[Coral-List] (Coral-List) Toward a New Era of Coral Reef Monitoring

[Austin Bowden-Kerby]

I agree with Steve,  as I hope most of us do.

Everything we do as coral reef scientists and custodians- all of our
efforts-  will be swept away unless we find the balance.
Or if not, unless the system collapses fairly soon, and the Universe puts
us in our place, which is what I am betting on.  Or perhaps we will get a
more gentle combination of the two?

I see the vast majority of coral reef scientists operating as if the
projections are mere over-stated speculations.  But so far the modelling
has mostly been underestimating impacts.  Are we fooling ourselves, or are
we simply paralyzed with fear, and waiting for others to lead?

The best I personally can do now with my research and with coral reefs is
to try to help buy more time- to work to keep at least some of each species
alive and in a viable reproductive condition here in Fiji in our sites. A
hopeful trend: in one pilot site, we are working with reef-owning
communities who have a lot more to lose than we do.  They have seen the
problems and understand many of the issues, and they are capable of being
mobilized to intervene during mass bleaching- which is happing right now.
They quickly learned to identify and collect bleaching resistant corals,
which we brought into a nursery.  These resistant corals will be propagated
within the community-based no-take tabu areas in the coming cool season.
If we succeed, this model can be vastly expanded, as there are over 300 of
these locally managed marine areas here in Fiji.  The communities also have
been taught to remove COTS, which can eliminate the resistant survivors of
mass bleaching.

Without actions like this to save the more vulnerable Acropora and other
declining species, I believe that we are heading to our MPAs being
dominated by Porites within 30 years, and by dead corals by the turn of the
century.  What we do can no longer be called restoration, it has become
coral-focused climate change adaptation and endangered species
interventions.  As far as the community is concerned it is caring for their
waters, and helping their no-take areas maintain fish habitat in spite of
the bleaching, which only began in the year 2000, and which has hit four
times now.  They are as excited as  we are, as they now have a tool to
fight back!  Read my paper, see the presentation- links below!

Vinaka Vakalevu,

Austin

Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
Corals for Conservation
P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands


https://www.corals4conservation.org
Publication on C4C's coral-focused climate change adaptation strategies:
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-1924/4/1/2/pdf
22 minute summary of climate change adaptation strategies
https://youtu.be/arkeSGXfKMk
TEDx talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PRLJ8zDm0U
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
<https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/>


Teitei Livelihoods Centre
Km 20 Sigatoka Valley Road, Fiji Islands
(679) 938-6437
http:/www.
<http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1759-sustainable-environmental-livelihoods-farm-Fiji>
teiteifiji.org
http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1759-sustainable-environmental-livelihoods-farm-Fiji
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/happy-chickens-for-food-security-and-environment-1/






On Tue, Apr 25, 2023 at 2:20 AM Steve Mussman via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

>
> "Everyone is focusing on restoration but corals will never thrive in
>
> polluted water." “This stood out to me... The coral isn't the problem. It
> is the water.
>
> We should be working on *water* restoration. It feels very hopeless.
>
> What can I do as a young scientist”?
>
> Dear Jianna,
>
> It does seem hopeless at times, but I would just encourage you as a young
> scientist not to give up and perhaps more importantly, not to lose sight of
> this revelation. What has to change is not only how we steward our waters,
> but how we interact with the entirety of the natural world. The task before
> you and others of your generation is no less than to change the fundamental
> way we view our relationship with nature. If you follow the coral sciences,
> the trend is clear and has been for decades. So, if you really want to take
> on this challenge you will have to help point humanity in the right
> direction by becoming an advocate for building new and fundamentally
> different societies based on sustainability in balance with nature rather
> than unfettered growth and consumption. My advice to you would be to stay
> in the coral sciences and help shift the focus from providing triage and
> treating symptom after symptom of a collapsing ecosystem and on to the need
> for directly confronting and effectively addressing causation.
>
> Regards,
>
> Steve Mussman
>
> https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/can-we-save-coral-reefs
>
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