[Coral-List] Varadero Reef - Colombia

[David Blakeway]

Dear Coral-List,

In support of Valeria's message of the 18th May, reproduced below,
please take a look at Varadero Reef on Google Earth at coordinates
10.310 -75.584. The proposed shipping channel will be dredged through
Varadero Reef to a depth of 20.5 metres.

The proponents of the channel are not being upfront about the
situation, describing the materials to be dredged as "loose granular
material, consisting mainly of mud, fine sand and small snails (see
the Port's website below).

*http://www.puertocartagena.com/en/cartagena-bay/access-and-alternative-channels
<http://www.puertocartagena.com/en/cartagena-bay/access-and-alternative-channels>*

There are optional channel routes that avoid the reef. Please consider
signing the petition!
*https://www.change.org/p/anla-minambienteco-salvemosvaradero-no-a-un-canal-sobre-un-arrecife-%C3%BAnico-en-el-mundo
<https://www.change.org/p/anla-minambienteco-salvemosvaradero-no-a-un-canal-sobre-un-arrecife-%C3%BAnico-en-el-mundo>*

Regards,
David Blakeway
Fathom 5 Marine Research
Perth, Western Australia



*Some of you have read about Varadero Reef, which is a Colombian
Caribbean reef thriving in the polluted waters of Cartagena Bay and
discovered by researchers between 2013 and 2014. We are conducting a
study to understand how this corals live under what seems to be a
highly polluted and sedimented waters. Unfortunately plans to dredge a
shipping channel through the reef are part of the port enterprise and
the government agenda and if this goes it will start between the end
of this year and the beginning of the next.
We would like the support of all the reef scientists, we invite you to
support the petition, it will take you few minutes of your time:*


*https://www.change.org/p/anla-minambienteco-salvemosvaradero-no-a-un-canal-sobre-un-arrecife-%C3%BAnico-en-el-mundo
<https://www.change.org/p/anla-minambienteco-salvemosvaradero-no-a-un-canal-sobre-un-arrecife-%C3%BAnico-en-el-mundo>*

*To learn a little about Varadero Reef we invite you to visit some of
the following links:
*


*https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-014-1246-y
<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-014-1246-y>*

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reef_of_Varadero
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reef_of_Varadero> *


*http://terra.oregonstate.edu/2017/01/the-heroic-reef/
<http://terra.oregonstate.edu/2017/01/the-heroic-reef/>*

*And to see the video:The Global Coral Microbiome Project, Part 3 -
The Heroic Reef: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndlPiD6t_Ks
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndlPiD6t_Ks>*


* Thank you all, Valeria Pizarro (Ecomares NGO - Colombia) *

*Our project collaborators:
Monica Medina (Medina Lab, Penn State University - USA) - PIF. Joseph
Pollock (Medina Lab, Penn State University - USA)Roberto
Iglesias-Prieto (Penn State University - USA)Mateo López-Victoria
(Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Sede Cali - Colombia)*