From jonb at intercom.com Sat Feb 1 20:56:31 2003 From: jonb at intercom.com (Jon Bonanno) Date: Sat, 1 Feb 2003 20:56:31 -0500 Subject: Bulk Coral Calcium from Okinawa Message-ID: Dear Doctors, After reviewing your very interesting and thoughtful PDF thread of e-mails (finished Sept. 7th, 2001), in regards to the Coral bleaching and general degradation of reefs, it seemed appropriate to ask the experts this question. Is there a company (or companies) in Okinawa, Japan that is pursuing ecologically friendly mining of high quality coral calcium sand, which is fit for human consumption? Understand that this question could be offensive to some of you, as mining a reef is the last thing that we want to see. This is actually the basis of my question, I would prefer to purchase and support companies that follow strong ecological preservation guidelines. Please assist me in finding the right source in Japan to get the products that I am searching for (bulk high quality coral calcium sand - fit for human consumption). Thank you all in advance. Very Highest Regards, Jon Bonanno ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From timg at calm.wa.gov.au Mon Feb 3 07:09:45 2003 From: timg at calm.wa.gov.au (Grubba, Tim) Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 07:09:45 -0500 Subject: Coral damage and mucus secretion Message-ID: Dear coral-listers, I am trying to track down information on the secretion of mucus by corals (Acropora) which have suffered physical damage (e.g. damage caused by boat groundings). Specifically I am after information on the timing of mucus secretion - how soon after damage occurs does mucus secretion occur and for how long is mucus secreted. Cheers Tim Grubba Marine Ecologist Marine Conservation Branch Department of Conservation and Land Management 47 Henry St., Fremantle, WA, 6160. Ph 08 9336 0118 Fax 08 9430 5408 ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From halpern at lifesci.ucsb.edu Wed Feb 5 09:59:09 2003 From: halpern at lifesci.ucsb.edu (Ben Halpern) Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 09:59:09 -0500 Subject: G. cinereus growth rate Message-ID: I am trying to find an estimate of daily growth rate for the yellowfin mojarra (Gerres cinereus). Does anyone have an approximate value for their daily rate, or the rate for any other congeneric? Thanks, Ben -- ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From christy at reef.org Wed Feb 5 10:00:09 2003 From: christy at reef.org (Christy Pattengill-Semmens) Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 10:00:09 -0500 Subject: REEF Marine Conservation Internship Message-ID: Please pass the following on to colleagues and students: The deadline for the summer semester of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)'s Marine Conservation Internship program is fast approaching! Please encourage enthusiastic college students or recent graduates with SCUBA experience and a career interest in marine conservation to apply for this unique opportunity. The internship provides housing and a stipend and is located in Key Largo, FL. A full description and application procedures are available at:www.reef.org/intern. Please contact Leda Cunningham at Leda at reef.org for more information. -- Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D. Scientific Coordinator Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) www.reef.org ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From coralliodecapoda at mail.ru Wed Feb 5 10:00:10 2003 From: coralliodecapoda at mail.ru (Ivan Marin) Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 10:00:10 -0500 Subject: Coral symbionts Message-ID: Dear Coral-lers, Our laboratory has been studing simbiotic relationships between different sea invertebrates. Personally, I am studing coral-associated crustaceans as one of the component of coral reef community. Generally, we are interested in all animals and their complex associated with scleractinian coral colonies. Since 2001 members of our laboratory has been working in South Vietnam waters investigating coral reef community and all influinced factors. As one knows, corals in Vietnam are hardly exploited by fishing, pollution and others, that why this region is very interesting to study effect of exploitation. My supervisor, T.A. Brytaev, and I try to investigate the changes in coral associated communities as factors and indexes of coral community pollution. Here, we are looking for scientist or societies, who are interested in cooperation in this topic. We are interested in any contacts with scientists who make same investigations in other regoins. And yet one. Could you help me to find organizations, societies or funds (their Internet pages), which are supporting and funding different joint projects, scientific projects on studing coral associated communities and grants for PhD student to make joint coral reef condition investigations in Indo-West Pacific. Thank You very much. Sincerely yours Ph.D. student, Ivan N. Marin Laboratory of Evolutional Morphology of Marine Invertebrates (T.Brytaev Laboratory) A.N. Severtzov Institute of Ecology and Evolution (RAS) Leninsky pr. 33 117071 Moscow Russia Fax: 095 954 5534 ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From scrfa at hkucc.hku.hk Wed Feb 5 10:02:11 2003 From: scrfa at hkucc.hku.hk (scrfa) Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 10:02:11 -0500 Subject: Manual: Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations Message-ID: Dear All, The Society for the Conservation of Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations is pleased to announce completion of a "Methods Manual" for spawning aggregation-related work. The Manual may be found at www.scrfa.org under 'Education and Information' and is intended to be a reference, incorporating lots of field examples, for work on aggregations. It includes methods applicable to research ranging from biological studies and monitoring fish numbers (by both fishery dependent and fishery independent means) to techniques for mapping of aggregation sites, and conservation issues, amongst others. Apologies for the cross-posting, Andy Cornish ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From CSalt5 at aol.com Wed Feb 5 10:02:11 2003 From: CSalt5 at aol.com (CSalt5 at aol.com) Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 10:02:11 -0500 Subject: Pollution Message-ID: Dear Mr. Sheppard: About a month ago I responded to a request from Jim Hendee for comments on setting priorities for the Coral Reef Task Force to focus on. Topping the proposed list was "land based pollution." I stated that material dredged from offshore for beach restoration was not land based, but should be high on the list because it is one of the leading causes of direct coral destruction. You will not find documentation of this in scientific journals. The acreage estimates are scattered in Corps of Engineers EISs dating back to the 1960s. Ken Lindeman of Environmental Defense attempted to compile a list of projects and add up impacts on coral reefs but, due to poor preproject documentation and an absence of follow up studies, found it impossible to arrive at a precise total. The currently proposed Broward County project would bury, by first estimate, 55 acres of nearshore coral community. Following a public outcry and as frequently happens, this estimate was mysteriously reduced to 35 acres; thirty-five acres for one project which would move 3.5 million cubic yards of sand. In Dr. Lindeman's Dissertation he found that 47.225 million cy have been dredged and deposited since 1960 in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. It stands to reason that a minimum of 100 acres of reef has been buried by beach fill. Additional aceage has been destroyed by dredges offshore and degraded by settling of suspended sediment. Truly yours, Chuck Sultzman --part1_119.1e93a9c9.2b704f69_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Mr. Sheppard:
     About a month ago I responded to a request from Jim= Hendee for comments on setting priorities for the Coral Reef Task Force to=20= focus on.  Topping the proposed list was "land based pollution." =20= I stated that material dredged from offshore for beach restoration was not l= and based, but should be high on the list because it is one of the leading c= auses of direct coral destruction.  You will not find documentation of=20= this in scientific journals.  The acreage estimates are scattered in Co= rps of Engineers EISs dating back to the 1960s.  Ken Lindeman of Enviro= nmental Defense attempted to compile a list of projects and add up impacts o= n coral reefs but, due to poor preproject documentation and an absence of fo= llow up studies, found it impossible to arrive at a precise total.  The= currently proposed Broward County project would bury, by first estimate, 55= acres of nearshore coral community.  Following a public outcry and as=20= frequently happens, this estimate was mysteriously reduced to 35 acres; thir= ty-five acres for one project which would move 3.5 million cubic yards of sa= nd.  In Dr. Lindeman's Dissertation he found that 47.225 million cy hav= e been dredged and deposited since 1960 in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach cou= nties.  It stands to reason that a minimum of 100 acres of reef=20= has been buried by beach fill.  Additional aceage has been destroyed by= dredges offshore and degraded by settling of suspended sediment.
 
            &nbs= p;            &n= bsp;            = Truly yours,

            &nbs= p;            &n= bsp;            = Chuck Sultzman
 --part1_119.1e93a9c9.2b704f69_boundary-- ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From richardl at fiu.edu Thu Feb 6 11:07:02 2003 From: richardl at fiu.edu (Laurie Richardson) Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 11:07:02 -0500 Subject: AMLC Meeting Announcement Message-ID: > MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS > > 31st Scientific Meeting of the > ASSOCIATION OF MARINE LABORATORIES OF THE CARIBBEAN > Crowne Plaza Hotel > Port of Spain, Trinidad > > July 14-18, 2003 > > We are pleased to announce our upcoming scientific meeting of the > Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean. The meeting > will be centered around scientific presentations and will include a > field trip to enjoy our locale, which this year is the island of > Trinidad. As in the past, presenters may submit papers of their > presentations for potential publication in the peer-reviewed journal > proceedings of the meeting. Presentations will include poster- as > well as verbal presentations. In keeping with the AMLC purpose of > promoting the exchange of scientific and technical information > concerning Caribbean marine sciences, the themes of this scientific > meeting will be: > > ? Ornamental Marine Organisms and Fisheries > ? Diseases of Coral Reef Organisms > ? Remote Sensing and GIS in the Wider Caribbean > ? Caribbean Oceanography and Coastal Processes > ? Pollution and Anthropogenic Issues > ? Public Awareness and Education > ? Biodiversity, MPAs, and Conservation > ? Fisheries and Aquaculture > ? General Caribbean Marine Sciences > > Other topics will be considered subject to session time limitations. > Abstracts must be received by May 1, 2003, and may be in English or > Spanish. Abstracts must be submitted in the form described in the > Abstract Format instructions at the end of this message. Upon receipt > of your > abstract, a brief description of the associated peer-reviewed paper > guidelines for authors and submission requirements will be sent to > you, along with confirmation of receipt of your abstract. It will be > helpful if you assure that your e-mail address is clearly provided > when you submit your abstract. > > If using postal service to submit your abstract, include a hard copy > and an electronic copy on diskette. If using e-mail, attach your > abstract to your message - do not incorporate your abstract in the > body of your message - attach the Word file. Submit your abstract(s) > to: > > Dr. Laurie Richardson > Biology Department > Florida International University > Miami, FL 33199 USA > E-mail: Laurie.Richardson at fiu.edu > > REGISTRATION > > A Registration Form accompanies this Meeting Announcement. Please > note that substantial cost saving may be realized by early (before > May 1, 2003) registration. A second way to save for non-members of > AMLC is to join the association by completing the attached Membership > Form and adding membership fees to the amount remitted for > registration. > > The registration fee covers the initial reception, all meeting rooms, > two coffee breaks per day, a book of abstracts, the program, the > published meeting proceedings, and a souvenir T-shirt. Tickets to > the closing banquet and local field trips will be sold for nominal > prices at the registration desk when you arrive. > > ACCOMODATIONS > > The venue hotel will be the Crowne Plaza in Port of Spain, Trinidad. > Our special AMLC room rates are U.S. $82.00 for single occupancy, and > U.S. 90.00 for double occupancy. These rates include taxes and a > buffet breakfast, and they assume that we rent a minimum number of > rooms, so we encourage all attendees to stay at the venue hotel. We > suggest you make early reservations to assure your getting these > great special rates. You will need a credit card to confirm your > reservation. To make your hotel reservations, contact: > > Mr. Jerome Dinzey > Sales Manager > Crowne Plaza Trinidad > Wrightson Road > Port of Spain, Trinidad > Tel: 1-868-625-3366 > Fax: 1-868-625-4166 > E-mail: eoffice at crowneplaza.co.tt > > TRAVEL > > You may need a visa for travel to Trinidad, so we suggest you check > with your travel agent and secure this visa early. > > Because shuttle service is not provided by the hotel, we suggest > using a taxi. The cost of a taxi from the airport to Port of Spain > is U.S. $20 before 10:00 p.m., and U.S. $30 after 10:00 p.m. > > WE WILL SEE YOU ALL IN TRINIDAD! > > 31st SCIENTIFIC MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF > MARINE LABORATORIES OF THE CARIBBEAN > TRINIDAD, JULY 14-18, 2003 > > Name > ____ > __________________________________________________________________________ > > Position : > _________________ > _____________________________________________________________ > Organization: > _____________ > ______________________________________________________________ > Address: > ________ > _______________________________________________________________________ > > ________________________________________________________________________________ > > City: __________________________________ > State:______________________ Postal Code: ____________ > Country: ____________________ Tel: ___________________ E-mail: > _______________________________ > Accompanying person (s) > ____________________________________________________________________ > > Mark (X) your registration status: Early registration > Late registration > Before May 1, 2003 > After May 1, 2003 > Current Members of AMLC > Full ($ 250.00) ________ > ($ 290.00) _______ > Student ($ 100.00) ________ ($ > 130.00) _______ > Non-Members of AMLC > Full ($ 300.00) ________ > ($ 340.00) _______ > Student ($ 130.00) ________ ($ > 160.00) _______ > Accompanying person ($ 100.00) ________ ($ > 130.00) _______ > AMLC Membership Fee ________ > _______ > Non-members may join now and pay Members Fees; see the attached > Membership Form. > Total included with this registration $ _______________ > > ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE MADE BY BANK DRAFT PAYABLE TO THE > "INSTITUTE OF MARINE AFFAIRS." > Please send completed registration form with your payment to: > If by postal mail: If by > courier (e.g. Federal Express): > Denise Williams-Dummett, Executive Assistant Denise > Williams-Dummett, Executive Assistant > Institute of Marine Affairs > Institute of Marine Affairs > P.O. Box 3160, Carenage Post Office Hilltop Lane > Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies Chaguaramas, > Trinidad, West Indies > For information and inquiries, you may contact Ms. Williams-Dummett > at: > Tel: 1-868-634-4291/4 or by E-mail at: director at ima.gov.tt > > NEW MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATION INFORMATION > > TO BE USED WITH REGISTRATION FOR THE 2003 SCIENCE MEETING IN > TRINIDAD > > Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean > > Thank you for your interest in joining the AMLC. Our membership > categories and fees are as follows: > > _Student ($5.00) _ Regular($25.00) _ > Sponsor ($30.00) > _ Sustaining ($50.00) _ Patron ($100.00) > > Please indicate (above) at which level you are joining, and add that > amount to your registration payment for the Trinidad meeting (July, > 2003). > > Next, please fill out the following information and mail the > completed form with your meeting registration materials. > > Name and Address Information: > > Name: > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Address: > ____________________________________________________________________ > > > ____________________________________________________________________ > > Scientific interests: > ____________________________________________________________ > > Telephone: ____________________________ Fax: > ______________________________ > > E-mail:___________________________________________ > ABSTRACT GUIDELINES > > THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF AMLC! > 31st SCIENTIFIC MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF > MARINE LABORATORIES OF THE CARIBBEAN > TRINIDAD, JULY 14-18, 2003 > > Deadline for submitting the abstract is May 1, 2003. > The abstract should be in the following IBM or compatible format: > Word processor: MS Word 6- or higher. Font: Times-Roman (size 11) - > Margins: 1.0" all sides. Title - All in capital letters; font size > 11. Title should be short (2 lines maximum) and include Order and > Family of organisms when needed. Scientific names should be in > italics. In the next line, name (s) of author (s) with presenter > underlined, a complete, but short, address for the senior author and > his/her e-mail. Text: Leave one line, and then write the 300 word > (maximum), single paragraph text (single space between lines) of the > abstract, leave one line and write four keywords for the abstract, > the session you want to give your presentation, and if it will be an > oral presentation or a poster. Please, let us know if you would like > to co-chair a session. > > Example: > > ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A NOVEL STRATEGY OF ASEXUAL > REPRODUCTION IN CARIBBEAN MASSIVE CORALS. > E.Weil*, A.L. Ortiz, H. Ruiz & M. Sch?rer. > *Department of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico. P.O. BOX > 908, Lajas, PR 00667, USA. eweil at caribe.net > > Corals can reproduce asexually by at least five described strategies. > Only fragmentation and asexual larvae have been reported for the > Caribbean. A novel strategy of asexual reproduction was observed in > massive colonies of the genera Diploria and Dendrogyra in the > Caribbean. These species produce asexual buds which develop as > soft-tissue outgrowths on the ridges, and deposit a well organized > skeleton which is not connected to the parent colony. We have termed > these propagules gemma (pl. gemmae). Gemmae may stay attached until > they get large and heavy and/or surge conditions are strong. > Detached, surviving gemmae form "rolling stones" or re-attach to the > substrate. Some ecological characteristics were assessed by band > transects, counts of number of gemmae per colony, depth distribution, > etc., in several coral reef areas across the wider Caribbean. Results > indicate that: (1) gemmae are widely distributed from Bermuda to > Venezuela, and were restricted to shallow areas (< 5 m); (2) in > Puerto Rico, D. clivosa had a higher abundance of colonies with > gemmae (25.5 %) compared to D. strigosa (11.7 %) and D. > labyrinthiformis (8.7 %); (3) D. strigosa and D. clivosa had > significantly higher average number of gemmae per colony (14.9 and > 6.8 respectively) than D. labyrinthiformis (1.2); (4) the number and > size of gemmae was not related to parent colony size; (5) average > size of gemmae was similar between the three species in Puerto Rico, > and significantly larger in D. strigosa (5.49 mm) compared to > Venezuela (3.62 mm). Maximum size was found in D. clivosa (26 mm). > This strategy could have evolved as a response to the environmental > instability of shallow reef habitats, and may explain the dominance > of Diploria in these habitats. Further research on the genetic > composition of populations of Diplorias in shallow reef habitats, and > the ecological consequences of this strategy is needed. > > Keywords:. Massive scleractinian corals, asexual reproduction, > gemmae, Caribbean. > Session: General Caribbean Marine Sciences > > Oral Presentation __________ > Poster Presentation _________ > > Chair or co-chair this session ____________ > Other session ______ specify which session > ________________________________________ > ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From reefkeeper at earthlink.net Thu Feb 6 12:24:12 2003 From: reefkeeper at earthlink.net (Alexander Stone) Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 12:24:12 -0500 Subject: Stronger Protections Sought for South Atlantic Groupers Message-ID: R e e f D i s p a t c h *********************** February 7, 2003 Stronger Protections Sought for South Atlantic Groupers ------------------------------------------------------------------- conservation group makes headway towards grouper management reforms Miami, Florida ? Comprehensive management reform for South Atlantic grouper stocks is being called for by the coral reef conservation organization ReefKeeper International in response to information indicating that most grouper stocks are at risk of collapse. The public interest group has requested that an integrated multi-point management program be adopted by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and National Marine Fisheries Service to protect groupers from further depletion. To generate public support for the measures, the conservation group is hosting a Save America's Groupers internet petition campaign at http://www.reefguardian.org. The unified management approach would include new reduced fishing quotas for all grouper species based on available population data for designated indicator stocks, partial spawning season fishing closures, and implementation of rebuilding plans that include no-take zones for all officially designated overfished grouper species. ?Because the proposed management measures are interdependent and each serves a unique purpose, they must all be implemented if we're going to protect groupers and the fisheries that depend on them,? stated ReefKeeper Director Alexander Stone. Action on the ReefKeeper requests is under consideration by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, but their acceptance is uncertain. