[Coral-List] Can You Quantify Anchor or Bottom Paint Damage toCoral Reefs?

[John McManus]

We did some calculations about dragging anchors in: 

McManus, J.W., Nañola, C.L., and Reyes, R.B. 1997. Effects of some
destructive fishing methods on coral cover and potential rates of
recovery. Environmental Management. 21(1): 69-78. 

You could use a similar speadsheet model approach to other breakage
scenarios involving the chains. 

Cheers!

John

John W. McManus, PhD.
Director
National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research (NCORE)
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS)
University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, Fl. 33149
Phone: 305-361-4814
Fax:   305-361-4910
Email: jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu
Website: www.ncoremiami.org
 

-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Adam
Saphier
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 10:45 AM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: [Coral-List] Can You Quantify Anchor or Bottom Paint Damage
toCoral Reefs?


My name is Adam Saphier and I am working for the Coral Reef Alliance on
a project that is trying to get dive operators to act more
environmentally friendly to coral reefs. To make our argument more
persuasive, I am looking for quantitative data that describes the damage
caused by dive boats from these sources:
1) Anchor Damage - I am looking for documentation of how much reef is
damaged from an anchor and chain being dropped on top of it; e.g. data
that might read like: the distribution of coral reef destruction caused
when a 10 pound galvanized steel anchor with 15 feet of chain is dropped
on reef is bell shaped with a mean of 2 square meters of reef, with 2
standard deviations in each direction amounting to 1 square meter and 3
square meters of damage, respectively.
2) Bottom Paint Damage - How much damage does toxic anti-fouling bottom
paint do to reef? How much damage does biodegradable anti-fouling paint
do to reef? E.g. data that might read like: standard toxic anti-fouling
bottom paint erodes from the bottom of a boat into ocean water in 1 year
and each gallon settles on and destroys an aggregate amount of 1 cubic
centimeter of reef, while a similar amount of biodegradable paint only
destroys 1 cubic milimeter of reef.

Please let me know if you have any pertinent information or if you have
suggestions of where I might be able to find such data. Thank you for
your help and feel free to call me at the number below.

Regards,

Adam
_________________________________
Adam Saphier
The Coral Reef Alliance
417 Montgomery Street, Suite 205
San Francisco, CA 94104
Phone 415.834.0900 x 319
Fax 415.834.0999
asaphier at coral.org
www.coral.org

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