The Cuba Project: Efforts to conserve Cuban coral reefs.