Use of massive Porites

Ron Devine Vave S96007966 at student.usp.ac.fj
Wed Jul 31 20:05:29 EDT 2002


Bula (hello) coral listers!

Something that has been happening in Fiji for quite some time now (order
of years) is the use of massive Porites colonies in soakage pits or septic
tanks, with the idea that the longevity of the septic tank life increases
significantly, because the porous skeleton of the massive corals sucks in
the fluids and leaves dry matter.

As a budding marine biologist, I am always saddened by this activity,
which is a result of the removal of dead (before) and now live massive
Porites (long lived) colonies for this purpose.

Is there any truth in this?
Any scientific studies to this effect, in comparison to other materials?
Are there any alternatives to the use of massive, long lived porites?

one such suggestion that I've been told of is the use of grass that have
been cut from the gardens or compound, to be placed at the bottom of the
septic tank or soakage pits after mixing with rubble/gravel?

Thank you all in advance for your help.

Cheers,

Ron Devine Vave
Postgraduate student
C/-Marine Studies Program,
University of the South Pacific,
Suva, Fiji Islands.
------------------
MSP: (679) 3212871
Cellular: (679) 9974313
Fax: (679) 3301490
------------------

~~~~~~~
For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the
digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html .



More information about the Coral-list-old mailing list