[Coral-List] CO2 and the inconvenient truth

[Thomas Goreau]

Dear James,

It's nice to see that somebody is willing to point out that the king  
has no clothes! This is just more of the same old stuff. In effect  
they are using bleaching as a funding opportunity to push for all the  
standard things that, though desirable in themselves, actually have  
nothing at all to do with coral bleaching or restoration. Basically  
they are saying "don't step on or throw anchors on bleached corals  
because they are just not in the mood for  it right now! And please  
give us more money for monitoring and setting up marine parks", which  
are full of dead and dying corals that can't be protected from the  
real causes of harm, global warming, new diseases, and land-based  
sources of nutrients.  All the stuff about resilience and killing  
healthy corals by moving them into bad neighbourhoods is silly too.  
The funding agency is wasting vast sums on these highly paid  
consultants who still don't get it, neither climate change nor new  
diseases nor tertiary sewage treatment nor serious coral reef  
restoration. This report was handed out to a meeting of hundreds of  
marine park managers paid by the Australian and American governments  
and international agencies to attend a conference next to dead and  
dying reefs in Cozumel as a hired audience for this propaganda. I'm  
sure most of them saw right through it.

Best wishes,
Tom


> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 09:41:40 -0500
> From: "Dr. James M Cervino" <cnidaria at earthlink.net>
> Subject: [Coral-List] CO2 and the inconvenient truth
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID: <a06230901c16e61631b9f@[192.168.1.104]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
>
> Dear Coral Ecologists, Physiologists, and Pathologists,
>
> Since this is a discussion forum that focuses on the latest issues
> affecting coral reef health I have a consensus question pertaining to
> this shocking new report titled NEW CORAL REEF MANAGEMENT GUIDE
> PROVIDES STRATEGIES  TO CONSERVE WORLD'S CORAL REEFS that was
> published on 10-11-2006 by various agencies.
>
> I am giving a presentation tonight in NYC at 4pm focusing on thermal
> coral reef bleaching, before the showing of the Al Gore Film titled
> 'An Inconvenient Truth'.  I have a few questions for all of the
> dedicated scientists on this list regarding this latest strategy that
> is supposed to "increase our understanding of the phenomenon of coral
> bleaching".
>
> #1) Knowing that CO2 and other heat trapping gasses produced by the
> worlds wealthiest countries are responsible for the massive heat
> stroke corals are undergoing in the last 25 years is it honest to
> implement at strategy for the world to follow that will simply not
> work?
>
> When asked tonight if the 3 following suggestions below will help
> save the worlds reefs what shall I say:
>
> The Repor Says:
> (1) increase observations of reef condition before, during and after
> bleaching to increase information and understanding of impacts and
> areas that may be especially resistant to bleaching, (2) reduce
> stressors (e.g., pollution, human use) on reefs during severe
> bleaching events to help corals survive the event, and (3) design and
> implement reef management strategies to support reef recovery and
> resilience, including reducing land- based pollution and protecting
> coral areas that may resist bleaching and serve as sources of coral
> larvae for "reseeding" reefs.
>
> #2) Why are we not speaking out against this report? Is it out fear
> of not getting funding from federal agencies?  Are we so afraid to
> speak the Inconvenient Truth and say that the only way to save corals
> from heat stroke is to DRASTICALLY reduce carbon emissions beyond the
> Kyoto Protocol? I respect James Hansen (formally at NASA) for
> speaking up and telling the real Inconvenient Truth Regarding global
> warming!  Can the coral reef scientists speak out and say that this
> federal report is spurious in nature?
>
> #3) According to strategy#3 of the report : Will the USA begin to
> reduce the large amounts of sewage and fertilizers that are spilling
> out into the reefs?  Can someone point me in the direction of this
> new amazing plan that is part of a federally funded program that
> begins to implement tertiary treatment in South Florida and the US
> Virgin Islands?
>
> Since I was part of a large population that helped fund this federal
> report from the tax dollars deducted from our checks it is not honest
> to say that if we follow these suggestions from this federally funded
> report that it will help corals survive climate change ? We need to
> protest this report.
>
> I needed this report to jump start my presentation prep, James
>
>
>
> Oct. 11, 2006
> NEW CORAL REEF MANAGEMENT GUIDE PROVIDES STRATEGIES  TO CONSERVE
> WORLD'S CORAL REEFS
>
> Innovative strategies to conserve the world's coral reefs are
> included in a new guide released today by NOAA, the Australian Great
> Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and The World Conservation Union
> (IUCN). "A Reef Manager's Guide to Coral Bleaching" will provide
> coral reef managers with the latest scientific information on the
> causes of coral bleaching and new management strategies for
> responding to this significant threat to coral reef ecosystems.
>
> The reef manager's guide, developed in partnership with the U.S.
> Environmental Protection Agency, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and
> other organizations, grew out of a 2002 resolution by the U.S. Coral
> Reef Task Force calling for development of information and tools for
> coral reef managers to address threats from coral bleaching. The reef
> manager's guide can be found online at www.coralreef.noaa.gov and
> includes contributions from over 50 experts in coral bleaching and
> coral reef management.
>
>   "By implementing actions suggested in the guide, coral reef managers
> are in a unique position to increase our understanding of the
> phenomenon of coral bleaching, to take meaningful action during a
> bleaching event, and to develop strategies to support the natural
> resilience of reefs in the face of long-term changes in climate,"
> said David Kennedy, manager of NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation
> Program, which helped produce the guide.
>
>   The reef manager's guide reviews management actions that can help
> restore and maintain resilience of coral reef ecosystems. This review
> draws on a growing body of research on ways to support the ability of
> coral reef ecosystems to survive and recover from bleaching events.
> The reef manager's guide includes specific guidance and case studies
> on how to prepare bleaching response plans, assess impacts from
> bleaching, engage the public, manage activities that may  impact
> reefs during bleaching events, identify resilient reef areas, and
> incorporate information regarding reef resilience into marine
> protected area design.
>
> The reef manager's guide also supports a major goal of the U.S.
> Administration's Climate Change Science Program - to "Understand the
> sensitivity and adaptability of different natural and managed
> ecosystems and human systems to climate and related global changes" -
> by providing managers with options for sustaining and improving
> ecological systems and related goods and services, given projected
> global changes.
>
> -2-
>
> The guide identifies three key actions reef managers can take to help
> reefs survive and recover from mass bleaching events:  (1) increase
> observations of reef condition before, during and after bleaching to
> increase information and understanding of impacts and areas that may
> be especially resistant to bleaching, (2) reduce stressors (e.g.,
> pollution, human use) on reefs during severe bleaching events to help
> corals survive the event, and (3) design and implement reef
> management strategies to support reef recovery and resilience,
> including reducing land- based pollution and protecting coral areas
> that may resist bleaching and serve as sources of coral larvae for
> "reseeding" reefs.
>
>
>
> -- 
> **************************************************
> Dr. James M. Cervino, MS, Ph.D.
> Marine Pathology
> Department of Biological & Health Sciences
> Pace University New York NYC
> Phone: (917) 620-5287
> Web site: http://www.globalcoral.org
> ***************************************************
>
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> End of Coral-List Digest, Vol 41, Issue 1
> *****************************************