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is currently working on a broad revision of federal grouper fishing regulations. Available scientific data would indicate that increased protection is overdue. A November 2000 study by the American Fisheries Society identified 10 of the 18 South Atlantic grouper species as being vulnerable to extinction. Similarly, the Council's own information indicates that 11 managed grouper stocks are presently overfished. "Precautionary fishery management measures and stock rebuilding plans must be put in place now, before it is too late," said Stone. The 18 grouper species managed in the South Atlantic are naturally divided by where they are found into a shallow-water grouper complex and a deep-water grouper complex. Each complex consists of many grouper species mixed together throughout the ocean bottom. These two so-called mixed fishery complexes have made traditional techniques of managing stocks on an individual species basis unworkable when applied to groupers. Since multiple species are mingled together in the same fishing areas and depths, they are all caught together by the same fishing gear at the same time. As a result of this phenomenon, ReefKeeper contends that any catch restrictions placed on a single species are ineffective because fishers have no way to avoid catching the restricted species while pursuing other species in the same grouper complex. ?To compensate for the mixed fishery effect on individual grouper species, we?re asking that management measures be applied collectively to all shallow-water groupers as one multi-species complex, and to all deep-water groupers as another,? commented ReefKeeper Director Stone. Compounding management problems is the fact that, due to limited data and staff resources, the South Atlantic Council cannot actually determine the current population condition of many grouper stocks. According to ReefKeeper, the solution is to designate an "indicator species" of known population status for each of the 2 grouper complexes. "Fishing quotas and management decisions for each of the 2 complexes could then be based on the known population condition of the indicator species in each of the 2 complexes," Stone explained. In fact, it appears that the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council may be in at least partial agreement with ReefKeeper?s reasoning. Recently the Council began to consider using the known population condition of Snowy Grouper as the basis for setting fishing quotas and making management decisions for the deep-water grouper complex. But the Council has yet to make any move towards selection of an indicator species for the shallow-water grouper complex. Groupers are seasonal spawners that -- true to their name -- tend to congregate in large groups during spawning season. Shallow-water groupers do this generally in the Spring, while deep-water groupers do it in the Fall. There is widespread concern that fishing for spawning groupers is decreasing their reproductive success year by year. The result is further declines each year in already depressed grouper populations. ReefKeeper is asking the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council to give each grouper species a chance for undisturbed spawning. To do this, the conservation group is advocating establishment of a Spring two-month fishing closure for the shallow-water grouper complex and a Fall closure of the same duration for the deep-water grouper complex. "Staggering the spawning season closures this way would still allow a year-round flow of local grouper to fish markets and restaurants while gradually rebuilding grouper populations as more and more of them live to spawn before being caught," the ReefKeeper spokesman emphasized. Several of the conservation group?s requested management measures have already been included as potential options in the current draft of the revised regulations. These include implementation of science-based overfishing limits, partial spawning season fishing closures, and the setting of rebuilding plans for badly overfished Nassau and Goliath grouper stocks. However, the regulation's present draft still lack several management measures considered essential by ReefKeeper. The conservation group is continuing to advocate for inclusion in the draft regulation of management of grouper stocks on a complex-wide basis, and the adoption of rebuilding plans that include the use of no-take zones for all overfished grouper stocks in the South Atlantic. The public interest organization remains hopeful. ?With continued public support, we feel confident the Council will do the right thing and adopt each of these measures which are fundamental to the recovery of South Atlantic groupers from their present depleted condition,? added Stone. The ReefKeeper grouper management requests are being considered for adoption under Amendment 13 to the South Atlantic Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan. To generate public support for the requests, ReefKeeper is seeking sign-ons to a Save America's Groupers petition at http://www.reefguardian.org/Campaigns/SaveOurReefFishGRP/PetitionGRP.html. "America's groupers need greater protection now, before they are all driven to the brink of extinction," ReefKeeper Director Alexander Stone concluded. # # # Contacts: ReefKeeper International / Alexander Stone, Director / (305) 358-4600 or a_stone at reefkeeper.org South Atlantic Fishery Mgmt Council / Greg Waugh, Assistant Executive Director / (843) 571-4366 or gregg.waugh at safmc.net ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From richardl at fiu.edu Thu Feb 6 13:03:39 2003 From: richardl at fiu.edu (Laurie Richardson) Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 13:03:39 -0500 Subject: AMLC Meeting announcment format Message-ID: Dear Colleagues - I formated the AMLC meeting announcement sent out earlier in Netscape, and the margins got scrambled in the posting. If you are thinking of attending this meeting and want a better information package please reply to this and I'll send it as a word attachment. Thanks and sorry for any inconvenience. Laurie Richardson, AMLC Membership Director ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From ckellogg at usgs.gov Fri Feb 7 06:51:25 2003 From: ckellogg at usgs.gov (Chris Kellogg) Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 06:51:25 -0500 Subject: Diadema die off/African dust Message-ID: Weighing in with my 2 cents on Clostridium (as a microbiologist)-- Clostridium sp., like Bacillus sp., form endospores. Generally, the vegetative cells are rapidly killed by exposure to air, but the spores are not. Both Clostridium and Bacillus sp. are normal soil inhabitants (caveat: C. perfringens is regarded as an indicator of sewage contamination. Note that this 'contamination' and indicator may come from any mammal, not just humans). Point being, there is no reason one could not find Clostridium in African dust. That said, my experiments culturing bacteria from African dust air samples taken in Mali, Africa, have all been done under aerobic conditions. Because I get so much growth (sometimes over 2000 bacterial colonies on a single filter--15 min sample) I can only afford to ID a small subset of bacteria from each sample. The most common genus I have seen is Bacillus. I should be getting some new samples in this month, and will try culturing half the filter under anaerobic conditions to see if anything grows. At one point, Dale Griffin tested some filters from African dust air samples taken in the Virgin Islands under anaerobic conditions, but did not see any growth. However, the Caribbean samples have about 100x fewer bacteria on them than the 'source' dust samples I get from Mali, so if Clostridium is in the dust, I'll have a better shot at detecting it in the samples from Africa. Shameless self promotion: I have just completed an open-file report summarizing my and Dale's work on African dust microbes. It is available at http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/african_dust/ or you can email me for a high resolution pdf (4.2 MB). Due to our group's enthusiasm for the topic of African dust, it may appear that we are trying to link African dust to everything from coral reef/sea urchin mortality to the assassination of JFK (which is not to say that African dust doesn't occasionally cross the Gulf of Mexico and affect air quality in Texas...), to the exclusion of other hypotheses. Our suggestion that something is possible is not intended to imply that it is the sole or even most probable explanation. Just that it is possible. -Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Christina A. Kellogg, Ph.D. Research Microbiologist United States Geological Survey Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies 600 Fourth Street South St. Petersburg, Florida 33701 PH: (727) 803-8747 X3128 FAX:(727) 803-2031 Email: ckellogg at usgs.gov ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Everything is dust in the wind." - Kansas >Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 17:31:43 -0600 >From: "Robert W. Buddemeier" >Organization: KGS >X-Accept-Language: en >MIME-Version: 1.0 >To: Jim Bohnsack >CC: coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov, eshinn at usgs.gov, rbak at nioz.nl, > lessiosh , szmanta at uncwil.edu, > Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov >Subject: Re: Diadema die off - another reference >X-MIMETrack: Itemize by SMTP Server on gscamnlh01/SERVER/USGS/DOI(Release >5.0.10 |March > 22, 2002) at 01/30/2003 03:32:03 PM, > Serialize by POP3 Server on gsflstpm01/SERVER/USGS/DOI(Release >5.0.10 |March > 22, 2002) at 01/30/2003 06:41:42 PM, > Serialize complete at 01/30/2003 06:41:42 PM > >Interesting -- African dust doesn't sound like a very good vector for an >anaerobe. > >Two other observations on the Dust Discussion -- > >1. Paleoclimate -- based on (dust-relevant) African contributions to >Atlantic sediments, the Sahara desertification was complete and its sediment >output quasi-steady-state by 5000 years BP. (I think the reference is >deMenocal et al. 2000, Quat. Sci. Rev. 19:347-361) If dust were a reliable >vector there should have been plenty of chances for ecosystem inoculation >before the past decade; alternatively, if this (putative dust-borne >infection) were a statistically unique event in the Quaternary, then there is >probably no way to 'prove' it, but probably also not much reason to worry >about it in the future. > >2. Experimental studies -- I think it would be extremely difficult to devise >any sort of mesocosm test of the dust hypothesis -- in addition to the issue >of how to test for or rule out statistically rare episodic inputs, there is >the serious experimental design problem inherent in the enormous differences >in surface/volume ratios between aquaria and the real ocean. > >If you delivered a realistic oceanic surface dose (g/m2/day) to an aquarium, >the resultant water concentration would be orders of magnitude greater than >in a natural system, and if you tried to generate a realistic oceanic water >column concentration in an aquarium, you would be dealing with an almost >unmanageably small (and therefore probably unrepresentative) input dose. >Further, the high internal (solid) surface to (water) volume ratio of the >aquarium system, combined with low water motion relative to the real ocean, >would confound interpretation of the behavior of particulate contaminants. > >Bob Buddemeier > >Jim Bohnsack wrote: > >> In the various discussions, I did not see the following reference >> mentioned concerning the cause of the Caribbean Diadema die off in 1983. >> >> Bauer, J.C. and C.J. Agerter. 1987. Isolation of bacteria pathogenic >> for the sea urchin Diadema antillarum (Echinodermata: Echinoidea). Bull. >> Mar. Sci. 40(1): 161-165. >> >> It provides evidence that an anaerobic bacteria Clostridium was the >> responsible agent. I believe this study was able to satisfy all but one >> of Koch's postulates. The last one can not be tested because no known >> specimen that actually died in the kill was preserved by freezing. >> >> Also, I vaguely rember (i.e. I can not verify) someone mentioning that >> this kill occurred just after Panama started preventing ships from >> releasing ballast water and other discharges in the Panama Canal. >> Presumably, cruise ships that held sewage in tanks while crossing the >> Isthmus would have plenty of opportunity to build up anoxic conditions >> in their tanks and large abundance of Clostridium. If there is any >> merit to this hypothesis, I hope everyone appreciates the irony of having >> one regulation designed to prevent environmental damage (i.e. protect >> water quality in the Panama Canal) causing great damage elsewhere. >> >> REF: >> >> > Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 10:08:33 -0500 >> > From: Gene Shinn >> > Subject: Dust and other Hypotheses >> > >> > TimesDear Coral Listers, >> > >> > Since there has been so much discussion of the African dust >> > hypothesis on the list in recent weeks, I could resist responding no >> > longer. First, the experiments proposed by Jim Hendee to test African >> > dust effects on corals are similar to ones I have been proposing for at >> > least 5 years. Unfortunately, there is little funding to do such work. >> > In addition, the USGS does not have in place the dust collectors you >> > mention. We sample for microbes using very small samples and collection >> > requires only 10-to-15 minutes. We do no routine monitoring but would >> > if we could. There is no funding for the large expensive samplers >> > needed to provide enough sample for the experiments Jim proposed. >> > Secondly, the major problem with finding the Diadema pathogen is that >> > the pathogen that first killed them has not been identified so we do >> > not know what to look for. It would be possible, however, to test >> > living Diadema against those microbes that have been cultured from dust >> > thus far. >> > >> > I thank Lessios for answering Alina's question regarding survival >> > of West African Diadema. I did not have an answer as elegant as his. I >> > could only suggest that Diadema living so close to the source, like the >> > humans and the Siderastera sp. that survive there, long ago adapted and >> > those that didn't died. Lessios also makes some very valid points >> > regarding water transport of the unknown pathogen. We accept that the >> > Diadema die-off began near the Panama Canal (Lessios et al., 1984, >> > Science, 226:335-337). We also point out that the die-off began in >> > winter when African dust impacts the southern Caribbean, South America >> > and the Panama region and it was also the dustiest year since Prospero >> > began monitoring dust in 1965. The upper Caribbean is impacted later >> > during the summer months. Like Lessios, we believe water transport is >> > very important. How else would it infect Diadema in aquaria (I assume >> > we are talking running seawater aquaria)? Once the Caribbean basin is >> > impacted as shown in the NOAA satellite image in our 4-page info sheet >> > in our website, water currents likely complete the distribution of any >> > pathogens delivered from the air. Areas downcurrent, such as, Belize >> > and Florida, were impacted by the disease after Panama. What has >> > concerned us, however, is how did the pathogen later move hundreds of >> > miles against the Caribbean Current to reach the Lesser Antilles? Dust >> > contamination of the Atlantic seaward of the Antilles and then >> > transport downcurrent to the Antilles seems a reasonable possibility. >> > There is nothing between the Antilles and Africa, and both the wind and >> > the currents move toward the Antilles. More recent studies conducted by >> > microbiologists at our office show that microbial species in dust can >> > change drastically within 30 minutes. Don't expect a dust cloud to >> > deliver the same microbes everywhere at the same time. >> > >> > My main point is that the dust hypothesis is just that, an >> > hypothesis, as are the other proposed causes of Diadema and coral >> > death. The ballast-water origin is an unproven hypothesis, as are the >> > other "usual suspects" that drive coral research funding. This latter >> > point gets back to what Jim pointed out a week earlier regarding the >> > emotional "pollution" word. Where is the original basic research >> > demonstrating the degree of damage done to corals by the "usual >> > suspects," oil spills, sewage, sedimentation, and mosquito spraying, to >> > name a few? We seem to have skipped over the basics and then let >> > assumptions and emotion guide our research and funding agencies. >> > >> > Best Wishes, Gene >> > >> >> ~~~~~~~ >> For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the >> digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > >-- >Dr. Robert W. Buddemeier >Kansas Geological Survey >University of Kansas >1930 Constant Avenue >Lawrence, KS 66047 USA >e-mail: buddrw at ku.edu >ph (1) (785) 864-2112 >fax (1) (785) 864-5317 > ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From solutions at cozm.co.uk Fri Feb 7 06:53:24 2003 From: solutions at cozm.co.uk (Duncan MacRae) Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 06:53:24 -0500 Subject: Need information on carrying capacity Message-ID: Dear Pedro, I did an extensive study on carrying capacity on Bonaire last year (as yet unpublished). I looked at 40 sites and the amount of damage around the mooring buoys. Some sites had in excess of 25000 divers visiting them and showed far higher diversity and greater 'health' than other sites with very few divers. If you would like to know more, do not hesitate to contact me. I suggest that you are very careful using diver numbers as a management tool, it has tended to open up a large can of worms. Better would be the number of tourists that the local wastewater treatment plants of the area can handle..... Regards, Duncan R. MacRae ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pedro Alcolado" To: Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 10:32 PM Subject: Need information on carrying capacity > Dear Coral lister, > > I need to get information about other papers than Hawskin's and Roberts' > = > (1997) about carrying capacity in coral reef diving. I am participating > = > in the elaboration of tourist diving regulations, and so far I have = > Haskin's and Roberts' figures of 5000-6000 divers/site/year. I think it > = > would be good a figure for begining that could be revised an adjusted = > after subsequent monitoring, but I would like to know about other = > alternative numbers. I would appreciate to receive that information, as > = > well as any relevant comment on the issue. > > Cheers, > Pedro > > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > > ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From Mark.Vermeij at noaa.gov Fri Feb 7 11:12:13 2003 From: Mark.Vermeij at noaa.gov (Mark Vermeij) Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 11:12:13 -0500 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Dear Duncan, and the rest, Being somewhat familiar with the Bonaire situation I want to raise some caution to that what's suggested in your mail, more diversity and greater health are related to higher number of visiting divers. Although this realtion could well exist, to suggest any sort of mechanistical relationship is probably highly premature. Although one could think of divers as an disturbance that jacks up species numbers (i.e. attraction of fish mainly), the suggestion that diving causes/ increases the attractiveness/ health of a reef should not be proposed as such, as it will likely be used as an "easy" argument in discussions occurring all around the world where the reef and society compete. In itself this would of course be ok, were it not that the relation mentioned above is very likely the result of the "non random distribution" of divers around the island and the unwillingness of dive resorts to go all the way to the "really nice spots" on Bonaire, which will take a considerable trip, that many tourists don't deal with very well. Spots with low diversity are not very attractive for divers, hence they aren't brought over there. The regular dive sites occur on the entire leeward site of Bonaire and take the major amount of visitors. The truly exciting reefs occur on the east side or the north side of the island, but suffer from some serious beating by the trade winds. Needless to say that no resort will throw their visitors of the cliffs on these sides of the island to "enjoy" a really good reef. A pattern no evolves where divers aren't brought to the worst and the best sides, creating a relation at the beginning of this continuum between increasing numbers of divers and overall reef quality. I think this underlying factor needs to be addressed before claims as yours can be made, so one doesn't risk the "justification" of adding large numbers of divers to a reef to save it. Best regards, Mark -- Dr. Mark Vermeij Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (RSMAS/UM) NOAA Fisheries, Southeast Science Center 75 Virginia Beach Dr, Miami, FL 33149 USA Tel: +1 305-361-4230, Fax: +1 305-361-4499 E-mail: Mark.Vermeij at noaa.gov http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/cimas/ ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From gjgast at ams.greenpeace.org Fri Feb 7 11:13:13 2003 From: gjgast at ams.greenpeace.org (GJ Gast) Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 11:13:13 -0500 Subject: Need information on carrying capacity Message-ID: Dear Duncan, 1. Does this mean that building more sewage treatment plants gives coral reefs a higher carrying capacity for tourism? 