[Coral-List] Ara Macao (Scarlet Macaw) Resort, Placencia, Belize

Mon May 22 11:01:51 EDT 2006

I'd first like to thank all of the people on this list who responded to my
request for assistance regarding the proposed Ara Macao (Scarlet Macaw)
resort development in the Placencia, Belize area.  Everyone's input was
invaluable in helping us put forth a response to the development's EIA that
could not be ignored by relevant government ministries.  In particular, Todd
Barber gave us a tremendous amount of his professional time and expertise,
which is demonstrated in the EIA review he did for us gratis.  Dr. Tom
Williams also went well above and beyond the call of duty in providing us
with his very insightful professional comments on the EIA.

Second, I wanted to let everyone know that the public consultation on the
proposed project was an outstanding success, with about 300 people from all
the communities in the Placencia area showing up to voice their concerns
about the proposed development.  

However, we are still waiting for a formal response from the Belize
Department of the Environment to our requests for additional meetings with
DOE and the developer to answer questions and concerns, as well as an
official extension of the deadline for comments on the EIA.

You can find additional information about what's been happening with the
development at www.destinationsbelize.com/ara_macao_resort.htm, along with
professional reviews of the EIAs, reports from the public hearing a few
pictures.

Finally, if anyone has the time, emails and letters couldn't hurt.  

Belize Department of the Environment
envirodept at btl.net

Minister John Briceno, Minister of Natural Resources, the Environment and
Industry
minister at mnrei.gov.bz

Again, thanks very much to those of you who responded to our previous call
for help, and thank you in advance to anyone who has time to email the
Department of the Environment and Minister John Briceno.

Mary

-----Original Message-----
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Subject: Coral-List Digest, Vol 35, Issue 16

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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than
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Today's Topics:

   1. Florida Bay sands (Martin Moe)
   2. Apologies (Jim Hendee)
   3. Re: weird bleaching in Baja (shashank Keshavmurthy)
   4. Sewage Outfall News Video (Etichscuba at aol.com)
   5. Lower Keys ooids (Gene Shinn)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 07:24:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Martin Moe <martin_moe at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Coral-List] Florida Bay sands
To: Gene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>,	coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID: <20060517142443.2787.qmail at web60013.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

This is a note to Gene Shinn, but I thought I???d post it on Coral List in
case there is a general interest.
I live on Lower Matecumbe Key in the Florida Keys right on the beach on the
Florida Bay side. Recently, I was looking for a sand substrate for an
aquarium system and checked out the sand available in my area.
There is a sand bar that has developed in the last few years about 100 feet
off the beach.  The bar is about 50 feet wide, over a 100 feet long and over
2 feet deep. It has moved about 200 feet to the south covering grass beds
and shallowling the water from about 4 feet to 1 foot in last 3 years. This
bar is evidently a part of a much more extensive sand bank that extends
about a half mile northward. I examined various sand substrates
microscopically looking for the best grain composition and size for my
application, and was surprised to fine that this bar, and presumably the
more extensive sand beds to the north, was entirely composed of oolitic sand
with smooth ovoid grains in the approximate range of 100 microns. Although
the sand at the wave wash area on the beach contains many shell fragments,
the sand on the bar has none, it is, evidently, composed only of oolitic
sand. So I wonder, Gene, is this sand in the process of being formed in
Florida Bay, perhaps do the interaction of Bay and ocean water, something
similar to the Bahamas muds, or is simply a sorting and movement of
sediments in the shallow waters of the Bay? And if oolitic sand is being
formed, what effect, if any, will the restoration of water flows through the
Everglades have on sediment formation in the Bay?
Just curious???.

Martin Moe

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 13:45:22 -0400
From: "Jim Hendee" <Jim.Hendee at noaa.gov>
Subject: [Coral-List] Apologies
To: Coral-List Subscribers <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Message-ID: <446B6132.8060303 at noaa.gov>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Dear Coral-Listers,

    My most sincere apologies for allowing the recent message to go through
that had foul language on it.  I  (stupidly) assumed that he would not do
such a thing, and in my rush at the time, I approved the message for
forwarding it without reading it.  My apologies, he will be unsubscribed.

