[Coral-List] Solomon Islands bleaching

Thomas Goreau goreau at bestweb.net
Mon Oct 29 16:06:20 EDT 2007


It is not correct that the Solomon Islands "has escaped any major  
bleaching events to date" as stated below. The Solomon Islands HAS  
had severe bleaching and HotSpots around 7 or 8 years ago, but not  
much since. That is the severe mortality event whose recovery that  
Charles Delbeek refers to.

Thomas J. Goreau, PhD
President
Global Coral Reef Alliance
37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge MA 02139
617-864-4226
goreau at bestweb.net
http://www.globalcoral.org



> Message: 5
> Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:45:34 -0400
> From: Alan E Strong <Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Solomon Islands Reef Status
> To: Charles Delbeek <delbeek at waquarium.org>
> Cc: Coral List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Message-ID: <4725F20E.9000403 at noaa.gov>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Thanks for this report, Charles -- Any hints of disease in the Solomon
> corals??
>
>  From our collated observations here at Coral Reef Watch over the past
> several decades....substantiated by a few notes from  locals...this
> appears to be one region  [of few!] across the planet that has escaped
> any major bleaching events to date.
>
> Cheers,
> Al
>
> Charles Delbeek said the following on 10/28/2007 8:42 PM:
>> In light of recent reports of coral bleaching and coral diseases in
>> various locales I thought a little good news might be welcomed.
>>
>> I recently returned from 12 days of diving in the Solomon Islands
>> (Russell Islands, Mari Island, eastern Morovo Lagoon and the Arnavon
>> Islands) and can report that the corals on these reefs (primarily
>> Acropora, Isopora and Porites dominated) appeared very healthy and
>> vibrant. Some on the trip have been diving these reefs for over 15  
>> years
>> and have seen several bleached and storm damaged over that period.  
>> Those
>> reefs that were revisited on this trip showed significant recovery  
>> over
>> the last 10 years to the point where it was hard to see any hint  
>> of the
>> damage they suffered. In one case, a large head of Isopora that  
>> appeared
>> completely dead ~10 years ago has successfully regrown its old  
>> skeleton
>> with new growth and added new branches.
>>
>> It appears that, at least in this case, some types of coral reefs can
>> recover, given the proper conditions, from seemingly drastic insults.
>>
>> Aloha!
>>
>>
>
> -- 
> **** <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< *******
> Alan E. Strong, Ph.D.
> NOAA Coral Reef Watch, Senior Consultant
> National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
> NOAA Coral Reef Watch Program
>   e-mail: Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
> url: coralreefwatch.noaa.gov
>
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