2. There are no sewage treatment plants on Bonaire. So the allowed number of tourist must be set on zero? I understand that divers carrying capacity is a complicated issue with many varying aspects and that it is hard to come to generally applicable figures. The least one can do is to use the precautionary principle, which in this case means staying way within known safe limits. Using wastewater treatment as a criterium is definately much too simplistic. On the contrary, the wastewater treatment capacity should follow the numbers of tourists and local people. If only that would become reality.... Best wishes, GJ. On 7 Feb 2003, at 6:53, Duncan MacRae wrote: > Dear Pedro, > > I did an extensive study on carrying capacity on Bonaire last year (as > yet unpublished). I looked at 40 sites and the amount of damage around > the mooring buoys. Some sites had in excess of 25000 divers visiting > them and showed far higher diversity and greater 'health' than other > sites with very few divers. If you would like to know more, do not > hesitate to contact me. > > I suggest that you are very careful using diver numbers as a > management tool, it has tended to open up a large can of worms. Better > would be the number of tourists that the local wastewater treatment > plants of the area can handle..... > > Regards, > > Duncan R. MacRae > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Pedro Alcolado" > To: > Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 10:32 PM > Subject: Need information on carrying capacity > > > > Dear Coral lister, > > > > I need to get information about other papers than Hawskin's and > > Roberts' = (1997) about carrying capacity in coral reef diving. I am > > participating = in the elaboration of tourist diving regulations, > > and so far I have = Haskin's and Roberts' figures of 5000-6000 > > divers/site/year. I think it = would be good a figure for begining > > that could be revised an adjusted = after subsequent monitoring, but > > I would like to know about other = alternative numbers. I would > > appreciate to receive that information, as = well as any relevant > > comment on the issue. > > > > Cheers, > > Pedro > > > > ~~~~~~~ > > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html > > . > > > > > > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > ========================================================= Dr Gert Jan Gast Seas and Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace Netherlands Keizersgracht 174, 1016DW Amsterdam, The Netherlands Phone +31 20 5236655 Mobile +31 6 5206 2976 Fax +31 20 6221272 ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From coral_giac at yahoo.com Fri Feb 7 11:14:14 2003 From: coral_giac at yahoo.com (Hernandez Edwin) Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 11:14:14 -0500 Subject: Need information on carrying capacity Message-ID: Dear coral-listers: I partially and respectfully disagree with Duncan MacRae regarding his recommendation of not using diver numbers as a management tool. Under high densities, diver numbers can have a negative effect on coral reef benthic communities. In Puerto Rico, there are still diving schools that take out in some of their trips between 40 and 80 novice divers in a single boat trip. Similarly, we have major hotels in PR that bring bunches of unexperienced snorkellers to shallow reef areas that I have personally seen stepping on living corals everywhere. Novice divers and snorkellers could be extremely destructive in localized reef areas, mostly because they are not familiar with the reefs (and they have not been adequately educated during their trainng, if any at all). They can not adequately control yet their buoyancy, most of them use diving gloves and keep touching everything trying to avoid hitting the bottom, etc. Also, most of the time, diving boats drop anchor on the reef due to the lack of mooring buoys. Thus, these combined effects have a high potential for causing significant destruction. Diver number could affect boat traffic, anchoring, potential for fuel contamination, possible reef trampling to access shore reefs, etc. And, in many instances (e.g., Puerto Rico), this could translate into severe indirect recreational spearfishing effects. Yes, we do still have a LOT of spearfishing diving trips everywhere! Diver number HAS to be taken into consideration because it is not the same having several trips with few experienced and well-trained divers, than to have a bunch of rookies around. I think that to define management of diving activities you have to consider: 1. Overall number of divers. 2. Number of diving trips. 3. Number of divers/trip. 4. Level of diver training. 5. Purpose of diving trip. 6. Ecological conditions of the diving place. 7. Education of reef etiquete and behavior (this should be mandatory). 8. Shoreline entrances to the reef. My research experience (Hernandez-Delgado et al., 2001; Hernandez-Delgado et al., in preparation) has shown that trampling to gain access to deeper reef areas can be extremely destructive in localized areas. And, the higher the number of people, the higher the damage. Thus, diver number is a major part of the carrying capacity formula that should not be left out. Cheers, Edwin ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From david at medio.fsnet.co.uk Fri Feb 7 11:44:10 2003 From: david at medio.fsnet.co.uk (david medio) Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 11:44:10 -0500 Subject: carrying capacity Message-ID: I do not know Bonaire, but have worked on the issue of carrying capacity and diver damage. At Ras Mohammed National park (possibly the most densily dived spot anywhere on earth) there is no question that a correlation exists between no of divers and reef degradation. The only thing that has made a difference is (a) diver education, (b) no anchors, (c) no boat discharges and limited number of boats per mooring and per site. Cheers. Dr David Medio Environmental Consultant 43 St John Street York YO31 7QR England +44 1904 647202 david at medio.fsnet.co.uk ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Vermeij" To: Cc: Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 4:12 PM > Dear Duncan, and the rest, > > Being somewhat familiar with the Bonaire situation I want to raise some > caution to that what's suggested in your mail, more diversity and > greater health are related to higher number of visiting divers. Although > this realtion could well exist, to suggest any sort of mechanistical > relationship is probably highly premature. Although one could think of > divers as an disturbance that jacks up species numbers (i.e. attraction > of fish mainly), the suggestion that diving causes/ increases the > attractiveness/ health of a reef should not be proposed as such, as it > will likely be used as an "easy" argument in discussions occurring all > around the world where the reef and society compete. In itself this > would of course be ok, were it not that the relation mentioned above is > very likely the result of the "non random distribution" of divers around > the island and the unwillingness of dive resorts to go all the way to > the "really nice spots" on Bonaire, which will take a considerable trip, > that many tourists don't deal with very well. > Spots with low diversity are not very attractive for divers, hence they > aren't brought over there. The regular dive sites occur on the entire > leeward site of Bonaire and take the major amount of visitors. The > truly exciting reefs occur on the east side or the north side of the > island, but suffer from some serious beating by the trade winds. > Needless to say that no resort will throw their visitors of the cliffs > on these sides of the island to "enjoy" a really good reef. > A pattern no evolves where divers aren't brought to the worst and the > best sides, creating a relation at the beginning of this continuum > between increasing numbers of divers and overall reef quality. I think > this underlying factor needs to be addressed before claims as yours can > be made, so one doesn't risk the "justification" of adding large numbers > of divers to a reef to save it. > > Best regards, > Mark > > -- > Dr. Mark Vermeij > > Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (RSMAS/UM) > > NOAA Fisheries, Southeast Science Center > 75 Virginia Beach Dr, Miami, FL 33149 USA > Tel: +1 305-361-4230, > Fax: +1 305-361-4499 > E-mail: Mark.Vermeij at noaa.gov > > http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/cimas/ > > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > > ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu Fri Feb 7 12:15:17 2003 From: jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu (John McManus) Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 12:15:17 -0500 Subject: Reef use and the time element Message-ID: Regarding reef use and reef health, it is important to account for the time element. In a study of a large number of reef areas in the Philippines, we found very little relationship between coastal density and reef health at first. Then we determined that recent settlements tended to be alongside healthier reefs, and older settlements tended to be along reefs in less good health. An analysis based on this showed good correlations. This supported the idea that people move to healthy coral areas, and then those areas degrade over time. The same would be expected with the dive industry. However, one would need to demonstrate this in a place with a long legacy of dive tourism. see: Pollnac, R.B., McManus, J.W., del Rosario, A. E., Banzon, A.S., Vergara, S.G. and Gorospe, M.L.G. 2000. Unexpected relationships between coral reef health and socio-economic pressures in the Philippines: ReefBase/RAMP applied. Marine & Freshwater Research 51:529-533. Cheers! John John W. McManus, PhD. Director National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research (NCORE) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway Miami, Fl. 33149 Phone: 305-361-4814 Fax: 305-361-4910 Email: jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu Website: www.ncoremiami.edu ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From alcolado at ama.cu Fri Feb 7 12:43:31 2003 From: alcolado at ama.cu (Pedro Alcolado) Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 12:43:31 -0500 Subject: RV: Need information on carrying capacity Message-ID: > Thanks very much, Duncan. It is surprising to know that a coral reef diving > spot visited by 25000 diver in one year still healthy, when in general > recomendations in litterature on carrying capacity do not exceed 10000, with > the exception of San Andres, Colombia, with 29000 (Gallo et al. in prep.; > which also surprised me). You are right about taking more care about > external stress sources (pollution from tourist resorts). Our Environment > Agency is aware about that and we have officially implemented EIAs and > licensing since 1997, which take into account this issue. The problem is > that we are preparing official general regulations for diving even in places > quite far for tourist resorts, and we think that even having very good diver > behaviour regulations and compliance, it would be convenient to set a > precautionary limit in the yearly amount of divers in a dive spot, in oder > to avoid eventual overcrowding by some local turoperators. We have > recommended no more than 4000 diver per year per site, but hearing you > figure I wonder (and worry about) wether we are really limiting the > potential income of country tourist dive bussiness with this relatively low > recommended figure. > Thank you very much again, and please keep helping us on the issue. I send a > copy of this message to Reynaldo Estrada, Director of the National Center of > Protected Areas (CNAP), who is leading the preparation of the dive > regulations, to keep him informed about your interesting comments. > Regards, > Pedro, > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Duncan MacRae > To: > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 6:53 AM > Subject: Re: Need information on carrying capacity > > > > Dear Pedro, > > > > I did an extensive study on carrying capacity on Bonaire last year (as yet > > unpublished). I looked at 40 sites and the amount of damage around the > > mooring buoys. Some sites had in excess of 25000 divers visiting them and > > showed far higher diversity and greater 'health' than other sites with > very > > few divers. If you would like to know more, do not hesitate to contact me. > > > > I suggest that you are very careful using diver numbers as a management > > tool, it has tended to open up a large can of worms. Better would be the > > number of tourists that the local wastewater treatment plants of the area > > can handle..... > > > > Regards, > > > > Duncan R. MacRae > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Pedro Alcolado" > > To: > > Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 10:32 PM > > Subject: Need information on carrying capacity > > > > > > > Dear Coral lister, > > > > > > I need to get information about other papers than Hawskin's and Roberts' > > > = > > > (1997) about carrying capacity in coral reef diving. I am participating > > > = > > > in the elaboration of tourist diving regulations, and so far I have = > > > Haskin's and Roberts' figures of 5000-6000 divers/site/year. I think it > > > = > > > would be good a figure for begining that could be revised an adjusted = > > > after subsequent monitoring, but I would like to know about other = > > > alternative numbers. I would appreciate to receive that information, as > > > = > > > well as any relevant comment on the issue. > > > > > > Cheers, > > > Pedro > > > > > > ~~~~~~~ > > > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > > > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~ > > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > > > ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From GChallenger at msn.com Fri Feb 7 12:43:32 2003 From: GChallenger at msn.com (Greg Challenger) Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 12:43:32 -0500 Subject: Need information on carrying capacity Message-ID: I agree with Mark. Correlation is not causation, although I don't recall that it was suggest= ed. It stands to reason that mooring buoys are purposely placed in areas= that appear to be the most diverse and interesting for divers. Some del= ving into historical data regarding both the reef and the time since buoy= placement at each site, as well as continued monitoring of buoy and cont= rol sites may be necessary to make further inferences. In reference to sewage treatment criterion. I think diver carrying capac= ity can be viewed in the context of other pressures. A reef has an overa= ll carrying capacity, which we may define as a point beyond which communi= ty indices are adversely affected in a measurable or observable way. Div= er carrying capacity alone could vary depending on other stressors. Land= use, point source pollution and others may stress a reef such that diver= influences may be more readily observable. This would be a difficult pr= emise for which to design an experiment. I can think of one, but it would= cost boatloads of dough. =20 Waste water treatment as the only factor determinant in carrying capacity= is too simplistic, but I believe Pedro was just making a point. Diver c= arrying capacity at each site likely varies. This is logical given the d= ynamic and varying ecological indices and anthropogenic factors between a= nd among reefs. =20 ----- Original Message ----- From: GJ Gast Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 8:24 AM To: Duncan MacRae; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov Subject: Re: Need information on carrying capacity Dear Duncan, 1. Does this mean that building more sewage treatment plants gives =20 coral reefs a higher carrying capacity for tourism? 2. There are no sewage treatment plants on Bonaire. So the allowed =20 number of tourist must be set on zero? I understand that divers carrying capacity is a complicated issue =20 with many varying aspects and that it is hard to come to generally =20 applicable figures. The least one can do is to use the precautionary =20 principle, which in this case means staying way within known safe =20 limits. Using wastewater treatment as a criterium is definately much =20 too simplistic. On the contrary, the wastewater treatment capacity =20 should follow the numbers of tourists and local people. If only that =20 would become reality.... Best wishes, GJ. On 7 Feb 2003, at 6:53, Duncan MacRae wrote: > Dear Pedro, > =20 > I did an extensive study on carrying capacity on Bonaire last year (as > yet unpublished). I looked at 40 sites and the amount of damage around > the mooring buoys. Some sites had in excess of 25000 divers visiting > them and showed far higher diversity and greater 'health' than other > sites with very few divers. If you would like to know more, do not > hesitate to contact me. > =20 > I suggest that you are very careful using diver numbers as a > management tool, it has tended to open up a large can of worms. Better > would be the number of tourists that the local wastewater treatment > plants of the area can handle..... > =20 > Regards, > =20 > Duncan R. MacRae > =20 > =20 > =20 > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Pedro Alcolado" > To: > Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 10:32 PM > Subject: Need information on carrying capacity > =20 > =20 > > Dear Coral lister, > > > > I need to get information about other papers than Hawskin's and > > Roberts' =3D (1997) about carrying capacity in coral reef diving. I a= m > > participating =3D in the elaboration of tourist diving regulations, > > and so far I have =3D Haskin's and Roberts' figures of 5000-6000 > > divers/site/year. I think it =3D would be good a figure for begining > > that could be revised an adjusted =3D after subsequent monitoring, bu= t > > I would like to know about other =3D alternative numbers. I would > > appreciate to receive that information, as =3D well as any relevant > > comment on the issue. > > > > Cheers, > > Pedro > > > > ~~~~~~~ > > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html > > . > > > > > =20 > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > =20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Dr Gert Jan Gast Seas and Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace Netherlands Keizersgracht 174, 1016DW Amsterdam, The Netherlands Phone +31 20 5236655 Mobile +31 6 5206 2976 Fax +31 20 6221272 ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . ------=_NextPart_001_0003_01C2CE8B.CE1A20B0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
I agree = with Mark.
Correlation is not causation, although I don't reca= ll that it was suggested.  It stands to reason that mooring buoys ar= e purposely placed in areas that appear to be the most diverse and intere= sting for divers.  Some delving into historical data regarding both = the reef and the time since buoy placement at each site, as well as conti= nued monitoring of buoy and control sites may be necessary to make furthe= r inferences.
 
In reference to sewage treatme= nt criterion.  I think diver carrying capacity can be viewed in= the context of other pressures.  A reef has an overall carrying cap= acity, which we may define as a point beyond which co= mmunity indices are adversely affected in a measurable or observable way.=   Diver carrying capacity alone could vary depending on other stress= ors.  Land use, point source pollution and others may stress a reef = such that diver influences may be more readily observable.  This wou= ld be a difficult premise for which to design an experiment. I can think = of one, but it would cost boatloads of dough.
 
Waste water treatment as the only factor determinant in carrying capac= ity is too simplistic, but I believe Pedro was just making a point.&= nbsp; Diver carrying capacity at each site likely varies.  This is l= ogical given the dynamic and varying ecological indices and anthropo= genic factors between and among reefs.
= ----- Original Message -----
From: GJ Gast
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 8:24 AM
To: Duncan MacRae; coral-list at coral.aom= l.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: Need= information on carrying capacity
 
Dear Duncan,
=
1. Does this mean that building more sewage treatment plants gives coral reefs a higher carrying capacity for tourism?

2. There are= no sewage treatment plants on Bonaire. So the allowed
number of tour= ist must be set on zero?

I understand that divers carrying capacit= y is a complicated issue
with many varying aspects and that it is har= d to come to generally
applicable figures. The least one can do is to= use the precautionary
principle, which in this case means staying wa= y within known safe
limits. Using wastewater treatment as a criterium= is definately much
too simplistic. On the contrary, the wastewater t= reatment capacity
should follow the numbers of tourists and local peo= ple. If only that
would become reality....

Best wishes, GJ.
On 7 Feb 2003, at 6:53, Duncan MacRae wrote:

> Dear Pedro,=
>
> I did an extensive study on carrying capacity on Bonair= e last year (as
> yet unpublished). I looked at 40 sites and the am= ount of damage around
> the mooring buoys. Some sites had in excess= of 25000 divers visiting
> them and showed far higher diversity an= d greater 'health' than other
> sites with very few divers. If you = would like to know more, do not
> hesitate to contact me.
> <= BR>> I suggest that you are very careful using diver numbers as a
&= gt; management tool, it has tended to open up a large can of worms. Bette= r
> would be the number of tourists that the local wastewater treat= ment
> plants of the area can handle.....
>
> Regards,=
>
> Duncan R. MacRae
>
>
>
> ---= -- Original Message -----
> From: "Pedro Alcolado" <alcolado at ama= .cu>
> To: <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Sent: = Tuesday, January 28, 2003 10:32 PM
> Subject: Need information on c= arrying capacity
>
>
> > Dear Coral lister,
>= ; >
> > I need to get information about other papers than Haw= skin's and
> > Roberts' =3D (1997) about carrying capacity in co= ral reef diving. I am
> > participating =3D in the elaboration o= f tourist diving regulations,
> > and so far I have =3D Haskin's= and Roberts' figures of 5000-6000
> > divers/site/year. I think= it =3D would be good a figure for begining
> > that could be re= vised an adjusted =3D after subsequent monitoring, but
> > I wou= ld like to know about other =3D alternative numbers. I would
> >= appreciate to receive that information, as =3D well as any relevant
&= gt; > comment on the issue.
> >
> > Cheers,
> = > Pedro
> >
> > ~~~~~~~
> > For directions = on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the
> > digest= s, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html
> >= ; .
> >
> >
>
> ~~~~~~~
> For direct= ions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the
> digest= s, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html .
> <= BR>

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Dr Gert Jan Gast
Seas and Oceans = Campaigner, Greenpeace Netherlands
Keizersgracht 174, 1016DW Amsterdam= , The Netherlands
Phone +31 20 5236655
Mobile +31 6 5206 2976
Fa= x +31 20 6221272

~~~~~~~
For directions on subscribing and unsu= bscribing to coral-list or the
digests, please see http://www.coral.no= aa.gov/lists/coral-list.html .