    Jim

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 19:59:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: shashank Keshavmurthy <iamshanky15 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] weird bleaching in Baja
To: Mark Warner <mwarner at cms.udel.edu>,	coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID: <20060518025941.18537.qmail at web31807.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Hi.... 
to everyone taking part in this topic...
As Mark has  has suggested about the upcoming article...
The one article that is already published in MEPS may be of interest to
all...

"Energetic cost of photoinhibition in corals "- Hoogenboom et al,  MEPS,
2006, 313:1-12.
Since it is an "Open Access" article, anyone can download it from the MEPS
site...

Regards
Shashank

"the role of infinitely small in nature is infinitely large"-Louis Pasteur

Keshavmurthy Shashank
phD candidate
Kochi University, Graduate School of Kuroshio Science Laboratory of
Environmental Conservation Otsu 200, Monobe, Nankoku-shi 783-8502, Kochi,
Japan alt. id: shashank at cc.kochi-u.ac.jp
phone: 81 090 8285 9012

__________________________________________________
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------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 06:19:00 EDT
From: Etichscuba at aol.com
Subject: [Coral-List] Sewage Outfall News Video
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Cc: Jules.Craynock at noaa.gov, Jim.Hendee at noaa.gov
Message-ID: <2fd.576590c.319da414 at aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

News video of Delray Beach, FL sewer outfall pipe. The NPDES permit  for
this 
outfall expired December 2005.

_Click  here: NewsChannel 5 Video_ 
(http://video.wptv.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=796933&h1=U
nderwater%20Wednesdays:%20Sewage%20Outfall&vt
1=v&at1=News&d1=195033&LaunchPageAdTag=News&fvCatNo=&backgroundImageURL=&act
iv
ePane=info&playerVersion=9&hostPageUrl=http://www.wptv.com/&rnd=46014326)  

_http://video.wptv.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=796933&h1=U
nd
erwater%20Wednesdays%3A%20Sewage%20Outfall&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=195033&LaunchPa
ge
AdTag=News&fvCatNo=&backgroundImageURL=&activePane=info&playerVersion=9&host
Pa
geUrl=http%3A//www.wptv.com/&rnd=46014326_ 
(http://video.wptv.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=796933&h1=U
nderwater%20Wednesdays:%20Sewage%20Ou
tfall&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=195033&LaunchPageAdTag=News&fvCatNo=&backgroundImage
UR
L=&activePane=info&playerVersion=9&hostPageUrl=http://www.wptv.com/&rnd=4601
43
26) 

Ed Tichenor, Director
Palm Beach County Reef Rescue
_www.reef-rescue.org_ (http://www.reef-rescue.org) 
561 699-8559

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 11:27:42 -0400
From: Gene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Subject: [Coral-List] Lower Keys ooids
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID: <a0620074dc0923b1fd57e@[131.247.136.102]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Dear Martin,  Of course I would love to have a sample of the ooid 
sand you described. I am a little suspicious that they may not be 
true ooids, at least in the Bahamian sense. Many geologists have 
called the sands on White Banks off Key Largo ooids but they are 
mainly just polished ovoid-shaped Halimeda sands with a superficial 
oolitic coating. The water at white banks is far more similar to 
water on the Bahama banks where ooids are forming than water in 
Florida Bay. One of the great mysteries  is why we have not found 
real ooids anywhere in the Florida Keys before.  For example, the 
tidal currents currents and bed forms on the "Quicksands," west of 
the Marquesas, are exactly like those in the ooid forming areas of 
the Bahamas. The difference is that the sands are 90%  Halimida 
flakes and there are no ooids.  We really looked for them. The large 
submarine sand dunes move back and forth several meters with each 
tidal change just like ooid sands in the Bahamas. The major visual 
difference is the water is green and visibility is seldom greater 
than 30 ft if that much. The  Pleistocene limestone underlying the 
Quicksands, however, is oolite. So for unknown reasons ooid sands 
were forming  during the Pleistocene, (when sea level was 20 feet 
higher than today) and creating the tidal sand bars that became  the 
lower Florida Keys of today. Ooids also formed and created beaches 
that are now 300 ft below present sea level off the keys. They formed 
during lowered  sea level  during the last glacial period about 
10-18ka.  So there are still some great mysteries  to be solved. If 
you have true ooids forming off your dock that would really be 
something. Please send sample to address below. Best Wishes, Gene
-- 

No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
Marine Science Center (room 204)
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158---------------------------------- 
-----------------------------------

------------------------------

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