[Coral-List] Florida coral restoration in hot water

Sat Feb 10 18:04:02 UTC 2024

Dear Michael,

It is worthy that you share on the Coral List the whole link or DOI of your
cited May et al, 2022, PLOS One. They tested
pore water contained in the interstices/pore space of aquatic sediments in
Biscayne Bay for toxicity.

Recently I read on linkedin a comment for the International Coral Reef
Initiative, about the inconvenience for restoration practitioners, that
scientists report findings that may put at risk their funding for their
coral restoration projects...

Specifically, the restoration practitioners fear from scientists who
support that Coral reefs are sources of CO2 instead of Sinks. Their
argument, similar to the one of "saving coral reefs actively by funding
restoration projects'' , is based on the fact that there is a lot of money
that will be lost from Net Zero goals GRANTS and Coral Reefs according to
the interest of some coral restoration practitioners should not be called
"$ource$ but $ink$ of CO2".

I replied to that comment mentioning that degraded coral reefs are behaving
as sinks because they already have higher macro algae cover than coral
cover in polluted areas. Nevertheless, the convenience to use the money
from Blue Bonds (etc) should be objective to improve coral reef
conservation effectiveness by mainly stopping IMMEDIATELY causes of
degradation e.g. local and global pollution. The money should be
prioritized to real effective solutions, not to be wasted just in more
scaling up experiments (that have not worked even locally) and there is
plenty of funding and NEEDS to address the Loss of Native Biodiversity
relevant issue within the crisis of the OCEAN.

The more effective coral reef general scientific society will be the one
that is strong enough to base recommendations on scientific facts and
basic ecological knowledge, not just on the personal business of some
restoration practitioners !!

Cordially
*Nohora Galvis*
*Director*
*International Coral Reef Observatory, ICRO*
*UN DOALOS Expert*
*ICRS World Reef Award*

El vie, 9 feb 2024 a las 21:17, Risk, Michael via Coral-List (<
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>) escribió:

>    I would urge everyone to read May et al, 2022, PLOS One. They tested
>    porewater in Biscayne Bay for toxicity, using the sea urchin embryo
>    bioassay. They found toxic porewater at 22 of 25 sites.
>
>    No reef recovery will be possible until the water is cleaned up.
>
>    I'm sorry-is there an echo in here?
>      __________________________________________________________________
>
>    From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf of
>    Steve via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>    Sent: Thursday, February 8, 2024 10:45 PM
>    To: Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>    Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Florida coral restoration in hot water
>
>    Caution: External email.
>    Hi Doug,
>    After reading that article, the quote below the title caught my eye for
>    a second time.
>    "Additional risky measures are now called for, unless we just want to
>    give up," one scientist says
>    Are those our only alternatives?
>    Additional "risky measures" or giving up?
>    Here's a quote I'd like to see instead.
>    "In light of recent developments, we can either give up or devote our
>    energies to cleaning up our oceans; reducing carbon emissions and
>    trying our best to recreate the conditions that allowed corals and
>    other forms of marine life to flourish in the first place".
>    Thanks for all your posts!
>    Steve
>    Sent from EarthLink Mobile mail
>    On 2/8/24, 5:51PM, Douglas Fenner via Coral-List
>    <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>    After mass coral die-off, Florida scientists rethink plan to save
>    ailing
>    reefs
>    After unprecedented heat wave killed transplanted coral, reef experts
>    are
>    charting a new strategy
>    [1]https://www.science.org/content/article/after-mass-coral-die-off-flo
>    rida-scientists-rethink-plan-to-save-ailing-reefs
>    Could this be a window into the future for much of the world's reefs??
>    Cheers, Doug
>    --
>    Douglas Fenner
>    Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
>    NOAA Fisheries Service
>    Pacific Islands Regional Office
>    Honolulu
>    and:
>    Coral Reef Consulting
>    PO Box 997390
>    Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298 USA
>    Costanza, R. 2023. To build a better world, stop chasing economic
>    growth.
>    Nature 624: 519-521.
>    [2]https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-04029-8
>    Fossil fuel air pollution kills 5 million people world-wide per year
>    [3]https://www.yahoo.com/news/research-shows-disturbing-between-million
>    s-200000257.html
>    World's richest 1% emit as much as 5 billion people
>    [4]https://makerichpolluterspay.org/climate-equality-report/
>    Huge expansion of fossil fuels planned, will be very destructive
>    [5]https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/insanity-petrost
>    ates-planning-huge-expansion-of-fossil-fuels-says-un-report
>    "without policy changes, the world will heat up enough by the end of
>    the
>    century that more than 2 billion people will live in life-threatening
>    hot
>    climates" Will you be in that area???
>    [6]https://www.yahoo.com/news/scientists-sounding-alarm-dangerous-probl
>    em-123000792.html
>    World subsidies for fossil fuels reached an all-time high of over $1
>    TRILLION in 2022, the last year for which data is available. The
>    subsidies
>    MUST end.
>    [7]https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/fossil-fuel-subsid
>    ies-must-end/
>    _______________________________________________
>    Coral-List mailing list
>    Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>    [8]https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>    _______________________________________________
>    Coral-List mailing list
>    Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>    [9]https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
> References
>
>    1.
> https://www.science.org/content/article/after-mass-coral-die-off-florida-scientists-rethink-plan-to-save-ailing-reefs
>    2. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-04029-8
>    3.
> https://www.yahoo.com/news/research-shows-disturbing-between-millions-200000257.html
>    4. https://makerichpolluterspay.org/climate-equality-report/
>    5.
> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/insanity-petrostates-planning-huge-expansion-of-fossil-fuels-says-un-report
>    6.
> https://www.yahoo.com/news/scientists-sounding-alarm-dangerous-problem-123000792.html
>    7.
> https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/fossil-fuel-subsidies-must-end/
>    8. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>    9. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
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