Corals in the US Virgin Islands (USVI) have faced many threats. Devastating hurricanes batter shorelines with heavy waves, notably the two category 5 hurricanes, Irma and Maria which occurred in 2017. Climate changes provide additional challenges, including severe bleaching events due to warming water. In 2023, the USVI experienced extreme heating events lasting longer and causing mass bleaching, mortality, and increased vulnerability (DPNR, 2024). Similarly, in 2024 the USVI experienced more than 20 NOAA Maximum Degree Heating weeks, more than ever before, with water reaching up to 91.4°F (33°C) causing up to 100% mortality in some coral nursery outplant sites (DPNR, 2024; DFW20052X, 2025). Sargassum Inundation Events (SIEs) are occurring more frequently and is mass accumulation of sargassum from the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. The sargassum washes ashore where it dies and decomposes eventually releasing toxic gases and reducing available oxygen, while also blocking available light, and accumulating marine debris (US EPA, 2023). The corals are under threat of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD), which was first detected in 2019 around St. Thomas (VI-CDAC, 2019). It has since spread and damaged species throughout the USVI and has killed more than half of the living coral at the original discovery site (VI-CDAC, 2019). Land based sources threaten them with pollution and sediment runoff, reducing water quality and potentially smothering corals entirely, increasing vulnerability and death (Bryan, n.d.)
In response to these threats, restoration has occurred since 2009 with the first USVI coral nursery being established on St. Croix by The Nature Conservancy (Bowman, 2023). Since there have been 12 in-water and 3 land-based nurseries created around USVI run by many different organizations and groups (Coral Restoration Foundation, 2024; Bowman, 2023). The Restoration Implementation and Monitoring Plan for National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Project labeled “Strengthening Coastal Resilience through Coral Reef Restoration (VI),” is the largest coral restoration project completed by TNC in the USVI to date, from 2020 to 2025 ( DFW20052X, 2025). Additional groups have been formed due to necessity: the Virgin Islands Restoration of Coral Squad (VI-RoCS) and Virgin Islands Coral Disease Advisory Committee (VI-CDAC). The VI-CDAC aims for 4 goals of reporting and responding to outbreaks, communicating among USVI groups and with neighboring islands, coordinating with experts, and implementing a Coral Disease Outbreak Response Plan (VI-CDAC, 2019). Continuing these efforts, in 2023 the first Coral Reef Restoration Plan was published in the USVI, aiming to help guide the next 10 years of restoration planning (Bowman, 2023). While the USVI is also moving toward promoting community outreach and engagement with local coral reefs, the first annual Coral Reef Week was held in 2024 on St. Thomas, engaging 650 residents in free outreach events. Attendence increased to 950 in 2025 with the third being held in St. Croix in April of 2026 (U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, 2025) .
In the USVI NOAA Benthic Habitat classification scheme and mapping initiative, Coral Reefs (and colonized hardbottom) are a subcategory under the Coral Reef and Hardbottom category. Coral Reefs are further divided by types of reef (eg individual or aggregated patch reef)
Of the USVI SGCN, 65 rely on coral reefs including 49 marine fish, 12 marine invertebrates, one marine mammal, and three sea turtles. See table below for the list of these species: