[Coral-List] Reef Research Needs

Wed Nov 9 10:18:26 EST 2011

Jerry,

I know the Keys, I know fish in the Keys, and luckily there's much more to 
the Keys than reef fish altho they're definitely the most fun, the most 
popular, and often the easiest to work with.
If I'm "way off base" than why does NOAA in late 2011 state 
"......increasing coastal populations, ship and boat groundings, marine 
debris, poaching, and climate change are critically threatening the health 
of the Florida Keys ecosystem."?

"ecosystem" is NOAA's term of choice and that's my point exactly.   The 
place seems sterile compared to just 30-40 years ago.

Good work on the reef fish end of things though.

Curtis Kruer

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Jerald S. Ault" <jault at rsmas.miami.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 8:04 AM
To: "Curtis Kruer" <kruer at 3rivers.net>
Cc: <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Reef Research Needs

> Curtis, For a snoot-full regarding the Florida Keys, take a look at the
> following papers listed below. I respectfully submit that you are way off
> base here.  Jerry
>
> Bohnsack, J.A., and J.S. Ault. 1996. Management strategies to conserve
> marine biodiversity. Oceanography 9(1): 73-82.
>
> Ault, J.S., J.A. Bohnsack, and G.A. Meester. 1997. Florida Keys National
> Marine Sanctuary: retrospective (1979-1995) assessment of reef fish and
> the case for protected marine areas. Pages 415-425 in Developing and
> Sustaining World Fisheries Resources: The State of Science and Management,
> Hancock, D.A., Smith, D.C., Grant, A., and Beumer, J.P. (eds.). 2nd World
> Fisheries Congress, Brisbane, Australia, 797 p.
>
> Ault, J.S., J.A. Bohnsack, and G.A. Meester. 1998. A retrospective
> (1979-1996) multispecies assessment of coral reef fish stocks in the
> Florida Keys. Fishery Bulletin 96(3): 395-414.
>
> Meester, G.A., A. Mehrotra, J.S. Ault, and E.K. Baker. 2004. Designing
> marine reserves for fishery management. Management Science 50(8):
> 1031-1043.
>
> Bohnsack, J.A., J.S. Ault, and B. Causey. 2004. Why have no-take marine
> protected areas? American Fisheries Society Symposium 42: 185-193.
>
> Ault, J.S., S.G. Smith, J.A. Bohnsack, J. Luo, D.E. Harper, and D.B.
> McClellan. 2006. Building sustainable fisheries in Florida's coral reef
> ecosystem: positive signs in the Dry Tortugas. Bulletin of Marine Science
> 78(3): 633-654.
>
> Ault, J.S., S.G. Smith, and J.A. Bohnsack. 2005. Evaluation of average
> length as an estimator of exploitation status for the Florida coral reef
> fish community. ICES Journal of Marine Science 62: 417-423.
>
> Ault, J.S., J.A. Bohnsack, S.G. Smith, and J. Luo. 2005. Towards
> sustainable multispecies fisheries in the Florida USA coral reef
> ecosystem. Bulletin of Marine Science 76(2): 595-622.
>
> Bartholomew, A., J.A. Bohnsack, S.G. Smith, J.S. Ault, D.E. Harper, and
> D.B. McClellan. 2008. Influence of marine reserve size and boundary length
> on the initial response of exploited reef fishes in the Florida Keys
> National Marine Sanctuary, USA. Landscape Ecology 23(Suppl. 1): 55-65.
>
> Ault, J.S., S.G. Smith and J.T. Tilmant. 2009. Are the coral reef finfish
> fisheries of south Florida sustainable? Proceedings International Coral
> Reef Symposium 11: 989-993.
>
> Ault, J.S., S.G. Smith, J. Luo, M.E. Monaco and R.S. Appeldoorn. 2008.
> Length-based assessment of sustainability benchmarks for coral reef fishes
> in Puerto Rico. Environmental Conservation 35(3): 221-231.
>
> Smith, S.G., Swanson, D.W., Chiappone, M., Miller, S.L., & Ault, J.S.
> 2011. Probability sampling of stony coral populations in the Florida Keys.
> Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 183(1-4): 121-138.
>
> Farmer, N.A., and J.S. Ault. 2011. Grouper and snapper movements and
> habitat use in Dry Tortugas, Florida. Marine Ecology Progress Series 433:
> 169-184.
>
> Smith, S.G., J.S. Ault, J.A. Bohnsack, D.E. Harper, J. Luo, and D.B.
> McClellan. 2011. Multispecies survey design for assessing reef-fish
> stocks, spatially-explicit management performance, and ecosystem
> condition. Fisheries Research 109(1): 25-41.
>
>> Folks - but a little more realistic, and specific to the Florida Keys, 
>> how
>> about reef research that relates to:
>>
>> ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2011) via the Florida Keys National Marine
>> Sanctuary
>> - "NOAA scientists have found that pressure from increasing coastal
>> populations, ship and boat groundings, marine debris, poaching, and
>> climate
>> change are critically threatening the health of the Florida Keys
>> ecosystem."
>>
>> We seem to routinely identify and popularize threats but then fund
>> universities and others to carry out expensive research unrelated to the
>> problems we identify.
>>
>> Curtis Kruer
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Eugene Shinn
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2011 1:00 PM
>> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Subject: [Coral-List] Reef Research Needs
>>
>> Its all very simple for those who think human behavior is the cause.
>> Stop the mosquito spraying and half of the human population in the
>> Florida Keys will clear out in a year or two. Most of the other
>> recommendations only pick around the edges. Gene
>>
>> No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
>> ------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
>> E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
>> University of South Florida
>> College of Marine Science Room 221A
>> 140 Seventh Avenue South
>> St. Petersburg, FL 33701
>> <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
>> Tel 727 553-1158----------------------------------
>
> ****************************************************
> Jerald S. Ault, Ph.D.
> Professor of Marine Biology and Fisheries
> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
> University of Miami,  4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
> Miami, FL 33149        jault at rsmas.miami.edu
> (305)421-4884  ph      (305)421-4791  fax
> http://femar.rsmas.miami.edu/
> http://bonefishresearch.com/
> http://tarponresearch.com/
> ****************************************************
> 