[Coral-List] Replying to Peter Sale Coral Restoration

Thu Oct 1 08:46:53 EDT 2015

Regardless of good intentions or misrepresentations, restoration by and
large addresses symptoms not causes. as if the laws of thermodynamics don't
rule, especially #2.

On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 3:46 PM, Steve Mussman <sealab at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Dear Austin,
>
> I think you make some excellent points and surely many coral restoration
> efforts are providing valuable insights into how we can regenerate reefs
> damaged by local and/or global stressors. The specific project you pointed
> out (Fragments of Hope) is a prime example. My concern (coming from a
> non-scientist) reflects one of the points that Peter made in his blog and
> that is that unless we address carbon levels directly (along with the usual
> lineup of local suspects) all these good works may be for naught. Just how
> resilient and adaptive can corals become? This doesn't suggest that we
> should forsake these efforts, but we should perhaps be mindful of their
> limitations. One concern that I have is that coral restoration is being
> used by some as a reason why we need not be overly concerned about coral
> reef degradation. For example, this line of thinking has entered into the
> debate about Grand Cayman's consideration of a new cruise ship berthing
> pier. Proponents argue that even though
>  a popular reef spot will have to be sacrificed, science-guided
> restoration efforts are capable of rebuilding it and therefore we can have
> our cake and eat it too. I guess that the same can be said of concerns
> relating to the impacts of rising ocean temperatures and acidification. We
> can engineer our way out of it and restore our reefs as if nothing has
> happened. Although this is not the intent of the dedicated scientists who
> are working on these projects, we should be aware that misrepresentations
> abound.
>
>       Regards,
>     Steve Mussman
>
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Austin Bowden-Kerby <abowdenkerby at gmail.com>
> >Sent: Sep 29, 2015 4:57 PM
> >To: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> >Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Replying to Peter Sale Coral Restoration
> >
> >Dear Peter,
> >
> >Regarding coral restoration, your blog may have been somewhat accurate a
> >decade ago, but it is not an accurate description of coral restoration
> >today.
> >
> >Most coral restoration today is being carried out by scientists and
> >managers, and is focused on endangered species restoration and climate
> >change resilience and adaptation.  In many places corals are being put
> back
> >onto managed reefs where what killed them in the first place is at least
> >partially solved, and where they have not returned on their own through
> >natural recruitment processes even after many years.
> >
> >The remnant populations of Acropora cervicornis, after surviving disease
> >outbreaks and bleaching etc., continue to lose genotypes year by year
> >throughout the region, mainly due to high levels of predation.  Many of
> the
> >remnant and resilient populations, where we fortunately collected small
> >samples from 2004, are continuing to thrive in nurseries, but
> unfortunately
> >these same genotypes have died out on the reefs.  The process of Caribbean
> >Acropora demise will continue on most reefs unless and until successful
> >sexual reproduction is restored in the species, and although relatively
> >small scale, we have successfully created diverse breeding populations in
> >our sites. (See the recent spawning at Lisa Carne's Fragments of Hope
> Coral
> >Nurseries in Belize Facebook site).
> >
> >Good no-take MPAs in the Caribbean have not regained their lost
> populations
> >of staghorn and elkhorn corals on their own, and as such they are damaged
> >systems with key habitat-forming coral species completely missing. They
> are
> >mere shadows of their potential, and any studies on them will therefore
> not
> >do justice for MPAs as a fisheries management strategy. Coral restoration
> >is such situations is vital, and wonderful things are beginning to happen,
> >in spite of the uphill battle.
> >
> >If you read the more recent reports and literature coming out of the
> >Caribbean, I hope that you will realize that most of us are not "well
> >meaning but misguided people", as you and others have publically asserted
> >in the past.
> >
> >Thanks and regards,
> >
> >Austin
> >
> >
> >> Message: 4
> >> Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2015 03:42:20 +0000
> >> From: Peter Sale <sale at uwindsor.ca>
> >> Subject: [Coral-List] What can we do to save coral reefs?
> >> To: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> >> Message-ID:
> >>         <
> >>
> CY1PR1101MB121045CCAA3005C7B4BAA42DC2420 at CY1PR1101MB1210.namprd11.prod.outlook.com
> >> >
> >>
> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >>
> >> Hi listers,
> >> I just put up the second of two posts dealing with the impact of this
> mega
> >> el Nino, and what we can do to protect or repair coral reefs.  It
> includes
> >> an edit of Dennis Hubbard's recent cautionary comments re jumping to
> simple
> >> causal explanations and rushing out with new policy based on them.  Very
> >> often the simple explanation was not only simple, but incorrect.  Not
> >> saying do nothing, just pleading for intelligent action.
> >> Sorry if I make some people unhappy with this one.  It's at
> >> http://wp.me/p5UInC-x2
> >> And DO report bleaching events, as well of cases where expected
> bleaching
> >> did not occur, to coral-list.
> >>
> >> Peter Sale
> >>
> >> e-mail:                  sale at uwindsor.ca<mailto:sale at uwindsor.ca>
> >> web:                      www.petersalebooks.com<
> >> http://www.petersalebooks.com>
> >> Twitter:                PeterSale3
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
> >Corals for Conservation
> >P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
> >https://www.facebook.com/C4Conservation
> >http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009j6wb
> >
> >Sustainable Environmental Livelihoods Farm
> >Km 20 Sigatoka Valley Road, Fiji Islands
> >(679) 938-6437
> >
> http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1759-sustainable-environmental-livelihoods-farm-Fiji
> >https://www.facebook.com/teiteifarmstay
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"... the earth is, always has been, and always will be more beautiful than
it is useful." - Ophuls, 1977