[Coral-List] What do coral reef scientists perceive are the major threats to Caribbean coral reefs?

[Douglas Fenner]

Thanks, Magus, the description is very clear and helpful, and the
references are great for those that want to learn more!   Cheers,  Doug

On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 9:02 PM, Magnus Johnson <m.johnson at hull.ac.uk>wrote:

> Thanks Doug - you are quite right.
>
> POPs = persistent organic pollutants.  There is a decent Wikipedia article
> on them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_organic_pollutant
>
> In brief they are chemicals that we have made, that nature has trouble
> dealing with and that can have nasty effects on the environment and take
> many, many years to break down.  They are linked to plastic particles
> because the broken down remnants of plastic bags, bottles etc that are
> irretrievably floating around in our seas concentrate POPs, suspension
> feeders (e.g. coral??) may then take up the particles.
>
> There is a good paper by Andrady here
> http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X11003055
> ________________________________________
> From: Douglas Fenner [douglasfennertassi at gmail.com]
> Sent: 19 April 2014 02:51
> To: Magnus  Johnson
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] What do coral reef scientists perceive are the
> major threats to Caribbean coral reefs?
>
> Magnus,
>    What are "POPs"???  We need to define all acronyms, many or most of the
> readers of coral-list have some other language as a first language, and
> even some like me for which English is a first language, don't know what
> some of the acronyms stand for, like "POPs."
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 1:38 AM, Magnus Johnson <m.johnson at hull.ac.uk
> <mailto:m.johnson at hull.ac.uk>> wrote:
> Plastics + POPs? Invasive species?  These are two threats that, like
> climate change, we will struggle to deal with and should be on your list.
>
> I think fishing, while it should be there, should be bottom of the list!
>  Also population growth (1 australian ~ 12.5 indians in terms of carbon
> emissions as an indicator) in my opinion is, like fishing,  one of the
> obvious rather than most potent threats.
>
> What about global inequality?  How can you stop a man or woman going
> fishing on a reef to feed their children when the only alternative you can
> offer is cocacola-isation of their cultures and poorly paid servant labour
> to the fat western middle classes?
>
>
>
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-- 
Douglas Fenner
Contractor with Ocean Associates, Inc.
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA

phone 1 684 622-7084