FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The coral reefs of South Florida will continue to decline, becoming little more than "rubble, seaweed and slime," unless the government takes stronger steps to protect them, according to an article published earlier this month in the journal Science.

An international team of 11 scientists assessed the status of coral reefs in Florida and Hawaii, the only states with substantial reef systems, and found that the government's efforts to protect them have been piecemeal and ineffective.

As a result, these reefs are succumbing to over-fishing, pollution, disease and global warming.

"Florida's reefs are well over halfway toward ecological extinction," they wrote in the peer-reviewed article. "Large predatory fishes continue to decrease, reefs are increasingly dominated by seaweed, and alarming diseases have emerged."

The article was titled "Are U.S. Coral Reefs on the Slippery Slope to Slime?" It was written by scientists from Stanford University, the University of Queensland (Australia), the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and other institutions.

The lead author was John Pandolfi, a marine biologist at the University of Queensland.

Florida's coral reefs, the only ones in the continental United States, stretch from the lower Keys through Palm Beach County.

Home to a vast array of fish, crustaceans, corals and sponges, they generate billions of dollars for the state's economy by drawing people to fish, snorkel and dive.

Despite the swift decline of the nation's reefs, the government has moved slowly to protect them, the article said.

In the Keys, where antiquated sewage treatment systems contribute to reef pollution, local governments have just begun to replace 16,000 cesspools with modern treatment plants.

And in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the article said, the federal government has set off just 6 percent of the reef as no-fishing zones, an essential step to bringing back reef fish.

By comparison, Cuba and the Bahamas have committed to setting aside 20 percent of their reefs as no-fishing zones. And Australia recently designated a no-fishing zone across one-third of its Great Barrier Reef.

Andy Bruckner, a coral reef ecologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the article's criticism of efforts to protect reefs wasn't "completely fair."

In the past few years, as the decline of reefs has become evident, the federal government set up the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and in 2000 released the National Action Plan to Conserve Reefs.

The government has set a goal of designating no-take zones in reefs and their associated ecosystems. But he said no-take zones must be implemented carefully to get maximum support from people who fish and other interest groups.

The federal government has worked with local governments to develop land-use policies that could protect reefs from coastal erosion.

"If we implement everything we're planning to do, it could halt it and start the recovery," he said. "It's a pretty long process, and it didn't happen overnight."

The article made a number of recommendations, many of which would be politically difficult since they involve taking on fishing interests, developers and the energy industry.

• Move quickly to set aside substantial no-fishing zones, allowing big species such as groupers, turtles and sharks to repopulate the reefs. The return of species such as parrotfish and urchins will control the seaweed that has smothered some reefs.

• Adopt better controls on farming and coastal development, so rainwater doesn't wash fertilizers, toxins and sediments onto the reefs.

• Reduce the production of greenhouse gases to prevent coral bleaching and disease. As ocean temperatures rise, corals become stressed and expel tiny algae that are important to their health. This is called coral bleaching and is a key cause of the decline of reefs.

"Longer-lived species will recover, water quality will improve, and the ecosystem will be more resilient to unforeseen threats," the authors wrote. "One day, the reefs of the United States could be the pride of the nation."