[Coral-List] Mass fishkills in Maldives

Kerim Ben Mustapha karim.benmustapha at instm.rnrt.tn
Thu Nov 22 03:42:16 EST 2007


Dear Shiham
We faced in Tunisia a huge mortality of megabenthos sessil species  mainly gorgonaria, and 
during the survey we made in several sites along the Tunisian coasts, we were able to 
document the lack of thermocline (normaly between 20 to 25 m depth in october, deacrising 
the water temperature to 16°Celsius), thus water temerature was slightly identical from the sea 
surface to the bottom (till 63 m depth).
I can send yu pdf file of the paper edited in CIESM.
Salem
Kerim

De :            	"M.Shiham Adam" <msadam at mrc.gov.mv>
A :             	<coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Envoyé le :     	Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:01:14 +0500
Organisation :  	Marine Research Centre
Objet :         	[Coral-List] Mass fishkills in Maldives
Répondre à :    	msadam at mrc.gov.mv
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> Dear Coral-List members,
> 
> I am new to the list and so this is my first posting. 
> 
> I want to report a strange phenomenon happening in the Maldives right
> now. Since mid September 2007 there are fish deaths occurring in central
> atolls of the Maldives.  Literally thousands are being counted every day
> on the beaches.  Nearly 98% of the victims are Odonus niger (red-toothed
> trigger fish). Others include more inshore trigger fish, Balistapus
> undulatus (stripped trigger fish) and Balistodies conspicillum (clown
> trigger fish). Only very rarely large-bodied reef food fishes are seen. 
> 
> The incidents are very unusual as there are no obvious signs of algal
> blooms -although a single incident occurred on 08-10 July 2007 which has
> all the signs of an harmful algal bloom. People, particularly the people
> in the tourism sector are very worried. We have very few resources and
> expertise, so not much can be done right now.
> 
> The waters around the reefs are clean but many say the water temperature
> has been slightly higher during this year. Does any one know of such a
> phenomenon. We are also looking for a specialist who could visit
> Maldives to help us to explain what is going on. 
> 
> Appreciate any help. 
> 
> Regards
> 
> Shiham Adam
>  -----------------------------------------
>   M. Shiham Adam, PhD 
>   Marine Research Centre 
>   H. White Waves 
>   Malé, Republic of Maldives 
>  
>   voice: +(960) 331-3681
>   fax: +(960) 332-2509 
>   internet: msadam at mrc.gov.mv 
>  ----------------------------------- --------
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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Karim Ben Mustapha

Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer
2025 Salammbô.Tunis Tunisie.
Phone + 216 71 730420 + 216 71 276 243 + 216 71 277 735.
Fax + 216 71 732622




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