------=_NextPart_001_0003_01C2CE8B.CE1A20B0-- ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From arrecifes4 at yahoo.com Fri Feb 7 13:07:26 2003 From: arrecifes4 at yahoo.com (M.Kathleen Hurley) Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 10:07:26 -0800 (PST) Subject: Rapid assessment for coral disease Message-ID: Dear List- I am looking for a rapid assessment method for coral disease in the Dominican Rep?blic. I would greatly appreciate any information on a rapid assessment method for assessing coral disease. I am aware of the modified CARICOMP method, but am looking for alternatives. Please respond directly to me. THanks in advance for your help. Kathleen Hurley, M.S. US Fulbright Fellow __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From riskmj at univmail.cis.mcmaster.ca Fri Feb 7 16:50:26 2003 From: riskmj at univmail.cis.mcmaster.ca (Michael Risk) Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 16:50:26 -0500 Subject: Message-ID: Dear Mark, and Duncan, and the rest: I had already replied to Duncan privately re his posting, but your response has prompted me to make this wider submission. I did NOT read his posting as saying, divers are good for reefs. I'm sure Duncan is way too smart for that. There are many factors involved here, some of which you point out. As divers are taken to good spots, these also tend to have higher diversity, duh. In my experience, divers per se do not produce a lot of stress on reefs. Some of you should dive Sipadan, which receives several 10's of thousands of divers to an island that is only a few acres. We reef scientists need to be clear that what the locals do to attract and keep the divers is far more damaging. Duncan is right on the money when he says, look to the wastewater treatment facilities. All debates on "carrying capacity" need first and foremost to deal with land-based sources before any diver headcounts are attempted. ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From Heidi.Schuttenberg at noaa.gov Fri Feb 7 17:53:06 2003 From: Heidi.Schuttenberg at noaa.gov (Heidi Schuttenberg) Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 17:53:06 -0500 Subject: USCRTF Meeting 26-27 Feb Message-ID: U.S. Coral Reef Task Force Meeting The U.S. Coral Reef Task Force will hold its 9th meeting in Washington D.C. February 26-27. The meeting is open to the public and participation by all interested stakeholders in encouraged. Participants can register in advanced or on-site during the event. There is no cost for registration. Those interested have the opportunity to exhibit. There will also be an opportunity for public comment. The agenda for the meeting can be found at the Task Force web site: http://coralreef.gov/ Specific contact information about the meeting, exhibiting, and registration can be found in the Federal Register Notice pasted below. with best regards, Heidi Schuttenberg Federal Register Notice, 23 January 2003 Time and Date: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, February 26 and 27, 2003. Place: Departmental Auditorium, Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20240. Status: The Department of the Interior, as co-chair with the Department of Commerce, on behalf of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (CRTF), announces a public meeting of the Task Force. Composed of the heads of eleven federal agencies and the Governors of seven states, territories, and commonwealths, the Task Force has helped lead U.S. efforts to address the coral reef crisis and sustainably manage the nation's valuable coral reef ecosystems. Matters to be Considered: The CRTF will discuss implementation of the National Plan for Coral Reef Conservation Action, improvements in Task Force operations, and accept public comments. The agenda will be available from the contact person below and published on the web at http://coralreef.gov/ when finalized. Individuals and organizations will have opportunities to register for exhibit space and register to provide public comments limited to less that 5 minutes. Wherever possible, those with similar viewpoints or messages are encouraged to make joint statements. Testimony will be received on the afternoon of February 26. Written statements may also be submitted to the Task Force up to March 14, 2003. Contact Person for More Information: Organizations and individuals desiring to register for public comments or to obtain additional information should contact Patty Myatt, c/o the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife Parks, Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW., MS-MIB-3156, Washington, DC 20240, telephone 202-208-6621, email patty_myatt at ios.doi.gov. -- Heidi Schuttenberg Environmental Policy Specialist NOAA Ocean Service Office of Response and Restoration ph: 301-713-2989 x224 fx: 301-713-4389 From trouphael at hotmail.com Sat Feb 8 01:19:42 2003 From: trouphael at hotmail.com (Anthony Rouphael) Date: Sat, 08 Feb 2003 06:19:42 +0000 Subject: carrying capacity and other management approaches Message-ID: Dear Listers From solutions at cozm.co.uk Sat Feb 8 03:24:24 2003 From: solutions at cozm.co.uk (Duncan R. MacRae) Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2003 15:24:24 +0700 (ICT) Subject: Information requests Message-ID: Dear coral-list, Many people have requested further information from me. I will endearvour to reply to you all and deliver more information no some form as soon as possible. I am in the field until the end of April. Regards, Duncan R. MacRae Director, Coastal Zone Management A co-operative of professionals working in ICZM www.cozm.co.uk solutions at cozm.co.uk Thailand mobile: +66 (0) 668 55676 UK mobile: +44 (0) 7958 230 076 ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From gregorh at ucla.edu Sun Feb 9 03:15:07 2003 From: gregorh at ucla.edu (Gregor Hodgson) Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2003 00:15:07 -0800 Subject: Coral symbionts Message-ID: Dear Ivan, Coral reefs in Vietnam are some of the most overfished in the world and the reefs are subject to many other impacts. You may be interested in the following: Thang, H.V., G. Hodgson, E. Hresko, C. Ovel (eds) 1998. Coastal Biodiversity Priorities in Vietnam. Proceedings of the Workshop on Coastal Priorities in Vietnam, Hanoi 4-6 November 1997. Institute for Environment and Sustainable Development Publication 98-02, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong. Vo S.T. and Hodgson G. 1997. Coral reefs of Vietnam: Recruitment limitation and physical forcing. p. 477-482. Vol. 1. In: HA Lessios (ed) Proc. 8th Intl. Coral Reef Symposium, June 24-29, 1996, Panama City, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama. Gregor Hodgson, PhD Director, Reef Check Professor (Visiting) Institute of the Environment 1362 Hershey Hall Mailcode 149607 University of California at Los Angeles Los Angeles CA 90095 USA Tel: (1) 310-794-4985 Fax: (1) 310-825-0758 Email: gregorh at ucla.edu www.ReefCheck.org ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ivan Marin" To: Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 7:00 AM Subject: Coral symbionts > Dear Coral-lers, > > Our laboratory has been studing simbiotic relationships between different > sea invertebrates. Personally, I am studing coral-associated crustaceans as one > of the component of coral reef community. Generally, we are interested in all > animals and their complex associated with scleractinian coral colonies. > Since 2001 members of our laboratory has been working in South Vietnam > waters investigating coral reef community and all influinced factors. As one > knows, corals in Vietnam are hardly exploited by fishing, pollution and others, > that why this region is very interesting to study effect of exploitation. My > supervisor, T.A. Brytaev, and I try to investigate the changes in coral > associated communities as factors and indexes of coral community pollution. > Here, we are looking for scientist or societies, who are interested in > cooperation in this topic. We are interested in any contacts with scientists > who make same investigations in other regoins. > > And yet one. Could you help me to find organizations, societies or funds > (their Internet pages), which are supporting and funding different joint > projects, scientific projects on studing coral associated communities and > grants for PhD student to make joint coral reef condition investigations in > Indo-West Pacific. > > > Thank You very much. > > Sincerely yours > > Ph.D. student, Ivan N. Marin > Laboratory of Evolutional Morphology of Marine Invertebrates > (T.Brytaev Laboratory) > A.N. Severtzov Institute of Ecology and Evolution (RAS) > Leninsky pr. 33 > 117071 Moscow > Russia > Fax: 095 954 5534 > > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From James.Spurgeon at jacobs.com Sun Feb 9 14:14:54 2003 From: James.Spurgeon at jacobs.com (Spurgeon, James) Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2003 19:14:54 -0000 Subject: carrying capacity, LACs and economic values paper Message-ID: Dear Pedro and listers The visitor "carrying capacity" of a coral reef is a function of the following factors: ?Number of people entering the water ?*Means of accessing the water (anchoring, shoreline, boardwalks etc) ?*Activity they undertake (diving, snorkelling, with gloves etc) ?*Visitor experience, training and education ?*Management tools (fines, visitor facilities, restricting access etc) ?Natural physical conditions (depth, topography, currents, waves, etc) ?Type of corals (form and fragility) ?*Extent of other stresses (wastewater, sea temperature etc) ?*Levels of acceptable change (extent of acceptable coral cover etc) Consequently, reef carrying capacities will differ enormously (and Duncan's point is certainly valid). However, for management purposes, generalizations could be made for several different categories of reef. Furthermore, because several factors* can be modified, carrying capacity at any site can be changed significantly. Note that in the Galapagos Islands, a maximum carrying capacity of 20,000 visitors per year was set in 1985. Currently, over 65,000 people visit each year. Through various management measures, associated visitor damage is minor, especially compared to other stresses (e.g. introduction of domestic animals). I've not seen Jamie Oliver's paper, but "limits of acceptable change" is a great concept if you are confident of the cause-effect relationships. This is more the case for terrestrial systems than marine. LAC also requires legislation and management controls strong and flexible enough to allow effective and timely changes in management. Controlling visitor numbers also does significantly affect potential economic, financial and social benefits. For many asscociated reasons it will be better to build up capacity cautiously over time! All these issues are being explored in some current/proposed research: Spurgeon, J. (in prep) "Maximizing benefits and revenues from coral reef management", hopefully culminating in a paper to be presented in Japan. In the near future I'll be looking for partial funding and additional materials to draw upon. Offers for either would be greatly appreciated! In addition to those who requested it a while ago, anyone wanting a pdf copy of Spurgeon J. (2001) "Economic Value of Coral Reefs: The Next Ten Years", let me know. James Spurgeon Executive Environmental Economist/Scientist Jacobs (formerly JacobsGIBB) Tel: +44 (0)118 963 5346 Fax: +44 (0)118 926 3888 E-mail: james.spurgeon at jacobs.com Web: www.jacobs.com www.gibbltd.com ============================================================================== NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From beliamall at dhivehinet.net.mv Sun Feb 9 20:50:32 2003 From: beliamall at dhivehinet.net.mv (William Allison) Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 06:50:32 +0500 Subject: carrying capacity Message-ID: Bearing in mind that procedures and standards vary considerably among operations, at several locations I survey diver-caused direct physical damage is trivial . Supervised divers are kept away from the substrate and cause little damage. Unsupervised divers probably cause most of the damage. Considering supervision at a more general level I suspect that owned reefs (resorts) sustain less damage than common property reefs. By way of example, some of the worst behaved divers I have seen have been from live-aboard boats (little direct supervision, common-property-nobody-is-watching situation). Decisions about supervision and degree of access are management tools in Jamie Spurgeon's classification. Snorkelers cause more damage than divers. In general they are unsupervised and have no training about either the biota or snorkeling. Overall, carrying capacity based on diver damage seems to be a minor issue. Much more important seems to be the damage done in the course of constructing and operating the diving tourism infrastructure. Bill William (Bill) Allison Atoll Science Rangas, Violet Magu Male MALDIVES (960) 329667 beliamall at dhivehinet.net.mv From solutions at cozm.co.uk Mon Feb 10 08:05:32 2003 From: solutions at cozm.co.uk (Duncan R. MacRae) Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 08:05:32 -0500 Subject: Carrying capacity on Bonaire Message-ID: Dear Mark, coral listers, It looks like I have managed to raise some useful discussion on this topic, which is needed. It seems that everyone has valid points but a few people are missing the target I put out. I would not been so short sighted as to suggest that: 'more diversity and greater health are related to higher number of visiting divers'. .... perhaps I should clarify myself further. The key issue I was addressing was the use of diver numbers as a management tool. If managers start to put a figure on how many divers can visit a reef, then many people involved in the dive industry will see this as a green light to fill the reefs to 'capacity'- not the best situation. Or, the tourism industry in an area may be unfairly penalised by strict visitor regulations. By refraining from using head counts, we are in effect already applying the precautionary principle. My point was that there are far more important factors to be addressed in most areas of coral reef than to count diver numbers. One key point that I noticed in the literature was the lack of information on how much 'actual' damage divers cause and its significance for reef ecology. Various studies have been done counting the amount of contact, contact on different topographies, types of damage, amount of contact by different levels of experience etc etc. I could only find one reference that looked at how much damaged was caused to a colony from repeated touching and scraping (Talge 1992). So back to the point that using carrying capacity numbers for divers as a management tool is not as problem free as it may first seem. ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From Walt.Jaap at fwc.state.fl.us Mon Feb 10 08:20:47 2003 From: Walt.Jaap at fwc.state.fl.us (Jaap, Walt) Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 08:20:47 -0500 Subject: carrying capacity, LACs and economic values paper Message-ID: There is a recent economic evaluation of southeast Florida reef economics, very detailed: Socioeconomic study of reefs in southeast Florida. Final report: Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach Counties, Principal investigators: G.M. Johns, V.R. Leeworthy, F.W. Bell, and M.A. Bonn (all of these individuals are academic economists). Six chapters, six appendices, available through Hazen and Sawyer, 4000 Hollywood Blvd., 7th floor, north tower, Hollywood, FL 33021, USA. - ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From mekvinga at yahoo.com Mon Feb 10 15:11:03 2003 From: mekvinga at yahoo.com (Melissa Keyes) Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 12:11:03 -0800 (PST) Subject: Carrying capacity vs. usage, re: Bonaire Message-ID: Hello Listers, Concerning recreational divers on Bonaire in microcosm, I have been diving these reefs daily since mid-August 2002. The damage done by thousands of recreational divers cannot compare to the daily damage done by the local fishermen who are liscensed to drop big rocks on the coral as anchors for their little boats. They do not use the old bent-rebar anchors, which cause much more damage, but they systematically go along the entire reef system, moving from place to place by lifting their rocks, or cinderblocks, and letting them bounce along the coral to the next stop. Or sometimes they actually pull the rocks out of the water onto their boats, which is hard work, as these are twenty pound monsters, not pebbles. And when the ?-quarter inch cotton string that's their anchor line breaks, or gets tangled, whoops, there it goes into the sea, strangling and scraping, unseen to them, everything it catches on. I've wished I could stay in fourty-fifty-sixty feet of water on Scuba for the entire morning to video and document just one day's damage one fisherman does. I bet if the broken and upturned stony corals, 'soft' corals, and sponges could be quantified into year's growth destroyed, it would be in the low hundreds for each day's catch, which soon will be nothing but Damsel fish. A standard piece of dive equipment for me is scissors to cut fishing line off coral. I really like this Island, but the Park gets much more credit than it deserves. The residents, fish and critters, have not been protected. I won't go into the issue of the locals who I've seen illegally spearfishing, the dearth of sizeable fish, or the near-total absence of fish in the "Reserve", in which I dove once to help out with a yearly survey. But then, the Reserve did have really beautiful coral. No fish larger than three centimeters, an amazing sight, but really beautiful coral. My question: Does a coral reef need fish? Regards, Melissa Keyes, s/v Vinga, Bonaire/St. Croix ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now From sflumerfelt at coral.org Mon Feb 10 19:40:31 2003 From: sflumerfelt at coral.org (Sherry Flumerfelt) Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 16:40:31 -0800 Subject: ICRIN's Coral Reef Directory Message-ID: Dear Ivan, Have you tried searching ICRIN's International Directory of Coral Reef Organizations (http://directory.coralreef.org/)? This is a database of hundreds of organizations from around the world that work on coral reef related issues, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), research institutions, aquariums, marine protected areas (MPAs), government agencies, international programs and more. If you type "Vietnam" in the keyword search, you will come up with organizations that work in that region. This database is a work in progress. If your coral reef organization is not yet listed, please add it to the Directory by clicking "Add Your Organization" and answering the questions. If your organization is already listed and you would like to add additional information, click "Edit Your Organization." If you do not know your email login and password, please contact ngo at coral.org. Best of luck. Sherry Flumerfelt Program Coordinator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) 417 Montgomery Street, Suite 205 San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone: 415-834-0900 ext. 306 Fax: 415-834-0999 Email: sflumerfelt at coral.org Web site: http://www.coral.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have you signed the Dive In Pledge yet? Show that you care about coral reefs. http://www.coral.org/diveinpledge.html > > coral-list-daily Monday, February 10 2003 Volume 03 : Number 029 > > > > Re: Coral symbionts > RE: carrying capacity, LACs and economic values paper > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2003 00:15:07 -0800 > From: "Gregor Hodgson" > Subject: Re: Coral symbionts > > Dear Ivan, > > Coral reefs in Vietnam are some of the most overfished in the world and the > reefs are subject to many other impacts. You may be interested in the > following: > > > > Thang, H.V., G. Hodgson, E. Hresko, C. Ovel (eds) 1998. Coastal Biodiversity > Priorities in Vietnam. Proceedings of the Workshop on Coastal Priorities in > Vietnam, Hanoi 4-6 November 1997. Institute for Environment and Sustainable > Development Publication 98-02, Hong Kong University of Science and > Technology, Hong Kong. > > > > Vo S.T. and Hodgson G. 1997. Coral reefs of Vietnam: Recruitment limitation > and physical forcing. p. 477-482. Vol. 1. In: HA Lessios (ed) Proc. 8th > Intl. Coral Reef Symposium, June 24-29, 1996, Panama City, Smithsonian > Tropical Research Institute, Panama. > > > > Gregor Hodgson, PhD > Director, Reef Check > Professor (Visiting) > Institute of the Environment > 1362 Hershey Hall Mailcode 149607 > University of California at Los Angeles > Los Angeles CA 90095 USA > > Tel: (1) 310-794-4985 Fax: (1) 310-825-0758 > Email: gregorh at ucla.edu > www.ReefCheck.org > > > > > > - ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ivan Marin" > To: > Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 7:00 AM > Subject: Coral symbionts > > >> Dear Coral-lers, >> >> Our laboratory has been studing simbiotic relationships between > different >> sea invertebrates. Personally, I am studing coral-associated crustaceans > as one >> of the component of coral reef community. Generally, we are interested in > all >> animals and their complex associated with scleractinian coral colonies. >> Since 2001 members of our laboratory has been working in South Vietnam >> waters investigating coral reef community and all influinced factors. As > one >> knows, corals in Vietnam are hardly exploited by fishing, pollution and > others, >> that why this region is very interesting to study effect of exploitation. > My >> supervisor, T.A. Brytaev, and I try to investigate the changes in coral >> associated communities as factors and indexes of coral community > pollution. >> Here, we are looking for scientist or societies, who are interested in >> cooperation in this topic. We are interested in any contacts with > scientists >> who make same investigations in other regoins. >> >> And yet one. Could you help me to find organizations, societies or > funds >> (their Internet pages), which are supporting and funding different joint >> projects, scientific projects on studing coral associated communities and >> grants for PhD student to make joint coral reef condition investigations > in >> Indo-West Pacific. >> >> >> Thank You very much. >> >> Sincerely yours >> >> Ph.D. student, Ivan N. Marin >> Laboratory of Evolutional Morphology of Marine Invertebrates >> (T.Brytaev Laboratory) >> A.N. Severtzov Institute of Ecology and Evolution (RAS) >> Leninsky pr. 33 >> 117071 Moscow >> Russia >> Fax: 095 954 5534 >> >> ~~~~~~~ >> For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the >> digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . >> > > > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2003 19:14:54 -0000 > From: "Spurgeon, James" > Subject: RE: carrying capacity, LACs and economic values paper > > Dear Pedro and listers > > The visitor "carrying capacity" of a coral reef is a function of the > following factors: > > ?Number of people entering the water > ?