The Trouble with our Ocean

Sun Nov 26 14:25:40 EST 2000

Dear Austin,

Interesting thoughts.  You are right in saying that the research we need now
should largely focus on solutions.  However, I disagree with that your feeling
that climate change and coral bleaching are stealing the show and are an excuse
for funding scientists etc.  As has been stated in various places, climate
change represents a threat to reefs on a scale unheralded in recent times.  The
recent observation that 16% of living reef died in the 1998 thermal event is a
hint of the scale of the issue - not even Crown-of-Thorns never ate 16% of reefs
in a single year!  While saying this, I also feel it is important not to forget
the other urgent issues that face reefs.  While climate change may distract (yet
must be also understood), we do need to consider how it will modify the
resilience of reefs faced by other stresses. As has also been stated variously,
rising sea temperatures are likely to make reefs even more sensitive to other
stresses.  This said, the added stress of climate change should increase not
decrease our concern and efforts to manage/protect reefs from the other more
local scale stresses (pollution, nutrients, destructive fishing etc.).

Regards,

Ove

Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
Director, Centre for Marine Studies
University of Queensland
St Lucia, 4072, QLD

Phone:  +61 07 3365 4333
Fax:       +61 07 3365 4755
Email:    oveh at uq.edu.au
http://www.marine.uq.edu.au/ohg/index.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:owner-coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov]On Behalf Of FSP Fiji -
Suva Office
Sent: Tuesday, 21 November 2000 9:35 AM
To: 'coral-list-daily at coral.aoml.noaa.gov'
Subject: RE: The Trouble with our Ocean

>  "From an economic standpoint, I'm not sure that a
>live reef is worth much more than a dead one.

A reality check from the Pacific Islands:

The fact is that most reefs of the planet never experience tourism of any
sort, nor do they have clouds of green water or mud covering them.  What
most reefs do experience is subsistence fishing pressure, and a fair number
of reefs also experience commercial fishing by local people with boats and
access to local markets.

In my opinion, the greatest economic contribution of reefs to the planet is
that reefs feed and provide for families... reefs keep societies alive.
 From this perspective, overfishing/destructive fishing by reef-dependent
communities is a far greater immediate threat to the health of reefs than
any other factor.  If fishing communities are the primary threat to coral
reefs, and as these communities own/control most (70%+?) of the reefs on
this planet, shouldn't more effort be made to empower this group that hold
the future of reefs in their hands?

The emphasis on climate change, bleaching, and the like tend to steal the
show.  These issues may attract funding and interset the scientific
community, but they are much less practical than focusing on empowering
communities to manage their own resources.  Could saving reefs be more of a
exercise in cultural understanding and respect for the intellegence of
rural fishing communities than a research driven one?

>From where I live and work, it appears that a lack of global vision and
educational prejudice on the part of the scientific community are as much a
problem as any physical threat.

Austin Bowden-Kerby
Coral Gardens Initiative
Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
sponsors coral-list and the Coral Health and Monitoring Program
(CHAMP, http://www.coral.noaa.gov).  Please visit the Web site
for instructions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~