[Coral-List] What's killing the corals
Eugene Shinn
eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu
Fri Jul 7 14:33:57 EDT 2017
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Thanks Douglas, I realize that only those on cable TV in the US would
have seen the commercial. I am also quite sure most coral researchers
do not even watch any TV, especially cable TV. You are correct. I was
photographing and documenting the demise of Florida's coral reefs before
most of todays active reef workers were born. I also recall all those
meeting where the few reef biologists that existed then constantly
argued over which monitoring method was the best to determine reef
health. The arguments seemed endless. I agreen with Doug, All one had to
do was roll down the windows and see that corals were dying. It's so
good now to see we are finally getting past monitoring and trying to
learn the causes and try to do something about the
problem. Unfortunately now there is few left to monitor. We can only
hope the transplanting of the genetically most resistant corals will help.
Steve Mussman asks, "How do you account for the fact that for all these
years the clear warnings and suggested countermeasures of so many
dedicated coral scientists have been met with such callous disregard?" I
asked that question many times over the years. You first might ask all
those people who were being paid to protect the reefs. The older
researchers out there willremember when diving and doing any research
on coral reefs was considered too enjoyable to be taken seriously. I
knew many university researchers who wrote proposals to government
agencies but were never funded. Fish were different. We don't eat
corals. I was not in a position to write proposals for coral research.
My first two published papers were unfunded hobby projects. One involved
transplanting /A. cervicornis/ to see why it did not grow near shore. A
severe cold front answered the question. But that was before the late
1970s when not even hurricanes killed coral. Its all way more
complicated now. We should get past the monitoring and do more
experimental work. Gene
No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
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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