*Means of accessing the water (anchoring, shoreline, boardwalks etc) > ?*Activity they undertake (diving, snorkelling, with gloves etc) > ?*Visitor experience, training and education > ?*Management tools (fines, visitor facilities, restricting access etc) > ?Natural physical conditions (depth, topography, currents, waves, etc) > ?Type of corals (form and fragility) > ?*Extent of other stresses (wastewater, sea temperature etc) > ?*Levels of acceptable change (extent of acceptable coral cover etc) > > Consequently, reef carrying capacities will differ enormously (and Duncan's > point is certainly valid). However, for management purposes, > generalizations could be made for several different categories of reef. > > Furthermore, because several factors* can be modified, carrying capacity at > any site can be changed significantly. Note that in the Galapagos Islands, a > maximum carrying capacity of 20,000 visitors per year was set in 1985. > Currently, over 65,000 people visit each year. Through various management > measures, associated visitor damage is minor, especially compared to other > stresses (e.g. introduction of domestic animals). > > I've not seen Jamie Oliver's paper, but "limits of acceptable change" is a > great concept if you are confident of the cause-effect relationships. This > is more the case for terrestrial systems than marine. LAC also requires > legislation and management controls strong and flexible enough to allow > effective and timely changes in management. > > Controlling visitor numbers also does significantly affect potential > economic, financial and social benefits. For many asscociated reasons it > will be better to build up capacity cautiously over time! > > All these issues are being explored in some current/proposed research: > Spurgeon, J. (in prep) "Maximizing benefits and revenues from coral reef > management", hopefully culminating in a paper to be presented in Japan. In > the near future I'll be looking for partial funding and additional materials > to draw upon. Offers for either would be greatly appreciated! > > In addition to those who requested it a while ago, anyone wanting a pdf copy > of Spurgeon J. (2001) "Economic Value of Coral Reefs: The Next Ten Years", > let me know. > > James Spurgeon > Executive Environmental Economist/Scientist > > Jacobs (formerly JacobsGIBB) > Tel: +44 (0)118 963 5346 > Fax: +44 (0)118 926 3888 > E-mail: james.spurgeon at jacobs.com > Web: www.jacobs.com > www.gibbltd.com > > > > > ============================================================================== > NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged > information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any viewing, > copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by unintended > recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in > error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it > from your computer. > > ============================================================================== > > > > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > > ------------------------------ > > End of coral-list-daily V3 #29 > ****************************** > > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From Hoeksema at naturalis.nnm.nl Tue Feb 11 12:03:08 2003 From: Hoeksema at naturalis.nnm.nl (Hoeksema, B.W.) Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 18:03:08 +0100 Subject: Support for access to European museum collections Message-ID: > Apologies for cross-postings. > > Dear Colleague, > > Under the 6th Framework Programme (FP6) of the European Commission (2002-2006), a proposal is in preparation to the Specific Programme on Structuring the European Research Area. The purpose of the proposal is to create a network of a number of institutions holding important biological research collections throughout Europe. The proposal, which is being prepared in the framework of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF), is intended to provide access with financial support for visiting researchers to the collections of the participating organisations. > > The proposal to the European Commission has to demonstrate a > "> European Research Institution> "> status of our museum. To obtain this status we have to show (through letters of support) that there is a high degree of scientific and/or social interest in having access to our museum and to the other partners in the proposal. > > If for any future work, you or a colleague should need access to our museum or one of the other institutions (see attached list), I kindly request that you send a letter of support. Your letter of support should specify why you want to have access and which institutions you want to visit. With respect to the institutions to visit, you are invited to mention the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden (we hold many (type) specimens of Cnidaria), and any additional institute that is relevant for your research (see attached list). > > Enclosed is an example of a support letter that can be used as a guide, if you find it suitable for your needs. Please, spread this information also to your colleagues. Letters of support should be sent by e-mail, fax or letter to the chair of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF). An example of such a letter with the address is in the annex. I invite you to send the letter of support at short term, but not later than 7 March 2003. > > Thanking you in advance for your interest. > > Bert W. Hoeksema (Head, Department of Invertebrates) > Leendert P. van Ofwegen (Curator, Coelenterates Section) > > National Museum of Natural History Naturalis > P.O. Box 9517 > 2300 RA Leiden > The Netherlands > Tel. +31.71.5687631 > Fax +31.71.5687666 > E-mail: Hoeksema at naturalis.nnm.nl > > The infrastructures listed below are expected to be members of the network to which Access grants for visitors will be applied for. > > Country Infrastructures > Austria Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna > Belgium Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles, Brussels Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Meise > > Germany Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem Museum f?r Naturkunde, Berlin > Denmark University of Copenhagen, COBICE > Spain Museo Nacional Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid Real Jard?n Bot?nico, CSIC, Madrid > France Mus?um national d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris > Hungary Hungarian Museum of Natural History, Budapest > Netherlands Zoological Museum, University of Amsterdam & National Natural History Museum Naturalis National Herbarium Netherlands, Leiden Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht > Poland Museum and Institute of Zooology, PAS, Warsaw > Sweden Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm > United Kingdom The Natural History Museum, London Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh > > > > Sample > > > > To: Dr. Henrik Enghoff (Chair) > Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) > Zoologisk Museum > Universitetsparken 15 > DK-2100 Copenhaguen OE > Denmark > > Email: henghoff at zmuc.ku.dk > Fax: + 45 35 32 10 10 > > Dear Dr. Enghoff, > > For my research on [subject / taxonomic group], I need access to specimens [from the region X] held in the collections of > {Please enter the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, and any other relevant museum from the attached list].> > > Research visits are especially important as the [well curated/unique/diverse/type] collections and the experts at the institutes are crucial for the progress in my scientific work. > > I am looking forward to establishing cooperationships with the mentioned institutes, and I support the initiative of your network to facilitate access to their collection facilities. > > > Yours sincerily, > ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From James.Spurgeon at jacobs.com Wed Feb 12 07:38:02 2003 From: James.Spurgeon at jacobs.com (Spurgeon, James) Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 12:38:02 -0000 Subject: Requests for paper on "economic value of corals - 10 years on" Message-ID: Dear Listers Many apologies for having to respond via the coral list, but I am currently working in Kazakhstan (developing a GIS based water resources optimisation model), and sending emails takes forever. I will send the pdf to all those requesting it when I return to the UK in 2 weeks. For those who asked, it cannot be downloaded from a web site, and I don't know the size of the file. For those interested, the Kazak approach for increasing the carrying capacity for swimming in rivers at the moment (eg last weekend when it was -26C), is to simply make the holes in the ice bigger. There is little need to restrict how long people stay in the water! Best wishes James -----Original Message----- From: M.C. Ricardo Mu?oz Chag?n To: Spurgeon, James Sent: 10/02/2003 17:46 Subject: RE: carrying capacity, LACs and economic values paper James Spurgeon: I am interested in a pdf copy of Spurgeon J. (2001) "Economic Value of Coral Reefs: The Next Ten Years" Thanks in advance. M.C. Ricardo Mu?oz Ecolog?a y Manejo de Sistemas Arrecifales, S.C.P. M?rida,Yucat?n, M?xico -----Mensaje original----- De: owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov] En nombre de Spurgeon, James Enviado el: Domingo, 09 de Febrero de 2003 01:15 p.m. Para: 'alcolado at ama.cu'; 'coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov ' Asunto: RE: carrying capacity, LACs and economic values paper Dear Pedro and listers The visitor "carrying capacity" of a coral reef is a function of the following factors: ?Number of people entering the water ?*Means of accessing the water (anchoring, shoreline, boardwalks etc) ?*Activity they undertake (diving, snorkelling, with gloves etc) ?*Visitor experience, training and education ?*Management tools (fines, visitor facilities, restricting access etc) ?Natural physical conditions (depth, topography, currents, waves, etc) ?Type of corals (form and fragility) ?*Extent of other stresses (wastewater, sea temperature etc) ?*Levels of acceptable change (extent of acceptable coral cover etc) Consequently, reef carrying capacities will differ enormously (and Duncan's point is certainly valid). However, for management purposes, generalizations could be made for several different categories of reef. Furthermore, because several factors* can be modified, carrying capacity at any site can be changed significantly. Note that in the Galapagos Islands, a maximum carrying capacity of 20,000 visitors per year was set in 1985. Currently, over 65,000 people visit each year. Through various management measures, associated visitor damage is minor, especially compared to other stresses (e.g. introduction of domestic animals). I've not seen Jamie Oliver's paper, but "limits of acceptable change" is a great concept if you are confident of the cause-effect relationships. This is more the case for terrestrial systems than marine. LAC also requires legislation and management controls strong and flexible enough to allow effective and timely changes in management. Controlling visitor numbers also does significantly affect potential economic, financial and social benefits. For many asscociated reasons it will be better to build up capacity cautiously over time! All these issues are being explored in some current/proposed research: Spurgeon, J. (in prep) "Maximizing benefits and revenues from coral reef management", hopefully culminating in a paper to be presented in Japan. In the near future I'll be looking for partial funding and additional materials to draw upon. Offers for either would be greatly appreciated! In addition to those who requested it a while ago, anyone wanting a pdf copy of Spurgeon J. (2001) "Economic Value of Coral Reefs: The Next Ten Years", let me know. James Spurgeon Executive Environmental Economist/Scientist Jacobs (formerly JacobsGIBB) Tel: +44 (0)118 963 5346 Fax: +44 (0)118 926 3888 E-mail: james.spurgeon at jacobs.com Web: www.jacobs.com www.gibbltd.com ======================================================================== ====== NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. ======================================================================== ====== ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . ============================================================================== NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From matz at whitney.ufl.edu Wed Feb 12 13:53:07 2003 From: matz at whitney.ufl.edu (Mike Matz) Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 10:53:07 -0800 Subject: histology technique for corals? Message-ID: Hello all, I would greatly appreciate if you could direct me to the state-of-the-art coral histology techniques (sample separation from the colony, fixation, cutting, staining, viewing). We want to look at some Faviids. thanks in advance Mike Matz Whitney Lab, university of Florida From tomvanthof at hotmail.com Wed Feb 12 18:00:33 2003 From: tomvanthof at hotmail.com (Tom van't Hof) Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 19:00:33 -0400 Subject: carrying capacity Message-ID: The question by Pedro Alcolado has stirred up quite a bit of discussion, which is good. I think we need to defer judgment on Duncan McRae's study until the results are available for review by the scientific community, but I just want to say this: while the lack of sewage treatment in Bonaire is certainly a very important issue, in particular for the reefs near the developed area, it's a little too easy to blame just sewage and not the entire realm of activities and needs of divers and snorkellers. Until we have hard data to reject the guideline of 5,000 - 6,000 divers per site per year proposed by Roberts et al., let's be careful in adopting new estimates. None of the high-use sites in the Dixon et al. and the Roberts et al. studies were anywhere near sewage discharges. Having said that, I would also like to strongly support the application of the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) approach as an alternative to traditional carrying capacity estimates, which aim at numbers. LAC really is a management planning tool, and while it has only been applied to a MPA once to my knowledge (the Saba Marine Park, Netherlands Antilles), it does have tremendous potential and merits. The key to the success of a LAC planning framework, however, is the degree to which monitoring is carried out in order to determine whether or not any standards may have been violated and the willingness of the stakeholder community to implement the previously agreed management interventions if standards are being violated. Stankey, Cole, McCool and others have published many papers on the applicability of the LAC framework, including a generic LAC process which I find very useful, also for MPA management planning. ************************************************************************************************************** Tom van't Hof Marine & Coastal Resource Management Consulting The Bottom, Saba Netherlands Antilles Tel. (599) 416-3348 Fax (599) 416-3299 e-mail tomvanthof at hotmail.com "Specializing in marine protected areas since 1979." Resume, references and project history at http://www.irf.org/hof.htm From cdh5 at cornell.edu Thu Feb 13 10:38:09 2003 From: cdh5 at cornell.edu (Drew Harvell) Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 10:38:09 -0500 Subject: Tropical Marine Ecology Course in Akumal, Mexico Message-ID: > SHOALS MARINE LABORATORY (Cornell University / University of New > Hampshire) > announces the continuation of its on-going course on the Yucatan > Peninsula, in Akumal, Mexico: > > Tropical Marine Science > > Dates: June 16 - July 14, 2003 > > ? Semester Credits Earned: 6 > > ? Cost: $3,200 (this price does not include airfare or meals > while in Akumal) > > ? Cornell course numbers: BIOSM 418 > > > Prerequisites: Recognized SCUBA certification, a medical examination, one > full year of college level biology, and permission of instructors. This is > a course designed for students interested in learning about coral reef > ecology and conservation in an environment where these topics are of > immediate concern. Students will spend four weeks in Akumal, Mexico, a > small resort town located about 60 miles south of Cancun on the Caribbean > coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Housing will be provided by the Centro > Ecologico Akumal (http://www.ceakumal.org/), a local organization > dedicated to the sustainable development of Akumal and the protection of > its coral reefs. Akumal is a developing center for research in coral reef > biology and ecology. Limited to 15 students. > > The first two weeks will be spent studying basic coral reef ecology and > learning the benthic fauna of the local reefs. During the following two > weeks, students will participate in a reef monitoring project that will > aid in the establishment of a marine park in Akumal. TMS students will > have the opportunity to interact with the scientists involved in this > research through discussions and field work. > > Faculty involved with the course this summer include Professors Kiho Kim > (American University), Garriet Smith (University of South Carolina), Sean > Grace (Salve Regina) and Drew Harvell (Cornell University). > > For a detailed course description, please go to: > http://www.sml.cornell.edu/college/pc-cctms.htm > For more information, please contact Laurie Johnson via email: lhj1 at cornell.edu -- Drew Harvell Professor Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology E- 321 Corson Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 VOICE: 607-254-4274 FAX: 607-255-8088 email:cdh5 at cornell.edu http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/harvell/harvell.html From raronson at jaguar1.usouthal.edu Thu Feb 13 11:59:51 2003 From: raronson at jaguar1.usouthal.edu (Richard B. Aronson) Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 10:59:51 -0600 (CST) Subject: ISRS Subsidized Memberships Message-ID: Each year the International Society for Reef Studies offers several partial subsidies of memberships. If you are interested in financial assistance with an ISRS membership, please see: http://www.uncwil.edu/isrs/membership.html Applications should be sent to Dr. Peter Mumby, ISRS Corresponding Secretary, at P.J.Mumby at exeter.ac.uk. The deadline for applications is March 1st. Rich Aronson Vice President International Society for Reef Studies ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu Thu Feb 13 14:27:16 2003 From: jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu (John McManus) Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 14:27:16 -0500 Subject: NCORE update and new website Message-ID: NCORE is pleased to welcome aboard two key personnel and a NEW website: Dr. Johanna Polsenberg, Assistant Director, has worked in tropical ecosystems in Australia, Indonesia and elsewhere, and was formerly with the US Congressional Staff as a specialist and speaker on "Science and the Public". Felimon "Nonong" Gayanilo, Senior Software Engineer, has worked with ICLARM (now the World Fish Center) and the University of British Columbia, and is most well-known as the software developer of the FAO/ICLARM Fisat and Fisat II packages, which are used for fisheries analysis in many countries (http://www.fao.org/fi/statist/fisoft/fisat/index.htm). He will play a key role in our program to develop Dynamic Decision Support Systems for coral reefs, which will integrate hydrodynamic, ecological and socioeconomic simulation models into 3D Geographic Information Systems. This tool development is a core element of the CARRUS Alliance, a Comparative Analysis of Reef Resilience Under Stress, which will involve independently-funded research teams conducting long-term studies of major reef systems under agreements for the exchange of software, methods, data, and results. Further information can be found at our NEW website, www.ncoremiami.org. This site is expected to change quarterly, as online, highly detailed GIS systems are developed for our focal reef areas. Cheers! John _________________________________________________________ John W. McManus, PhD Director, National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research (NCORE) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (RSMAS) University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway Miami, Florida 33149. jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu Tel. (305) 361-4814 Fax (305) 361-4910 www.ncoremiami.org ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From Cheva.Heck at noaa.gov Thu Feb 13 17:03:06 2003 From: Cheva.Heck at noaa.gov (Cheva Heck) Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 17:03:06 -0500 Subject: Tortugas Shrimping Violation Brings $20,000 Penalty Message-ID: NOAA03-R404 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FEBRUARY 13, 2003 CONTACT: Cheva Heck Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary 305.292.0311, ext. 26 305.304.0179 (cell) TORTUGAS ECOLOGICAL RESERVE VIOLATION BRINGS $20,000 PENALTY NOAA Cites Owner and Operator of Shrimp Trawler Attorneys for the Department of Commerce?s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have issued a $20,000 civil penalty in the case of a vessel cited for illegal shrimp trawling in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary?s protected Tortugas Ecological Reserve last December. Christine Ho of Abbeville, La., owner of the Fishing Vessel Miss Christine V, and vessel captain Cu T. Nguyen of Port Arthur, Texas, face a combined penalty in the incident. The Coast Guard vessel Nantucket cited the Miss Christine V on Dec. 16, 2002. The Nantucket escorted the Miss Christine V to Key West, where its catch of 1,117 lbs. of pink shrimp was seized and sold by a NOAA agent. The $1,733.38 proceeds from the sale remain in escrow pending settlement of the case. Five days previously, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers had cited the Miss Christine V for illegal shrimp trawling inside the Tortugas Shrimp Sanctuary, a cooperative closure between the State of Florida and the Department of Commerce. ?Once again, we thank the United States Coast Guard for helping to provide the effective enforcement that is critical to the success of the Tortugas Ecological Reserve,? said Sanctuary Superintendent Billy Causey. ?Law-abiding commercial and recreational fishermen, who are by far the majority, deserve to know that those who violate the reserve?s protections will pay the price.? The Tortugas Ecological Reserve, established in 2001, protects 151 square nautical miles of deep coral reefs and other essential habitat for fish and other marine life. The reserve is the largest of the sanctuary?s network of 24 ?no-take? areas set aside to protect habitat and preserve the diversity of marine life in the coral reef ecosystem of the Florida Keys. NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) seeks to increase the public awareness