Reefs At Risk

[Les Kaufman]

I concur fully with my esteemed colleague, Bob Stenneck's comments, with
one caveat.

The process of developing realistic protocols for enhancement of coral
settlement and growth in situ can be conducted in a manner that greatly
enhances our understanding of reef regeneration well beyond what we will
learn solely through passive monitoring.  My plea is for experiments, not
massive restoration.  That can come later (if ever) once we know what we
are looking at.

Certainly with very limited resources, we default to standing by and
watching strategically, as the next best thing to do.  Let's just
understand that that is what we are about.  It is a sort of tolerable but
nontheless highly undesirable paralysis.


Les Kaufman
Boston University Marine Program
Department of Biology
Boston University
5 Cummington Street
Boston, MA 02215

e-mail: lesk at bio.bu.edu
phone: 617-353-5560
fax:   617-353-6340


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