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| - Misleading: Underwater facility shown in a video is a coral nursery, not ‘weather manipulation’ apparatus
A U.S.-based X user shared a video on Oct. 6, suggesting it shows “weather manipulation” apparatus.
The one-minute video with a TikTok logo shows a mobile phone screen and someone’s finger operating Google Maps. It first zooms into the ocean off the coast of Florida and then swtiches to a 360-degree image of underwater facilities.
“What’s hiding under the water in Florida,” reads overlay text on the video.
Some users reposted the tweet implying the facilities were related to a recent hurricane, while others repeated the claim that they were for weather manipulation. Another X post implied that the “deep state” is involved. Altogether, these posts gained hundreds of likes, comments, and reposts on X.
Annie Lab also looked for the same video on TikTok and found a clip uploaded days earlier, on Oct. 4, with the hashtag “#conspiracy.”
This video appeared days after Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida’s Gulf coast on Sept. 26, bringing devastation and causing more than 230 deaths across six U.S. states. It continued to circulate after Hurricane Milton hit Florida on Oct. 9, killing at least 24 people.
However, those claims are misleading. The underwater facility in the video is a coral nursery in the Florida Keys. It is placed there to grow coral and renew the reefs; it has nothing to do with “weather manipulation.”
Tavernier nursery and coral trees
On Oct. 28, Reef Renewal USA, an organization that aims to restore the coral reefs of the Florida Barrier Reef, issued a statement refuting the claim on its Facebook, Instagram and website.
The facility shown in the video is the Tavernier nursery, “a coral rearing powerhouse developed and maintained primarily by Ken Nedimyer,” Reef Renewal USA said.
The Tavernier nursery is located on the sea bed and is managed by the Coral Restoration Foundation.
The statement said that Nedimyer, founder of the Coral Restoration Foundation and Reef Renewal, designed the coral trees using PVC pipes, an anchor, and rope – a technique still used today.
“In this position, raised up above the sand and substrate, the corals are safer from predators and competitors, and grow with relative ease,” it added.
The nursery site, which began operation in 2009, covers 1.5 acres (0.6 hectares) of seabed and contains 494 coral trees, according to the 2023 annual report of the Coral Restoration Foundation.
An infographic in the annual report shows the design of the coral trees, which have a tree-like structure anchored to the ocean floor and suspended in the water by floats.
David Baker, the interim director of the Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS) and an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Science, also identified the facility in the video as a coral-growing “farm.”
Baker, an expert in coral reef ecology, told Annie Lab that the coral restoration sites are located in the Gulf Stream, “where water is clear and perfect for growing coral.”
It had “nothing to do with weather or manipulating weather,” he added.
Exact location
Annie Lab’s investigation found a video on YouTube showing the same underwater image, with the coordinates 24.982271, -80.435949 in the title of the video, giving a clue to its location.
Putting the coordinates into Google Maps, we pinpointed the location to Snapper Ledge Reef in the Florida Keys. We also found a Reuters fact-checking article featuring an interview with Nedimyer, who said the coral nursery is situated off Tavernier, Florida, near Pickles Reef and Snapper Ledge Reef in the Florida Keys.
Annie Lab then looked at 360-degree pictures of the site on Google Maps (here and here) – one is identical to the video on X and TikTok.
The Google Maps pictures, titled “The Coral Nursery,” were uploaded in April 2015 by Underwater Earth, an Australian not-for-profit organization that aims to raise awareness for the ocean.
Underwater Earth came to the Florida Keys in 2014 and “made a series of underwater 360 images available for view on Google Street View,” according to Reef Renewal USA.
Through a reverse image search, Annie Lab found one of the pictures mentioned by Renewal USA.
It was captured by Christophe Bailhache, the director and co-founder of Underwater Earth, in August 2014 at Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
The picture shows Nedimyer and his family working in the coral nursery, Reef Renewal USA said.
Other fact-checking media outlets, such as Full Fact and Reuters, debunked a similar claim on the coral nursery.
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