[Coral-List] Reassessing Coral Reefs: Reply To S. Mussman & C. Kruer

[Bill Raymond]

I will repeat what I said to the Broward County Commission in 1979 after monitoring the Hollywood-Hallandale beach restoration project: "the reefs are dying naturally and the 15% mortality from sedimentation is just pushing them over the edge faster. At this rate six more projects and they'll be dead.Twelve years after the John Lloyd project none of the monitoring stations there have recovered, only degraded." That cost me any future work for the county. Back then we didn't know the reefs were dying and the state biologist didn't back me up. We need to be careful about blaming man's activities for all coral deaths.   


     On Saturday, April 18, 2015 12:00 PM, Steve Mussman <sealab at earthlink.net> wrote:
   

 But William, it's not humans as divers that are doing the most damage. It's a host of other human activities that are destroying the reefs. In my opinion, the dive industry's responsibility is to educate the diving public as to what is happening to coral reefs and other marine ecosystems based on the best scientific information available. They are simply refusing to do that.  MPAs that I have visited are doing relatively well unless, like the Florida Keys, they are being assaulted on multiple fronts. The diving industry needs to be made aware, in no uncertain terms, of exactly where we are headed. There will simply be no dive industry as we know of it today if they continue to myopically pursue their current agenda. Make no mistake, the dive industry's fate is inextricably bound to that of the world's coral reefs. Perhaps they need to be reminded that watching the reefs die has this important and prophetic interpretation. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 17, 2015, at 1:52 PM, Alevizon, William Stephen <alevizonws at cofc.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> Steve - I am in 100% agreement with your statement, “This is our doing and its about time we find a way to stop it.
> 
> The diving industry can be a start and why not, their culpability is obvious.
> 
> But more than anything we need leaders, people of stature willing to speak truth
> 
> to power...we have got to find a way to shake things up.”
> 
> However, as I stated in a previous post (see below), the “leaders” who need to come forward
> 
> on THE key issue - unregulated numbers of divers on single reef sites - are MPA managers,
> 
> not those within the dive industry.
> 
> 
> 
>> From my previous post, “The dive industry will never voluntarily curtail
> 
> the number of divers any more than McDonald’s will volunteer to sell you
> 
> only 1 bag of fries per visit to protect your health.”
> 
> 
> 
> Climate change and acidification are indeed issues to be addressed,
> 
> but in addition to - not in lieu of - things that MPA managers can do
> 
> here and now to protect many of the most diverse and well-developed reef tracts.
> 
> 
> 
> With all the money and time and effort NOAA has expended on planning and managing
> 
> the “health”(?) of the Florida Reef Tract, the end result are some of the most
> 
> severely degraded reef areas on the planet. I see lots of speculating and talk
> 
> coming from NOAA on global warming (and that's fine), but not a word in 30 years
> 
> about maybe controlling the numbers of boats and divers visiting reefs?
> 
> 
> 
> If The NOAA Sanctuary program were to take a highly visible lead on this issue,
> 
> there would be world-wide attention generated and likely a widespread move to follow.
> 
> The science is there to back up such a management strategy - but where is the leadership?
> 
> 
> William S. Alevizon
> 
> Research Associate
> 
> Dept. of Biology
> 
> College of Charleston
> 
> 58 Coming St.
> 
> Charleston,  S.C. 29424
> 
> USA
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