[Coral-List] Critical Habitat for Threatened Corals Finalized

Sarah Heberling Sarah.Heberling at noaa.gov
Wed Nov 26 14:44:47 EST 2008


This bounced from coral-list.  Thanks, Sarah

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: [Coral-List] Critical Habitat for Threatened Corals Finalized
Date: 	Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:41:25 -0500
From: 	Sarah Heberling <Sarah.Heberling at noaa.gov>
To: 	Todd Barber <reefball at reefball.com>
CC: 	coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov
References: 	<492D52A6.7080606 at noaa.gov> 
<FD5516D4AC0A41FC99D941E7843CB03E at TODDDESK>



Todd --

I appreciate your comments, and I assure MUCH thought went into the 
proposal and finalization of these critical habitat designations. 

I hope that in regard to your comment on artificial reefs, you find our 
response to Comment 44 on page 72218 of the FR notice acceptable.  
Additionally, we acknowledge in the FR notice that macroalgae is an 
ephemeral feature (see second paragraph of response to Comment 6, page 
72213; and Comment/Response 19, page 72215).  Last, a grounded ship 
would not meet the definition of the feature identified as essential to 
the conservation of threatened corals, which is:

substrate of suitable quality and availability to support successful 
larval settlement and recruitment, and reattachment and recruitment of 
fragments. For purposes of this definition, ''substrate of suitable 
quality and availability'' means _*natural consolidated hard substrate*_ 
or dead coral skeleton that is free from fleshy or turf macroalgae cover 
and sediment cover.

If you have any further concerns or questions about these designations, 
please do not hesitate to contact me!
Sarah

--
Sarah E. Heberling
NOAA Fisheries Service
Phone: (727) 824-5312
Fax: (727) 824-5309
Email: Sarah.Heberling at noaa.gov
Web: http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/acropora.htm

"What good is a used up world; and how could it be worth having?"



Todd Barber wrote:
> Hi Sarah,
>
> This sounds a little unthought out to me.....every oil company in the 
> world that grounds a tanker will now claim that they have created 
> essential habitat for endangered species!  Hail to the boat scars!
>
> The "fatal" flaw in this designation is the simple fact that "fleshy 
> and turf macroalgae"...as any scientist on the coral list will tell 
> you....wax and wane....from season to season...and even from the 
> presence or absence of herbivores.  And to truthfully and fully 
> disclose my own interests, this designation will also make it 
> difficult or impossible to permit systems designed to provide habitat 
> for propogating and replanting Acroporas (such as designed artifiical 
> reefs) in these areas.
>
> I think this is just another example of our government having all the 
> right intentions but caught up in their own rules and regulations 
> ending up with undesired consequences.
>
> This is not meant to be personal or critical to you or any other 
> government person that I am sure spent long hours working on this...I 
> do really appreciate the efforts we are all making to try to save 
> these wonderful corals....just trying to remind people to really think 
> hard about the consequences  "mandatory" (and other) rules as so many 
> times we try so hard to make a rule but forget, especially from a 
> federal sense, that those rules will be applied locally in many ways 
> not intended.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Todd R. Barber
> Chairman, Reef Ball Foundation
> www.reefball.org
> 252-353-9094
>
> Skype name: toddbarber
> Cell Phone 941-720-7549
>
> 3305 Edwards Court
> Greenville, NC 27858
>
> Inbox protected by ClearMyMail
> www.ClearMyMail.com {c2509d95650d4b87a5a76fe30c468363}

-- 
Sarah E. Heberling
NOAA Fisheries Service
Phone: (727) 824-5312
Fax: (727) 824-5309
Email: Sarah.Heberling at noaa.gov
Web: http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/acropora.htm

"What good is a used up world; and how could it be worth having?"




More information about the Coral-List mailing list