[Coral-List] Swan Islands coral reefs
Ulf Erlingsson
ceo at lindorm.com
Fri Sep 2 10:53:35 EDT 2011
This YouTube video posted the other day brings the message that the
coral reefs on Swan Islands, Honduras, are in excellent condition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ5OHwuX6vg
Having read on this list of wide-spread coral death, and knowing the
geographical setting of Swan Islands (they are uninhabited and not
exposed to any land-derived pollution) it makes me want to see an
atlas, or GIS, over coral reef health, presented in such a way that
one can compare it to relevant societal factors such as population
density, degree of economical activity, and the like. And, not to
forget, shipping, since we know the tremendous amount of pollution
from anti-fouling paint such as TBT.
Has anyone compiled info in this way? It is obviously a task for
geography, for someone trained in geographical information systems.
An exercise of this kind will also reveal where available data is
missing. For instance, years ago I made a GIS over the risk of
natural disasters in a Central American country, and by starting with
the desired output it became painfully obvious how little there was
in the way of adequate data, and how much of the data collected by
scientists was useful since the design of the study had not
contemplated the ultimate use of it in decision-making.
Maybe the coral research community should team up around an umbrella
plan in a similar way that the climate researchers did in the early
80's with global change, and start making strategic research and data
collection plans?
Ulf Erlingsson
Lindorm, Inc.
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