[Coral-List] Reassessing Coral Reefs

Eugene Shinn eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu
Tue Mar 31 11:26:59 EDT 2015


Julian, Your detailed description of attitudes of people on coral reefs 
struck a chord with me. I spent 2 months in the Florida Keys last 
summer. I have been doing research and diving there since the mid 1950s 
and have seen and documented the changes since those early days. You may 
have heard that most of the once flourishing coral reefs there are 
essentially dead. However there still are colorful tropical fish to 
entertain divers. On a beautiful day last summer I visited Looe Key 
reef.There were 50 boats (I counted them) on the reef (2 to 3 on each 
mooring buoy). It was clear people were having the time of their life. 
There was even a boy’s chorus on one boat singing for the entertainment 
of all. At least once a year a radio station puts loudspeakers under 
water at this reef and plays music for the divers. It was clear that the 
health of the reef is immaterial. If the water is clear, the waves 
small, and abundant Sargent majors around the boat everyone is happy and 
people are making money. That’s the Florida Keys today. Gene

-- 


No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
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E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
College of Marine Science Room 221A
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158
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