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Over the course of four years, Miami native Michael Zimmer spent dozens of hours underwater filming a team of scientists as they meticulously removed samples of healthy corals from the reefs within Dry Tortugas National Park. The mission was to transfer the corals to laboratory tanks where they could be genetically studied and allowed to spawn and grow, and ultimately replaced back into the reef system in the future.
From February 7-9 of this year, Zimmer premiered the fruits of his labor: a documentary entitled Noah’s Ark: A Coral Rescue First about the ongoing scientific project at Canada’s Travel Beyond Film Festival, where it won the Best Sustainability Award.
Since then, the documentary has been aired at multiple film festivals and garnered additional awards. They include the South Film and Arts Festival (Best Short Film by a New Director), the Cannes World Film Festival (Best Environmental Film), Five Continents International Film Festival (Winner of Special Mention Productive Short), Athens International Monthly Art Fest and Climate Action NOW.
The project to create the documentary was a labor of love for Zimmer, a 40-year television veteran at NBC and an experienced scuba diver. Today he is founder and president of Mike Zimmer Productions, specializes in producing docu-series, news, live shots, underwater photography and aerials, as well as offering concept development services.
“I’ve been an avid diver since 1989 and have traveled throughout South Florida and the Caribbean enjoying the beauty of coral reefs,” says Zimmer. “A friend introduced me to the Coral Restoration Foundation and it quickly became my passion. I decided to film this documentary to highlight the incredible work that scientists are doing to save Florida’s coral reefs.”
Florida’s coral reefs are dying due to a massive outbreak of stony coral tissue loss disease of unknown origin. According to the National Ocean Service, nearly half of the stony corals species found in Florida’s coral reef system are being affected.
Restoring corals is a complicated, time-consuming effort requiring significant human, technological and financial resources. The Coral Restoration Foundation is managing the world’s largest effort to restore coral reefs through the large-scale cultivation, out-planting and monitoring of genetically diverse, reef-building corals.
“One of the interesting aspects of the project is the laboratory research being done at sites around the country,” says Zimmer. “The small coral samples are harvested from the reef using a hammer and chisel, which sounds like the last thing you should do to a reef,” he says with a laugh. “They are brought up to the mother ship, carefully stored and shipped to laboratories at the University of Miami, the Florida Aquarium in Tampa and other sites around the country.”
Once there, Zimmer says scientists are studying coral genotypes to determine which may be less susceptible to the disease, or to warmer water, which also has an impact on coral reefs.
When he’s not diving, Zimmer also produces a series called Destination Dive for the Discovery Channel. In August, the show will feature an episode about the seagrass in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.
For more information or to contact Michael Zimmer, please visit Mike Zimmer Productions or email him at Mikezi007@aol.com.
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