[Coral-List] Mauritius reefs

Thomas Goreau goreau at bestweb.net
Wed Nov 1 11:31:35 EST 2006


Dear Ranjeet,

No this is not correct. Mauritius did not get hot enough long enough  
in 1998 to have much bleaching mortality as did Seychjelles,  
Mauritius, and most of the Indian Ocean   (See T. Goreau, T.  
McClanahan, R. Hayes, & A. Strong, 2000, Conservation of coral reefs  
after the 1998 global bleaching event, CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, 14:  
5-15, and follow up studies of coral bleaching in Mauritius by  
McClanahan and Ruby Moothien Pillai). But this is not to say  
Mauritius reefs are in good health. There has been long damage from  
soil erosion and fertilizer runoff from sugar cultivation, and now  
from sewage from coastal development. For a recent assessment of reef  
stress on all four sides of Mauritius see:
http://globalcoral.org/Mauritius%20Marine%20Management%20Notes.htm

Best wishes,
Tom

Thomas J. Goreau, PhD
President
Global Coral Reef Alliance
37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge MA 02139
617-864-4226
goreau at bestweb.net
http://www.globalcoral.org



> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:38:47 -0500
> From: "Ranjeet Bhagooli" <coral at scientist.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] UNEP report
> To: sddonner at Princeton.EDU, Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID: <20061031173853.72B2F1F50B1 at ws1-2.us4.outblaze.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> This report mentions that coral reefs of Mauritius were "severely  
> damaged". I suppose it's relating it to the 1998 mass bleaching/ 
> mortality event in the Indian Ocean.
>
> "Coral reefs across the Indian Ocean including around the Comoros,  
> La Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles, were among  
> those that were severely damaged."
>
> Was that really the case?
> Pls. correct me if I'm wrong!
>
> Ranjeet Bhagooli, Ph.D.
> MBF/RSMAS, UM
> Miami, Florida
> USA






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