of America?s maritime heritage by conducting scientific research, monitoring, exploration and educational programs. Today, 13 national marine sanctuaries encompass more than 18,000 square miles of America?s ocean and Great Lakes natural and cultural resources. In addition, the NMSP is conducting a sanctuary designation process to incorporate the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve into the national sanctuary system. NOAA National Ocean Service (NOAA Oceans and Coasts) manages the National Marine Sanctuary Program and is dedicated to exploring, understanding, conserving and restoring the nation?s coasts and oceans. NOAA Oceans and Coasts balances environmental protection with economic prosperity in fulfilling its mission of promoting safe navigation, supporting coastal communities, sustaining coastal habitats and mitigating coastal hazards. The Commerce Department?s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation?s coastal and marine resources. On the internet: NOAA - http://www.noaa.gov NOAA Oceans and Coasts - http://www.nos.noaa.gov Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary - http://www.fknms.nos.noaa.gov ### From alcolado at ama.cu Fri Feb 14 11:53:26 2003 From: alcolado at ama.cu (Pedro Alcolado) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 11:53:26 -0500 Subject: Hybridization in Acropora Message-ID: Dear listers, I was fascinated reading Vollmer and Palumbi?s recent paper on hybridization of Acropora palmata and cervicornis. It establishes clearly and convincingly the facts of that issue. But reading this paper I remembered an anecdote of mine. A few years ago I was visisting quite frequently (for different reasons, once staying 10 days there working on sponges) the nice Aquarium of Xcaret, Cancun. I was witness of something I think is amazing. In the big bowl representing the reef crest, there was a trasplanted Acropora palmata colony (the biggest one among others). There was full illumination and a wave simulator, with good water circulation there. I was able to observe how that colony was slowly being transformed in a prolifera bushy-palmate like fenotype. The ends of the palmate branches began to show short arising (in the same plane of the branch top) acute branches typical of prolifera, and the skeleton remaining between them becoming quite traslucent (looking like a duck foot illuminated at the opposite site). I wonder what was the final outcome of this gradual transformation. I observed that about 4 years (maybe less or more, I do not remember exactly) after I saw this colony for the first time. I would suggest that appart from well proved genetically derived prolifera like fenotypes, some kinds of changes in environmental variables (at least in acquarium conditions) would be able to lead also to the same bushy-palmate fenotype (maybe due to weaker hidrodynamic regime). Really interesting, no? Best wishes, Pedro Alcolado From sjones at wcs.org Fri Feb 14 12:47:22 2003 From: sjones at wcs.org (Sam Jones) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 12:47:22 -0500 Subject: Hybridization in Acropora Message-ID: Hi Pedro, Very interesting observation indeed. Thank you for sharing it. I continue to marvel at the phenotypic plasticity of corals. I've noticed a number of interspecific morphological differences in both the field and in the lab, cultured corals. Without a doubt, environmental conditions within an aquarium (or the field) can influence a number of coral physiological properties to include branch spacing, coloration, growth rates, growth forms, etc. The spectral quality and quantity of light (GFP, MAA, Symbiodinium concentration/type), nutrients (Symbiodinium growth rates), various water circulation properties (e.g. speed, laminar vs. oscillatory, etc.), general system chemistry, etc. are some of the environmental parameters that can be 'tweaked.' It's possible to take a single colony of a highly phenotypically plastic coral head (e.g. P. damicornis), put fragments of the colony under different environmental conditions, and observe different physiological responses. The Aquarium is a wonderful place to do this kind of work. If you get a chance, you may want to check our Veron and Pichon's "Scleractinia of Eastern Australia", Part 1, Families Thamnasteriidae, Astrocoeniidae, and Pocilloporidae; this book demonstrates quite nicely the impressive array of interspecific morphologies from corals under various environmental conditions. Sam Jones Manager, Ex Situ Coral Conservation Research Laboratory Wildlife Conservation Society The New York Aquarium Osborn Laboratories of Marine Sciences Boardwalk at West 8th St. Brooklyn, NY 11224 From buddrw at ku.edu Fri Feb 14 13:16:15 2003 From: buddrw at ku.edu (Robert W. Buddemeier) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 12:16:15 -0600 Subject: Hybridization in Acropora Message-ID: On this topic, if you have not already seen it you might be interested in: Carlson BA (1999) Organism responses to rapid change: what aquaria tell us about nature. American Zoologist 39:44-55 Bob Buddemeier Sam Jones wrote: > Hi Pedro, > Very interesting observation indeed. Thank you for sharing it. I > continue to marvel at the phenotypic plasticity of corals. I've > noticed a number of interspecific morphological differences in both > the field and in the lab, cultured corals. Without a doubt, > environmental conditions within an aquarium (or the field) can > influence a number of coral physiological properties to include branch > spacing, coloration, growth rates, growth forms, etc. The spectral > quality and quantity of light (GFP, MAA, Symbiodinium > concentration/type), nutrients (Symbiodinium growth rates), various > water circulation properties (e.g. speed, laminar vs. oscillatory, > etc.), general system chemistry, etc. are some of the environmental > parameters that can be 'tweaked.' It's possible to take a single > colony of a highly phenotypically plastic coral head (e.g. P. > damicornis), put fragments of the colony under different environmental > conditions, and observe different physiological responses. The > Aquarium is a wonderful place to do this kind of work. If you get a > chance, you may want to check our Veron and Pichon's "Scleractinia of > Eastern Australia", Part 1, Families Thamnasteriidae, Astrocoeniidae, > and Pocilloporidae; this book demonstrates quite nicely the impressive > array of interspecific morphologies from corals under various > environmental conditions. > Sam Jones > > Manager, Ex Situ Coral Conservation Research Laboratory > Wildlife Conservation Society > The New York Aquarium > Osborn Laboratories of Marine Sciences > Boardwalk at West 8th St. > Brooklyn, NY 11224 > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Pedro Alcolado > To: coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov > Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 11:53 AM > Subject: Hybridization in Acropora > > Dear listers, > I was fascinated reading Vollmer and Palumbi?s recent paper on > hybridization of Acropora palmata and cervicornis. It establishes > clearly and convincingly the facts of that issue. But reading this > paper I remembered an anecdote of mine. A few years ago I was > visisting quite frequently (for different reasons, once staying 10 > days there working on sponges) the nice Aquarium of Xcaret, > Cancun. I was witness of something I think is amazing. In the big > bowl representing the reef crest, there was a trasplanted Acropora > palmata colony (the biggest one among others). There was full > illumination and a wave simulator, with good water circulation > there. I was able to observe how that colony was slowly being > transformed in a prolifera bushy-palmate like fenotype. The ends > of the palmate branches began to show short arising (in the same > plane of the branch top) acute branches typical of prolifera, and > the skeleton remaining between them becoming quite traslucent > (looking like a duck foot illuminated at the opposite site). I > wonder what was the final outcome of this gradual transformation. > I observed that about 4 years (maybe less or more, I do not > remember exactly) after I saw this colony for the first time. I > would suggest that appart from well proved genetically derived > prolifera like fenotypes, some kinds of changes in environmental > variables (at least in acquarium conditions) would be able to lead > also to the same bushy-palmate fenotype (maybe due to weaker > hidrodynamic regime). Really interesting, no? > Best wishes, > Pedro Alcolado > > -- Dr. Robert W. Buddemeier Kansas Geological Survey University of Kansas 1930 Constant Avenue Lawrence, KS 66047 USA e-mail: buddrw at ku.edu ph (1) (785) 864-2112 fax (1) (785) 864-5317 ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From Dana.Williams at noaa.gov Fri Feb 14 13:35:55 2003 From: Dana.Williams at noaa.gov (Dana Williams) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 13:35:55 -0500 Subject: Hybridization in Acropora Message-ID: Pedro- If I understood your description, I have seen this in some colonies that I have been monitoring for the past 9 months. In these colonies I have seen the translucent type skeleton between the 'acute' branches become filled in and ultimately ends up looking like a typical A. palmata branch tip. It seems as though some colonies elongate their branches by laying down the framework then going back and filling it in, whereas others do it all in one 'step'. My observations so far suggest to me that there are perhaps different genotypes that vary in the way they build their skeleton rather than hydrodynamic or light differences because not all individuals in an area display this appearance... That is my two cents worth (with the caveat of a relatively short, but repeated observations)! Dana Williams Pedro Alcolado wrote: > Dear listers,I was fascinated reading Vollmer and Palumbi?s recent paper > on hybridization of Acropora palmata and cervicornis. It establishes > clearly and convincingly the facts of that issue. But reading this paper I > remembered an anecdote of mine. A few years ago I was visisting quite > frequently (for different reasons, once staying 10 days there working on > sponges) the nice Aquarium of Xcaret, Cancun. I was witness of something I > think is amazing. In the big bowl representing the reef crest, there was a > trasplanted Acropora palmata colony (the biggest one among others). There > was full illumination and a wave simulator, with good water circulation > there. I was able to observe how that colony was slowly being transformed > in a prolifera bushy-palmate like fenotype. The ends of the palmate > branches began to show short arising (in the same plane of the branch top) > acute branches typical of prolifera, and the skeleton remaining between > them becoming quite traslucent (looking like a duck foot illuminated at > the opposite site). I wonder what was the final outcome of this gradual > transformation. I observed that about 4 years (maybe less or more, I do > not remember exactly) after I saw this colony for the first time. I would > suggest that appart from well proved genetically derived prolifera like > fenotypes, some kinds of changes in environmental variables (at least in > acquarium conditions) would be able to lead also to the same bushy-palmate > fenotype (maybe due to weaker hidrodynamic regime). Really interesting, > no?Best wishes,Pedro Alcolado -- Dana E. Williams, Ph.D. Post Doctoral Associate National Marine Fisheries Service 75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami FL 33149 (305) 361-4569 From alcolado at ama.cu Fri Feb 14 13:41:43 2003 From: alcolado at ama.cu (Pedro Alcolado) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 13:41:43 -0500 Subject: Hybridization in Acropora Message-ID: Thanks for your interesting reply, Dana. The difference is that the colony that I talk about was originally a typical Acropora palmata that gradaually transformed in a bushy-palmate fenotype after being introduced in the aquarium. Genes did not change, form yes. Pedro ----- Original Message ----- From alcolado at ama.cu Fri Feb 14 13:55:38 2003 From: alcolado at ama.cu (Pedro Alcolado) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 13:55:38 -0500 Subject: Hybridization in Acropora Message-ID: Dear Todd, Thanks for your quick and interesting reply. If you need a piece of that coral colony you might request it to Dr. Martin Sanchez (sacbemar at playa.com.mx or msanchez at playa.com.mx), Director of Xcaret Aquarium, but I wonder wether this colony is still alive now. Hopefully yes. Keep me informed, please. The last time I saw it was in november 2001. Regards, Pedro From alcolado at ama.cu Fri Feb 14 14:10:24 2003 From: alcolado at ama.cu (Pedro Alcolado) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 14:10:24 -0500 Subject: Hybridization in Acropora Message-ID: Dana, I forgot to explain you that differently from your cases, in the Xcaret colony the process is opposite. If I understood you, your colonies are bushy Acropora that fill the angles among their branches transforming themselves into palmate branches, while in the Xcaret colony we deal with a typical palmate Acropora palmata that becomes bushy-palmate. Pedro Alcolado ----- Original Message ----- From coral_giac at yahoo.com Fri Feb 14 22:45:18 2003 From: coral_giac at yahoo.com (Hernandez Edwin) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 19:45:18 -0800 (PST) Subject: Hybridization in Acropora Message-ID: Dear Pedro and fellow listers. Just a minor observation following Pedro's posting on rapidly changing Acropora palmata morphology. Here in Puerto Rico, I've seen in two locations on the northern coast at Arrecife La Ocho, also known as El Escambron (San Juan), and at Vega Baja Beach (about 20-25 km west of San Juan) high densities of A. palmata colonies with mixed phenotypes. These colonies are growing on very shallow (0.5-1.5 m) and highly turbulent habitats. Most of the colonies show typical A. palmata branches in the colony portions under less turbulent microhabitats (lower part of the colony). But, those colony portions exposed to the prevalent turbulent conditions (upper branches) show typical A. prolifera forms. I've always thought that these "hybrid" morphs are the result of local environmental factors. Their distribution is limited only to the most turbulent zone. Thus, it would be interesting to look at the genetics of these known A. prolifera hybrids and those A. prolifera-looklike palmatas. Is this sudden increase in branchiness a strategy to dissipate high energy from incoming waves? Or is it simply a reproductive strategy to rapidly colonize, disperse and dominate shallow turbulent reef zones? Or is it an strategy of some genetic variants to try to fix their genes by producing larger numbers of weaker fragments, which will inebitably will fragment and disperse, thus rapidly dispersing genetic clones downcurrent? Moreover, this process that Pedro just described under aquarium conditions, which might be the same one that could explain my observations under field conditions, should be tested as a potential A. palmata propagation and restoking method. If palmata branches can exhibit such a rapid increase in branchiness under stronger water movement, then, wouldn't it be feasable either to propagate corals under flowing tank or field conditions by allowing single branches to rapidly produce a high number of new branches which can be cut and transplanted to repeat the process? Just a though... Cheers, Edwin ===== Edwin A. Hernandez-Delgado, Ph.D. University of Puerto Rico Department of Biology Coral Reef Research Group P.O. Box 23360 San Juan, P.R. 00931-3360 Tel (787) 764-0000, x-4855; Fax (787) 764-2610 __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From Hanisak at hboi.edu Sat Feb 15 08:30:10 2003 From: Hanisak at hboi.edu (Dennis Hanisak) Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 08:30:10 -0500 Subject: Summer Internships Message-ID: > SUMMER INTERNSHIPS > > Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution offers a Summer Internship Program > to qualified undergraduate and graduate students interested in > marine-related fields. Our Internship Program is designed to provide > students work experience in a research environment. The areas of study > may include, but are not limited to: aquaculture, biomedical marine > research, marine biology, marine mammal research, marine natural product > chemistry, marine microbiology, ocean engineering, and oceanography. The > 2003 Summer Intern Program begins May 27 and continues through August 1 > (10 weeks). Deadline for applications is March 1. Awards will be > announced ca. April 1. > > A downloadable application form is available at > . > > ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From JandL at rivnet.net Sat Feb 15 12:47:02 2003 From: JandL at rivnet.net (Judy Lang/Lynton Land) Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 12:47:02 -0500 Subject: Hybridization/phenotypic variation in Acropora Message-ID: Dear Edwin, Pedro et al., In contrast to the situation described below by Edwin, there is--or at least there used to be--a small reef crest in a relatively sheltered location inside Discovery Bay Harbour (SW corner, just west of the bauxite loading facility) in which. if I remember correctly, the outer margins of some colonies of Acropora palmata produced a morphology more resembling A. cervicornis than A. prolifera. I presumed this was a response to reduced rates of water flow. Judy On Friday, February 14, 2003, at 10:45 PM, Hernandez Edwin wrote: > Dear Pedro and fellow listers. > > Just a minor observation following Pedro's posting on > rapidly changing Acropora palmata morphology. > > Here in Puerto Rico, I've seen in two locations on the > northern coast at Arrecife La Ocho, also known as El > Escambron (San Juan), and at Vega Baja Beach (about > 20-25 km west of San Juan) high densities of A. > palmata colonies with mixed phenotypes. > > These colonies are growing on very shallow (0.5-1.5 m) > and highly turbulent habitats. Most of the colonies > show typical A. palmata branches in the colony > portions under less turbulent microhabitats (lower > part of the colony). But, those colony portions > exposed to the prevalent turbulent conditions (upper > branches) show typical A. prolifera forms. > > I've always thought that these "hybrid" morphs are the > result of local environmental factors. Their > distribution is limited only to the most turbulent > zone. Thus, it would be interesting to look at the > genetics of these known A. prolifera hybrids and those > A. prolifera-looklike palmatas. > > Is this sudden increase in branchiness a strategy to > dissipate high energy from incoming waves? Or is it > simply a reproductive strategy to rapidly colonize, > disperse and dominate shallow turbulent reef zones? Or > is it an strategy of some genetic variants to try to > fix their genes by producing larger numbers of weaker > fragments, which will inebitably will fragment and > disperse, thus rapidly dispersing genetic clones > downcurrent? > > Moreover, this process that Pedro just described under > aquarium conditions, which might be the same one that > could explain my observations under field conditions, > should be tested as a potential A. palmata propagation > and restoking method. > > If palmata branches can exhibit such a rapid increase > in branchiness under stronger water movement, then, > wouldn't it be feasable either to propagate corals > under flowing tank or field conditions by allowing > single branches to rapidly produce a high number of > new branches which can be cut and transplanted to > repeat the process? Just a though... > > Cheers, > > Edwin > > ===== > Edwin A. Hernandez-Delgado, Ph.D. > University of Puerto Rico > Department of Biology > Coral Reef Research Group > P.O. Box 23360 > San Juan, P.R. 00931-3360 > Tel (787) 764-0000, x-4855; Fax (787) 764-2610 > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day > http://shopping.yahoo.com > > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > > ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From T.Done at aims.gov.au Mon Feb 17 21:43:28 2003 From: T.Done at aims.gov.au (Terry Done) Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 21:43:28 -0500 Subject: The Bali Proceedings are Printed Message-ID: Dear Listers, The Proceedings of the 9th International Coral Reef Symposium, Bali Oct 2000, have now been printed and will soon be distributed to people who paid full registration to the Symposium. A number of copies are available for sale, and persons wishing to purchase a copy or notify a change of address should do so using forms at the following address. http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/bookshop-books.html Please encourage your library and colleagues to purchase a set. The huge job of compiling the Proceedings for publication was undertaken by the editorial team of M. K. Kasim Moosa, S. Soemodihardjo, A. Nontji, A. Soegiarto, K. Romimohtarto, Sukarno and Suharsono. As President of ISRS (1999-2002), I am very grateful for their efforts, both personally, and on behalf of the international coral reef community. With best wishes, Terry Done ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From coral_giac at yahoo.com Tue Feb 18 15:04:59 2003 From: coral_giac at yahoo.com (Hernandez Edwin) Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 12:04:59 -0800 (PST) Subject: Old ISRS Symposium Proceedings Message-ID: Dear coral-listers. I've been doing an unsuccessful internet search trying to find the previous ISRS Symposium Proceedings and had no luck at all. I was able to acquire only vols. 3, 5 and 6 of the 5th Int. Coral Reef Symp. Does anybody know where should I go in the internet to get vols. 1, 2 and 4 of the 5th Symp., as well as where to get the Proceedings of the 6th Symposium and those earlier if there are still old copies around? Please, reply directly to coral_giac at yahoo.com. Thanks in advance. Edwin ===== Edwin A. Hernandez-Delgado, Ph.D. University of Puerto Rico Department of Biology Coral Reef Research Group P.O. Box 23360 San Juan, P.R. 00931-3360 Tel (787) 764-0000, x-4855; Fax (787) 764-2610 __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From fautin at lark.cc.ku.edu Tue Feb 18 16:41:24 2003 From: fautin at lark.cc.ku.edu (Daphne G. Fautin) Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 15:41:24 -0600 (CST) Subject: Old ISRS Symposium Proceedings Message-ID: Dear Edwin and others, Periodically, the list of titles and publishers is published in REEF ENCOUNTER. One is in volume 24, which is available on line. The URL is http://www.uncwil.edu/isrs/reef-encounter/re24/24reef.pdf Daphne On Tue, 18 Feb 2003, Hernandez Edwin wrote: > Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 12:04:59 -0800 (PST) > From: Hernandez Edwin > To: Coral List > Subject: Old ISRS Symposium Proceedings > > Dear coral-listers. > > I've been doing an unsuccessful internet search trying > to find the previous ISRS Symposium Proceedings and > had no luck at all. > > I was able to acquire only vols. 3, 5 and 6 of the 5th > Int. Coral Reef Symp. > > Does anybody know where should I go in the internet to > get vols. 1, 2 and 4 of the 5th Symp., as well as > where to get the Proceedings of the 6th Symposium and > those earlier if there are still old copies around? > > Please, reply directly to coral_giac at yahoo.com. Thanks > in advance. > > Edwin > > ===== > Edwin A. Hernandez-Delgado, Ph.D. > University of Puerto Rico > Department of Biology > Coral Reef Research Group > P.O. Box 23360 > San Juan, P.R. 00931-3360 > Tel (787) 764-0000, x-4855; Fax (787) 764-2610 > Daphne G. Fautin Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Curator, Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center Haworth Hall University of Kansas 1200 Sunnyside Avenue Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7534 USA telephone 1-785-864-3062 fax 1-785-864-5321 for e-mail, please use fautin at ku.edu website www.nhm.ku.edu/~inverts 7th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COELENTERATE BIOLOGY 6-11 July 2003 (including the 2003 North American meeting of the International Society for Reef Studies) for details, go to http://web.nhm.ukans.edu/inverts/iccb/ direct to database of hexacorals, including sea anemones newest version released 31 January 2003 *** http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Hexacoral/Biodata/ *** -- All programmers are optimists -- Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From greta at hawaii.edu Tue Feb 18 18:41:16 2003 From: greta at hawaii.edu (Greta Smith Aeby) Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 13:41:16 -1000 Subject: summer course at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology Message-ID: The Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology is pleased to announce its 2003 Edwin W. Pauley Summer Program, ASSESSING THE HEALTH OF PACIFIC CORALS, June 9 ? June 28, 2003. Specific Topics include: Identification and surveying of stressed corals, histopathology of corals (Ester Peters, Debbie Santavy); Physiological determinants of coral health (Craig Downs, Cheryl Woodley), Microbial ecology of coral reefs (Forest Rohwer). Participants: Graduate level students or working professionals. Limit 12 students. Credit: college credit can be obtained through the University of Hawaii. Application: deadline March 30; application form is available on our website: http://www.hawaii.edu/HIMB/Education/pauley.html For more information contact: Dr. Greta Aeby Email: greta at hawaii.edu ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From Craig.Bonn at noaa.gov Wed Feb 19 08:33:13 2003 From: Craig.Bonn at noaa.gov (Craig Bonn) Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 08:33:13 -0500 Subject: Identification of Octocorals Message-ID: Dear Listers, I am involved in a research project in Florida Bay looking at species composition in the release channels that lie between the banks. The hardbottom channels contain hardcorals as well as numerous gorgonians. I need help in identifying the gorgonians to at least the genus level. I took video with closeups of the gorgonians and was wondering if there is anyone that could take a look and help me in their identification. So far, I have identified a few: Plexaurella nutans; Briareum asbestinum; and Pseudoplexaura spp. from the video. Im not an expert and was hoping that someone could direct me to someone with some expertise. Thanks CS Bonn Craig Steven Bonn Biological Fisheries Technician NOAA/NOS/CCFHR Seagrass Ecology Craig Steven Bonn Biological Fisheries Technician NOAA/NOS/CCFHR Seagrass Ecology 101 Pivers Island Road Cellular: 252-725-4794 Beaufort Fax: 252-728-8784 North Carolina Home: 252-354-5370 28516 Work: 252-728-8777 USA Additional Information: Last Name Bonn First Name Craig Steven Version 2.1 From raronson at jaguar1.usouthal.edu Wed Feb 19 09:28:55 2003 From: raronson at jaguar1.usouthal.edu (Richard B. Aronson) Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 08:28:55 -0600 (CST) Subject: Old ISRS Symposium Proceedings Message-ID: Dear Edwin and Listers, Doug Fenner shot this reminder across the list in January 2000 regarding the proceedings: Complete information on how to order all the Coral Reef Symposium Proceedings are available in Reef Encounter 24, Dec. 1998, page 9. You can read Reef Encounter on the ISRS (International Society for Reef Studies) web site at http://www.uncwil.edu/isrs/ Click on Reef Encounter on the left, then click on Issue 24, and go to page 9. Cheers, Rich Aronson Vice President, ISRS On Tue, 18 Feb 2003, Hernandez Edwin wrote: > Dear coral-listers. > > I've been doing an unsuccessful internet search trying > to find the previous ISRS Symposium Proceedings and > had no luck at all. > > I was able to acquire only vols. 3, 5 and 6 of the 5th > Int. Coral Reef Symp. > > Does anybody know where should I go in the internet to > get vols. 1, 2 and 4 of the 5th Symp., as well as > where to get the Proceedings of the 6th Symposium and > those earlier if there are still old copies around? > > Please, reply directly to coral_giac at yahoo.com. Thanks > in advance. > > Edwin > > ===== > Edwin A. Hernandez-Delgado, Ph.D. > University of Puerto Rico > Department of Biology > Coral Reef Research Group > P.O. Box 23360 > San Juan, P.R. 00931-3360 > Tel (787) 764-0000, x-4855; Fax (787) 764-2610 > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day > http://shopping.yahoo.com > > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . > > ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov Thu Feb 20 11:46:45 2003 From: owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov (owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov) Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 11:46:45 -0500 Subject: No subject Message-ID: gsvms2.cc.gasou.edu with ESMTP for coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov; Tue, 18 Feb 2003 10:46:00 -0500 Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.0.20030218104613.02803180 at gsvms2.cc.gasou.edu> X-Sender: dgleason at gsvms2.cc.gasou.edu X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 10:47:50 -0500 To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov From: Danny Gleason Subject: Tropical Marine Biology Summer Course Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: owner-coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov Precedence: list Greetings All, I would appreciate it if you could make your students aware of our Tropical Marine Biology summer course that will be held at Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas during July 21 - August 4, 2003. This class usually fills up fast and we can only take 12 students. Students will receive 4 semester hours of transfer credit (undergraduate or graduate) as long as their home institution agrees to it. More information about the course can be found at the following web site: http://www.bio.gasou.edu/Bio-home/Gleason/Trop_Mar_Biol/TMB_Home_Page.html Thanks for your help! Cheers, Danny ************************************** Daniel Gleason Department of Biology Georgia Southern University P.O. Box 8042 Statesboro, GA 30460-8042 Phone: 912-681-5957 FAX: 912-681-0845 E-mail: dgleason at gasou.edu http://www.bio.gasou.edu/Bio-home/Gleason/Gleason-home.html ************************************** ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov Thu Feb 20 22:21:09 2003 From: Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov (Alan E Strong) Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 22:21:09 -0500 Subject: SST Time Series Fagatele Bay, AS Message-ID: NOTICE -- Possible American Samoa Bleaching http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/orad/sub/sst_series_fagatele_cur.html The above time series shows that SSTs at American Samoa have been flirting with critical levels that would indicate bleaching may be close at hand. We understand from P. Craig that some bleaching has indeed been observed recently at Ofu. This is in a region where we have seen Degree Heating Weeks (DHW), that show accumulations of HotSpot values, beginning to accumulate...presently at 2.6 DHW. Any observations of bleaching should be reported at the following address: http://www.reefbase.org/input/bleachingreport/index.asp AES Coral Reef Watch Program -- **** <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* Alan E. Strong Team Leader, Marine Applications Science Team (MAST) Coral Reef Watch Project Coordinator Phys Scientist/Oceanographer NOAA/NESDIS/ORA/ORAD -- E/RA3 NOAA Science Center -- RM 711W 5200 Auth Road Camp Springs, MD 20746-4304 Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov 301-763-8102 x170 FAX: 301-763-8572 http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/orad --------------------------------------------------------------------- SST Time Series -- Fagatele Bay, AS [2002-present SST time series] ---------------- [2000-2001 SST time series] ---------------- Coral Bleaching Threshold SST = Maximum Monthly Mean SST + 1 degree C ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Home | SST Time Series Index Page [NOAA logo] [DOC logo] Contact the Webmaster Alan E. Strong, Ph. D. Oceanographer/Team Leader NOAA/NESDIS/ORA Oceanic Research & Applications Division Alan E. Strong, Ph. D. Oceanographer/Team Leader NOAA/NESDIS/ORA Oceanic Research & Applications Division NOAA Science Center 5200 Auth Road Cellular: 443-822-3668 Camp Springs Fax: 301-763-8108 MD Work: 301-763-8102 x170 20746 USA Additional Information: Last Name Strong First Name Alan E. Version 2.1 From svollmer at oeb.harvard.edu Fri Feb 21 12:53:50 2003 From: svollmer at oeb.harvard.edu (Steven Vollmer) Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 12:53:50 -0500 (EST) Subject: Hybridization in Acropora (cont.) Message-ID: hello coral-listers, sorry for my untimely response to last weeks thread about hybridization in acropora (posted by Pedro Alcolado ) with specific reference to a cancun aquarium colony of a. palmata becoming bushy morph (i have to confess that i am only a weekly subscriber). Per Dana Williams comment, leading edges of a. palmata typically form little branchlets which later fuse (this probably points to its shared common ancestor with a. cervicornis being branching), but I have also heard of 'frankenstein' colonies of a. palmata. Most notably, Antonio Ortiz and Hector Ruiz in Puerto Rico dropped a. palmata branches into deep holes and watched as the colonies threw out branched runners - so if you stress a. palmata or put colonies in novel environments (e.g. aquarium and transplants) don't be surprised if the phenotype goes out of whack. When you observe prolifera phenotypes apparently coming out of a. palmata colonies in the field (per Edwin's comment) - it is likely two colonies one palmata with a prolifera colony interspersed (this is the case for the lee stocking island, bahamas palmata reef). Finally, if you find a 'frankenstein' palmata or other caribbean acropora and are curious - i will gladly genotype it for you. Best, steve ___________________________ Steve Vollmer OEB Harvard University 16 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 ***Current Address*** Palumbi Lab Hopkins Marine Station Stanford University Pacific Grove, CA 93950 ph: 831.655.6210 / fax: 831.375.0693 svollmer at oeb.harvard.edu ___________________________ ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From olson at cancun.com.mx Fri Feb 21 13:40:11 2003 From: olson at cancun.com.mx (Olson) Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 12:40:11 -0600 Subject: tourism impact on coral reefs Message-ID: Hello, my name is Gabriela Peon and I would like to know if titanium dioxide, a very common ingredient in sunscreen lotions harms coral reefs, and if it does, would somebody know which sunscreen brand or active ingredient is truly harmless to coral reefs. I live in Cancun, Mexico and we have thousands of tourists snorkeling and diving on coral reefs every single day of the year. Any other valuable information you may have on sunscreen lotions effects on coral reefs or marine life will be very very much appreciated. Gabriela Peon Cancun, Mexico olson at cancun.com.mx From Carl.Beaver at fwc.state.fl.us Fri Feb 21 15:01:55 2003 From: Carl.Beaver at fwc.state.fl.us (Beaver, Carl) Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 15:01:55 -0500 Subject: Coral Spawning Events for 2003 Message-ID: Would any members wish to speculate as to the dates of coral spawning in the western Atlantic for 2003? Last years prediction (I think by Dr. Alina Szmant) hit the nail on the head and consequently the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies was able to observe coral spawning on the Veracruz reefs for the first time. Carl Beaver Ph.D. Associate Research Scientist Florida Marine Research Institute 100 8th Ave. SE. St Petersburg, FL 33701-5020 Ph. 727-896-8626 ext 1110 / SC 523-1110 Fx 727-893-1270 e-mail Carl.beaver at fwc.state.fl.us ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From szmanta at uncwil.edu Fri Feb 21 16:14:02 2003 From: szmanta at uncwil.edu (Alina M. Szmant) Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 16:14:02 -0500 Subject: Coral Spawning Events for 2003 Message-ID: Dear Carl (and others): I feel like I should start an "Alina says... " column, and make it an annual feature. I am glad to hear that I was accurate last year! For summer of 2003: Alina says... Full moon of Aug is on Aug 12 at 4:48 am. Acropora spp will spawn sometime between Aug 15 and 17 at ca. 10:00 to 10:30 am at Florida latitudes and ca. 30-60 min earlier further south (ca. 2 hr after sunset) Montastraea spp and Diploria strigosa will spawn Aug 18 to 20 at ca. 11 pm or so in Florida and ca. 30 to 60 min earlier further south. (ca. 3 hr after sunset) In exchange for sticking my neck out once again, I hope those of you lucky enough to be out there and observe spawning will email me back and let me know if your observations were on other dates. We refine our estimates each year by gathering more observations. Cheers, and don't step on the corals in the frenzy! Alina Szmant P.S. I am not liable for any errors in my estimates, or any consequences of your spending your good time and money to be out there those nights. However, if it works out, you owe me a beer for having saved all the time and money trying to figure it out for yourself. At 03:01 PM 2/21/03 -0500, Beaver, Carl wrote: > Would any members wish to speculate as to the dates of coral spawning in > the western Atlantic for 2003? Last years prediction (I think by Dr. > Alina Szmant) hit the nail on the head and consequently the Harte > Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies was able to observe coral > spawning on the Veracruz reefs for the first time. > > > > Carl Beaver Ph.D. > Associate Research Scientist > Florida Marine Research Institute > 100 8th Ave. SE. St Petersburg, FL 33701-5020 > Ph. 727-896-8626 ext 1110 / SC 523-1110 > Fx 727-893-1270 > e-mail Carl.beaver at fwc.state.fl.us > > > > ~~~~~~~ > For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the > digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . ******************************************************************* Dr. Alina M. Szmant Coral Reef Research Group Professor of Biology Center for Marine Science University of North Carolina at Wilmington 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane Wilmington NC 28409-5928 tel: (910)962-2362 fax: (910)962-2410 email: szmanta at uncwil.edu http://www.uncwil.edu/people/szmanta/ ****************************************************************** From brosov at TNC.ORG Fri Feb 21 16:37:53 2003 From: brosov at TNC.ORG (Brad Rosov) Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 16:37:53 -0500 Subject: Coral Spawning Events for 2003 Message-ID: Going along with this coral spawning thread, I'd like to know if there are any folks planning on collecting coral spawn this year in the Florida Keys. I would be interested in teaming up with others. Alina- if you will under take this effort again, I'll buy you two beers! Brad Rosov Marine Conservation Program Manager The Nature Conservancy of the Florida Keys brosov at tnc.org (305) 745-8402 office (305) 304-6275 cell From judith_mendes at hotmail.com Sat Feb 22 03:21:37 2003 From: judith_mendes at hotmail.com (Judith Mendes) Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2003 08:21:37 +0000 Subject: Coral Spawning Events for 2003 Message-ID: Further south, in the Caribbean (Cayman, Jamaica), it would be best to wait until after the September full-moon to observe spawning in Montastrea species. September full-moon = 10th at 16.36 UT. Predicted spawning dates and time = September 16th - 18th, 21.30 local time (ca. 3.5 hr after sunset). Judith Mendes _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with absent friends - get MSN Messenger http://messenger.msn.co.uk ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From scully_oundle at yahoo.com Sun Feb 23 05:36:25 2003 From: scully_oundle at yahoo.com (Gemma Franklin) Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2003 02:36:25 -0800 (PST) Subject: dissertation research Message-ID: Hi, i wondered if anyone could help me with getting hold of data on the coral reefs around cancun and mexico as i'm doing research on the effects of tourism on coral reefs in the areas. I'd be very grateful for any information. many thanks, Gem (university student in Leeds, England) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more From JandL at rivnet.net Sun Feb 23 11:50:42 2003 From: JandL at rivnet.net (Judy Lang/Lynton Land) Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2003 11:50:42 -0500 Subject: Ricardo Munoz's email Message-ID: Dear all, I am looking for a current email for M.C. Ricardo Mu?oz, of M?rida,Yucat?n, M?xico. (We would like to ask him in which year(s) he quantified live stony coral cover in Akumal and B?hia M?dia Luna.) Many thanks to anyone who can help us locate him. Judy Lang ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From jltorres38 at hotmail.com Mon Feb 24 14:58:59 2003 From: jltorres38 at hotmail.com (Juan Torres) Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 19:58:59 +0000 Subject: Acropora cervicornis in aquariums Message-ID: Dear coral-listers: I am trying to mantain Acropora cervicornis colonies in outdoor aquariums for an UV enhanced experiment. Yet, so far I haven't had any luck even though the aquariums have running seawater, aereation, are being fed, and the temperature is mantained similar to the one at the reef where the colonies were removed. All the colonies were removed from less than two feet of water. When they are put in the aquariums they begin to bleach between 2-4 days after even though the physical conditions remain the same. This is about the fourth time we try without any luck at all. The seawater is filtered all the time with sand and UV filters. Do anyone have any suggestions regarding the maintenance of this species in outdoor aquariums like these? Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Juan L. Torres University of PR Dept. of Marine Sciences _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From ajnilsen at online.no Mon Feb 24 15:20:57 2003 From: ajnilsen at online.no (Alf Jacob Nilsen) Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 21:20:57 +0100 Subject: Acropora cervicornis in aquariums Message-ID: Hi Juan, Are you using an open or closed aquarium system? If you have a closed one, protein skimming might help. Bleaching might also be due to to heavy light... try put a curtain to block the heaviest sunlight or lower the corals.... cheers Alf J Alf Jacob Nilsen Bioquatic Photo 4432 Hidrasund, Norway ajnilsen at online.no fax: 004738372351 ph: 004738372256 -----Original Message----- From: owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov]On Behalf Of Juan Torres Sent: 24. februar 2003 20:59 To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov Subject: Acropora cervicornis in aquariums Dear coral-listers: I am trying to mantain Acropora cervicornis colonies in outdoor aquariums for an UV enhanced experiment. Yet, so far I haven't had any luck even though the aquariums have running seawater, aereation, are being fed, and the temperature is mantained similar to the one at the reef where the colonies were removed. All the colonies were removed from less than two feet of water. When they are put in the aquariums they begin to bleach between 2-4 days after even though the physical conditions remain the same. This is about the fourth time we try without any luck at all. The seawater is filtered all the time with sand and UV filters. Do anyone have any suggestions regarding the maintenance of this species in outdoor aquariums like these? Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Juan L. Torres University of PR Dept. of Marine Sciences _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.445 / Virus Database: 250 - Release Date: 21.01.2003 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.445 / Virus Database: 250 - Release Date: 21.01.2003 ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From hnearing at duke.edu Mon Feb 24 17:31:38 2003 From: hnearing at duke.edu (Helen Nearing) Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 17:31:38 -0500 Subject: Duke Marine Lab Summer Integrated Marine Conservation Program Message-ID: APOLOGIES FOR CROSS LISTINGS Duke University Integrated Marine Conservation Program The Duke University Marine Laboratory is offering an unparalleled educational opportunity from July 7 to August 8, 2003. Duke's Integrated Marine Conservation Program teaches the principles necessary for the conservation and preservation of the coastal and oceanic environment. The focus is on interdisciplinary problem solving--using natural and social science theory to resolve real world environmental problems. This program is a tremendous opportunity for students at any level to think about conservation biology and policy in an environment full of students and faculty grappling with the same issues. The core class (BIO 109/ENV 209 Conservation Biology and Policy) involves field trips, discussion groups, role play (in 2002 it was a fishery management scenario), lecture, and a final project for graduate students that focuses on the integration of science and policy. Undergraduate students will have a case-study based final exam. Students will leave the class with an appreciation of the policy process, as well as with a grounding in the fundamentals of marine conservation. There may be no other course, anywhere, that can offer as much in an intensive 5-week summer session. In addition to the classwork, the session hosts a Distinguished Conservation Scholar each week to give a lecture, to lead discussions, and to be available to meet with students on an individual basis. Speakers in the past have included such scientists as Jane Lubchenco, Jeremy Jackson, Carl Safina, Jim Estes, and Kai Lee, and non-scientists such as Pulitzer-Prize winning environmental reporter John McQuaid. A final and critical dimension to the class comes from the presence of international students, who often have first-hand knowledge of conservation battles and have worked to influence environmental policy. Past international participants have included 51 students from 34 different countries. In any particular year, we expect 5-15 international fellows. Interaction with these individuals does much to foster awareness of the difficulty of implementing conservation at the ground level. If funding is available several special fellowships will be awarded on a competitive basis to international students, especially those from developing countries, to attend BIO 109/ENV 209. The Global Fellows in Marine Conservation application credentials are due April 1st. Participants in the Integrated Marine Conservation Program usually enroll in the program's 'core' course (Conservation Biology and Policy) and one of seven elective courses offered concurrently (Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles; Marine Mammals; Marine Ecology; Marine Invertebrate Zoology; Barrier Island Ecology; Marine Policy; Independent Research). Enrollment in any one course is also possible. Applications for the Integrated Marine Conservation Program will be accepted until the program is full. Duke University Marine Lab summer tuition scholarships are awarded to either U.S. or non-U.S. citizens on a competitive basis and cover full tuition for any one course in Term II. These summer tuition scholarship applications are due April 1st. Additionally, a grant from Panaphil Foundation allows the Duke Marine Laboratory to offer three tuition scholarships to U.S. citizens and three fellowships to international students attending Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles. These applications are due April 1st. For further information, visit http://www.env.duke.edu/marinelab/programs/summer2.html or contact ml_admissions at env.duke.edu; 252/504-7502. From julian at twolittlefishies.com Tue Feb 25 01:02:18 2003 From: julian at twolittlefishies.com (Julian Sprung) Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 01:02:18 -0500 Subject: Message-ID: Dear Juan, Sometimes observers confuse bleaching and tissue loss, and sometimes one leads into the other. Would you say the corals are just getting pale or are they dying? When you say "no luck" it sounds like they are dying- that's not bleaching, or at last not just bleaching. If your corals are losing tissue after a few days this may be attributed to bacteria, some other pathogen, and/or a stress response by the coral. That being an oversimplification perhaps. Are the corals placed on a white sand/gravel bottom or are they on rocks? The difference can have a dramatic impact on the light field for the coral. You are likely to have better luck with them in any case if you maintain a temperature below 82 degrees F. This will reduce the incidence of problems with bacterial pathogens and slow their progress if they occur. Therefore a chiller may help. Place it on a re-circulating loop and feed new seawater into the exhibit at a slow rate. Check the oxygen level in your system at night. It may be getting low (depending on the amount of aeration, circulation, and substrate thickness). When you say that the tanks have running seawater do you mean open system? If you are using sand filters, discontinue doing so. No need for them for this set up, and they may be developing hydrogen sulfide pockets that would affect oxygen levels, and possibly produce problems with pathogenic bacteria. Julian Sprung -----Original Message----- From: owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov]On Behalf Of Juan Torres Sent: 24. februar 2003 20:59 To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov Subject: Acropora cervicornis in aquariums Dear coral-listers: I am trying to mantain Acropora cervicornis colonies in outdoor aquariums for an UV enhanced experiment. Yet, so far I haven't had any luck even though the aquariums have running seawater, aereation, are being fed, and the temperature is mantained similar to the one at the reef where the colonies were removed. All the colonies were removed from less than two feet of water. When they are put in the aquariums they begin to bleach between 2-4 days after even though the physical conditions remain the same. This is about the fourth time we try without any luck at all. The seawater is filtered all the time with sand and UV filters. Do anyone have any suggestions regarding the maintenance of this species in outdoor aquariums like these? Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Juan L. Torres University of PR Dept. of Marine Sciences _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.445 / Virus Database: 250 - Release Date: 21.01.2003 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.445 / Virus Database: 250 - Release Date: 21.01.2003 ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From matz at whitney.ufl.edu Tue Feb 25 09:51:52 2003 From: matz at whitney.ufl.edu (Mike Matz) Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 06:51:52 -0800 Subject: coral cement ? Message-ID: Hi all, Please - tell me which compound (exact brand name would be most appreciated!) could be used to cover up the damaged part of the coral colony underwater, after chiseling off a piece. (I 'm afraid this is urgent - I have to leave to the field in two days!) Thanks in advance! Mike Matz P.S. Some people were interested, with regard to my previous questions (last time it was coral histology), what kind of research we are doing. I just put up a new web page! Check it out: http://www.whitney.ufl.edu/research_programs/matz.htm From alcolado at ama.cu Tue Feb 25 10:25:32 2003 From: alcolado at ama.cu (Pedro Alcolado) Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 10:25:32 -0500 Subject: Symposium on Subaquatic Activities Message-ID: To listers potentially interested to attent at a sympsosium on Subaquatic Activities and diving in Cuban coral reefs. See attachment for information. All the best, Pedro From Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov Tue Feb 25 13:59:00 2003 From: Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov (Alan E Strong) Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 13:59:00 -0500 Subject: NOAA News Online (Story 1104) Message-ID: NOAA News Story - Press Release - Degree Heating Week Charts - OPERATIONAL! http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s1104.htm AES -- **** <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* Alan E. Strong Team Leader, Marine Applications Science Team (MAST) Coral Reef Watch Project Coordinator Phys Scientist/Oceanographer NOAA/NESDIS/ORA/ORAD -- E/RA3 NOAA Science Center -- RM 711W 5200 Auth Road Camp Springs, MD 20746-4304 Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov 301-763-8102 x170 FAX: 301-763-8572 http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/orad --------------------------------------------------------------------- NOAA Magazine || NOAA Home Page Commerce Dept. NOAA USING SATELLITE DATA TO MONITOR HEAT STRESSES ON CORAL REEFS [NOAA satellite image of Degree Heating Weeks for the past 12 weeks taken Feb. 25, 2003.]February 25, 2003 ? NOAA scientists are using satellite data to monitor the long-term effects of heat stresses on several coral reefs throughout the world. While the scientists have been monitoring the stresses for some time, the NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service is now providing an operational product called ?Degree Heating Week?. (Click NOAA satellite image for larger view of Degree Heating Weeks for the past 12 weeks taken Feb. 25, 2003. Click here for DHW.) ?Degree Heating Weeks have been available experimentally for some time,? said Dr. Alan Strong, coordinator of Coral Reef Watch at NOAA Satellite and Information Services. ?Turning operational means that coral reef managers and stake holders will now have up-to-date, accurate, and reliable information on the status of their reefs and may be able to take active measures to prevent further damage if their site has a high DHW rating.? Using satellite-derived information, DHWs continuously monitor the cumulative thermal stress of several coral reefs throughout the globe, including Australia?s Great Barrier Reef, Galapagos, the Bahamas and others. The extent and acuteness of thermal stress, key predictors of coral bleaching, contribute to coral reef degradation worldwide. Coral reefs compose a large and integral part of the coastal ocean, supporting a variety of sea life and providing resources of significant economic importance. Coral bleaching occurs as coral tissue expels zooxanthellae, a symbiotic algae essential to coral survival that resides within the structure of the coral. Bleaching is induced by high water temperatures. A Degree Heating Week is designed to indicate the accumulated stress experienced by coral reefs. For example, if the current temperature of a reef site exceeds the maximum expected summertime temperature by one degree Celsius, then the site receives a rating of 1 DHW. If the current temperature at the site is two degrees Celsius above the maximum expected summertime temperature or one degree above for a period of two weeks, the site would receive a rating of 2 DHWs, and so on. With the operational product, NOAA Satellite and Information Services will provide continuous technical support on a 24-hour, seven-day basis, and will maintain a Web site which will be updated twice a week. NOAA Satellite and Information Services is the nation?s primary source of space-based meteorological and climate data. NOAA Satellite and Information Services operates the nation's environmental satellites, which are used for weather and ocean observation and forecasting, climate monitoring and other environmental applications. Applications include sea-surface temperature, fire detection and ozone monitoring. NOAA Satellite and Information Services also operates three data centers, which house global data bases in climatology, oceanography, solid earth geophysics, marine geology and geophysics, solar-terrestrial physics, and paleoclimatology. NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation?s coastal and marine resources. NOAA is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce. Relevant Web Sites NOAA?s Degree Heating Week NOAA Satellite and Information Services NOAA's Coral Reef Media Contact: Patricia Viets, NOAA Satellite and Information Services, (301) 457-5005 Alan E. Strong, Ph. D. Oceanographer/Team Leader NOAA/NESDIS/ORA Oceanic Research & Applications Division Alan E. Strong, Ph. D. Oceanographer/Team Leader NOAA/NESDIS/ORA Oceanic Research & Applications Division NOAA Science Center 5200 Auth Road Cellular: 410-490-6602 Camp Springs Fax: 301-763-8572 MD Work: 301-763-8102 x170 20746 USA Additional Information: Last Name Strong First Name Alan E. Version 2.1 From jltorres38 at hotmail.com Tue Feb 25 17:35:05 2003 From: jltorres38 at hotmail.com (Juan Torres) Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 22:35:05 +0000 Subject: more on A cervicornis experiments Message-ID: Dear Coral Listers: Here is more information regarding my experiments with A cervicornis that might answer some of the questions that were asked. Sorry I didn't give it before. 1) The main reason of the experiment is to measure the effect of enhaced UV radiation on two coral species: A cervicornis and P furcata. Even though I have had these problems with A cervicornis, I did not have any problems with P furcata. The samples from both species were collected from the same depth at the reef (1-1.5m), tied to wire frames which are covered with plastic, and kept acclimatizing on the reef at <1m depth for a month. After the month they were inspected and all the colonies from both species were perfectly fine. All the corals were placed in the aquariums less than 30 minutes from removing them from the reef and were maintained with aereation during the trip to the aquariums. The aquariums have a 30 gallon capacity and only 3-4 colonies with between 6-8 branches were put inside each aquarium. The aquariums were not covered with any mesh or shading cloth because the PAR and UV light regime measured were similar to the ones measured from they were ketp acclimatizing. The control aquariums are being kept under normal (no shading) sunlight and others are under UV lamps which are turned on only two hours during the day (between 11:00am-1:00pm) which results in an average 5% increase in the dose the control ones are recieving. Other aquariums are under a Hyzod panel that filters 99% of the UV radiation reaching the aquariums. Yet, I might try covering the aquariums with some mesh and see if this results. 2) This is an open water system, the salinity has been monitored and is between 34-35ppt all the time, and the temperature measured with HOBO thermometers fluctuates between 27oC at night and 29.5oC at noon, which compares to the temperature that is currently being measured at the reef where they were removed (between 26.7-30oC). We have not made analysis on nutrients. 3) I believe, after reading Julian Sprung's e-mail, that it may be both bleaching and RTN happening since it begins with a discoloration of the colonies and after 1-2 days the tissue can be seen to hang from the skeleton in most of the colonies. Yet, I sincerely appreciate all the information posted and any other will be greatly appreciated too! Regards, Juan L. Torres University of PR Dept. of Marine Sciences _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From j.oliver at cgiar.org Tue Feb 25 20:36:23 2003 From: j.oliver at cgiar.org (Oliver, Jamie (WorldFish)) Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 17:36:23 -0800 Subject: carrying capacity Message-ID: Dear Coral Listers, For your information, the paper referred to by James Spurgeon in this recent discussion thread is now available for download from ReefBase. (Search in the Literature area for Author = Spurgeon and year =2003) In addition, my paper on Limits of Acceptable Change is also on ReefBase. (Search in Literature for Author = Oliver and year = 1995) I would like to urge other members of the list to take advantage of the upload facility of ReefBase to share any (non copyright) reports with the general coral reef community by putting them onto ReefBase (go to User Input/ literature). If the upload interface is a deterrent, just email me any material and I will upload it myself. The Literature section of ReefBase now has over 14,000 references relating to coral reefs, and nearly 1000 of these have links to full text. For a list of recently added references that have access to full text see http://www.reefbase.org/pdf/ReefBase Literature Recent Additions (full text).doc Best Regards Jamie Oliver ================================================== ReefBase www.reefbase.org ReefBase is developed by the WorldFish Center. It is a product of the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). It is supported by the United Nations Foundation (UNF) and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) ==================================================== =============================== Jamie Oliver Senior Scientist (Coral Reef Projects) WorldFish Center PO Box 500, Penang 10670 Phone: (604) 626 1606 Fax: (604) 626 5530 email: J.Oliver at cgiar.org visit ReefBase on: www.reefbase.org =============================== From Bprecht at pbsj.com Wed Feb 26 14:40:32 2003 From: Bprecht at pbsj.com (Precht, Bill) Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 13:40:32 -0600 Subject: FW: [Fwd: NOAA Seeks Comments on Ways to Restore Injured Coral an d Seagrass] Message-ID: FYI - See Below ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26, 2003 CONTACT: Cheva Heck Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary 305.292.0311, ext. 26 305.304.0179 (cell) NOAA Seeks Comments on Ways to Restore Injured Coral and Seagrass The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will host two public scooping meetings to obtain input on proposed methods to restore or replace coral and seagrass habitat destroyed by incidents such as boat groundings or anchor damage. NOAA is preparing programmatic environmental impact statements (PEIS) that describe methods and guidelines for coral and seagrass restoration projects in the Florida Keys and Flower Garden Banks (off the Texas cost) national marine sanctuaries. Preparing these statements will help speed preparation of environmental assessments and individual restoration plans for specific sites and contribute to faster restoration of injured coral and seagrass areas. NOAA is also accepting written comments on the documents through April 15, 2003. NOAA expects to complete both the coral and seagrass environmental impact statements by March 2004. What: Public scoping meetings on coral and seagrass restoration techniques When: Thursday, March 6, 2003 Afternoon meeting: 2:00 to 4:00 pm. Evening meeting: 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Where: Marathon Garden Club, 5270 Overseas Highway, gulfside. Contact: Harriet Sopher, 301.713.3145, ext. 109 or harriet.sopher at noaa.gov. ### From Cheva.Heck at noaa.gov Wed Feb 26 15:34:10 2003 From: Cheva.Heck at noaa.gov (Cheva Heck) Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 15:34:10 -0500 Subject: FW: [Fwd: NOAA Seeks Comments on Ways to Restore Injured Coral and Seagrass] Message-ID: Hi, Bill. I appreciate your keeping the list informed, but I believe you unfortunately obtained an earlier version of this notice that contains two errors. First of all, we are obviously holding "scoping" meetings, as opposed to "scooping" meetings, although I am sure our local reporters would be appreciative if these meetings produced some scoops. Second, as I'm sure G.P. Schmahl will agree, Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is off the Texas coast, not the Texas cost. Sorry, G.P.! I apologize for the errors. Cheva "Precht, Bill" wrote: > > > FYI - See Below > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26, 2003 > > CONTACT: Cheva Heck > Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary > 305.292.0311, ext. 26 > 305.304.0179 (cell) > > NOAA Seeks Comments on Ways to Restore Injured Coral and Seagrass > > The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will host two public > scooping meetings to obtain input on proposed methods to restore or > replace coral and seagrass habitat destroyed by incidents such as boat > groundings or anchor damage. > > NOAA is preparing programmatic environmental impact statements (PEIS) that > describe methods and guidelines for coral and seagrass restoration > projects in the Florida Keys and Flower Garden Banks (off the Texas cost) > national marine sanctuaries. Preparing these statements will help speed > preparation of environmental assessments and individual restoration plans > for specific sites and contribute to faster restoration of injured coral > and seagrass areas. > > NOAA is also accepting written comments on the documents through April 15, > 2003. NOAA expects to complete both the coral and seagrass environmental > impact statements by March 2004. > > What: Public scoping meetings on coral and seagrass restoration > techniques > > When: Thursday, March 6, 2003 > Afternoon meeting: 2:00 to 4:00 pm. > Evening meeting: 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. > > Where: Marathon Garden Club, 5270 Overseas Highway, gulfside. > > Contact: Harriet Sopher, 301.713.3145, ext. 109 or > harriet.sopher at noaa.gov. > > ### > > > > > > From gefenyov at post.tau.ac.il Thu Feb 27 05:13:37 2003 From: gefenyov at post.tau.ac.il (gefenyov at post.tau.ac.il) Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 12:13:37 +0200 (IST) Subject: No subject Message-ID: hello to you all i'm using a fluorescence prob to detect bacteria inside stone corals. i'm checking crushed tissue sampels and cross sections (10 microns depth)of the coral. i have a serious problem of auto fluorescence of both crushed and whole sampels on the same wavelength i'm using for my probs (490, 630 and 540 nm). the auto fluorescence is produced by the algea and by the coral tissue itself. i'm looking for a technique to decrease the auto fluorescence using prehybridization washing or some other method. thanks Yuval Gefen department of molecular microbiology Tel-aviv university, Israel. gefenyov at post.tau.ac.il ~~~~~~~ For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the digests, please see http://www.coral.noaa.gov/lists/coral-list.html . From alcolado at ama.cu Thu Feb 27 12:02:28 2003 From: alcolado at ama.cu (Pedro Alcolado) Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 12:02:28 -0500 Subject: Again Symposium on Subaquatic Activities Message-ID: From Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov Fri Feb 28 11:06:31 2003 From: Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov (Alan E Strong) Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 11:06:31 -0500 Subject: El Niņo: Research, Forecasts and Observations Message-ID: El Nino gives way to return to upwelling off South America and Galapagos... http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/ -- **** <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* Alan E. Strong Team Leader, Marine Applications Science Team (MAST) Coral Reef Watch Project Coordinator Phys Scientist/Oceanographer NOAA/NESDIS/ORA/ORAD -- E/RA3 NOAA Science Center -- RM 711W 5200 Auth Road Camp Springs, MD 20746-4304 Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov 301-763-8102 x170 FAX: 301-763-8572 http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/orad --------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric [NOAA El Ni?o page] Administration [Dept of Commerce] [NOAA] [{short description of image}] [{short description of image}] [Image] El Ni?o is a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather and climate around the globe. NOAA is the National [NOAA/NESDIS latest SST anomalies] Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has primary responsibilities for providing forecasts to the Nation, and a leadership role in sponsoring El Ni?o observations and research. [What is El Ni?o?] What is El Ni?o? What's happening today? NOAA Sites A comprehensive listing of NOAA El Ni?o sites: Forecasts Observations Research More about El Ni?o Comprehensive Index of more sites Educational sites Animations and Graphics [New!] non-NOAA sites Impact [New!] La Ni?a La Ni?a is associated with cooler than normal water temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean. Links on this page will have detailed information on processes involved in, and the status of La Ni?a. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits | Disclaimer | feedback: webmaster at www.noaa.gov Last updated: February 28, 2002 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alan E. Strong, Ph. D. Oceanographer/Team Leader NOAA/NESDIS/ORA Oceanic Research & Applications Division Alan E. Strong, Ph. D. Oceanographer/Team Leader NOAA/NESDIS/ORA Oceanic Research & Applications Division NOAA Science Center 5200 Auth Road Cellular: 410-490-6602 Camp Springs Fax: 301-763-8572 MD Work: 301-763-8102 x170 20746 USA Additional Information: Last Name Strong First Name Alan E. Version 2.1