[Coral-List] Endangered species status will be considered for 82 corals
Alex Brylske
brylske at aol.com
Thu Feb 18 09:53:52 EST 2010
I'd like to support Andrea in her comments about the value and supposed obstacles created by an ESA list of coral. First, speaking as a 35-year veteran of the recreational diving industry and editor of the oldest national scuba publication in America, we have no fear that anyone will require us to use rebreathers, or impose any other onerous regulations due to the listing. In fact, the listing of staghorn and elkhorn has, as she indicates, raised the awareness among divers to the plight of these species as well as coral reef in general. And I have no doubt that listing more species will do the same.
Now, putting on my hat as a marine science professor, we have the privilege here at FKCC of working with the Coral Restoration Foundation in raising and transplanting cervicornis in the Florida Keys; and we not found any requirements imposed on us that are either onerous or unreasonable.
Alex
Alex. F. Brylske, Ph.D.
Professor, Marine Science & Technology
Florida Keys Community College
5901 College Rd.
Key West, FL 33040
office: 305-809-3148
cell: 954-701-1966
alex.brylske at fkcc.edu
brylske at aol.com
On Feb 17, 2010, at 8:14 PM, Andrea A. Treece wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'd like to respond to some of the questions Gene raised about CBD's coral
> petition and the effects of listing corals under the Endangered Species Act
> (ESA). First, the purpose of the listing petition is pretty straightforward:
> to protect corals from a range of threats, including not just climate change
> and acidification, but degraded water quality, destruction by anchors, trawl
> gear, and unsustainable development. Please bear in mind that listing a
> species and designating critical habitat for it does not automatically block
> any activity. Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis are already listed under
> the ESA and critical habitat has been designated for both species along the
> south Fla. coast and Keys. Diving, fishing, research, and pretty much every
> other activity that was permitted before continues now. The main difference
> is that the federal government must now ensure that any activity it
> authorizes or funds in that area (e.g., dredging) will not jeopardize the
> survival and recovery of those species or destroy their critical habitat..
> That analysis rarely results in activities being wholly curtailed. Most
> often they are modified to minimize impacts and allowed to continue.
>
> As one who works with this law day in and day out, I can assure you that
> listing corals is not going to lead to requiring rebreathers or excluding
> divers from coral habitat. What we do hope it will accomplish with divers
> is an increased awareness that these corals are fragile, incredibly
> important habitat-builders that need to be treated with care. I've seen
> enough of my fellow divers grabbing and kicking coral to believe that
> message has still not reached nearly enough recreational divers.
>
> We also hope to raise awareness regarding the threat of climate change and
> ocean acidification to coral reefs. As many on this list have noted, public
> awareness is crucial to protecting corals. There has been much discussion
> on the list about how to bring the "save the corals" message to the public.
> This is one more way to do that.
>
> As for research, it is true that researchers will need to get one more
> permit. For researchers dedicated to understanding and conserving corals,
> I'd hope this wouldn't be seen as a reason to oppose protecting them under a
> law designed to ensure not only their survival, but their recovery.
> Moreover, ESA listing can bring with it increased attention and funding for
> scientific research on the listed species.
>
> I hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to contact us if you
> have any questions about the petition, how the process works, etc. Thank
> you all for the great work you do to protect corals.
>
> Andrea
>
> Andrea A. Treece
> Senior Attorney, Oceans Program
> Center for Biological Diversity
> 351 California Street, Suite 600
> San Francisco, CA 94104
> ph: 415-436-9682 x306 fax: 415-436-9683
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of
> coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 9:00 AM
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: Coral-List Digest, Vol 18, Issue 16
>
> Send Coral-List mailing list submissions to
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>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. LAC system for Tourism Development in MPA (Asril Djunaidi)
> 2. ESA Earth Observation Summer School 2010 (Artur Gil)
> 3. Re: Coral disease or bleaching?? (Allan Bright)
> 4. sea urchin removal to prevent bioerosion (Clement Dumont)
> 5. Endangered species status will be considered for 82 corals
> (Eugene Shinn)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:43:08 -0500 (EST)
> From: "Asril Djunaidi" <asril at orangpesisir.org>
> Subject: [Coral-List] LAC system for Tourism Development in MPA
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID:
> <33068.202.152.48.202.1266291788.squirrel at webmail.netfirms.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Dear all,
>
> I am searching articles,thesis,dessertation,etc that discuss about LAC
> (limits of acceptable change)approach for tourism development within MPA
> Management.
>
> Does any one out there could help me on this? Many thanks in advance.
>
> All the Best,
>
> Asril
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:20:37 -0800 (PST)
> From: Artur Gil <arturfreiregil at yahoo.com.br>
> Subject: [Coral-List] ESA Earth Observation Summer School 2010
> To: lusogis at yahoogroups.com
> Message-ID: <770599.45741.qm at web37908.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> ESA Earth Observation Summer School
> on "Earth System Monitoring & Modelling" (2-13 Aug 2010,
> Frascati, Italy)
>
> On the occasion of the 5th EO Summer School on ?Earth System Monitoring
> & Modelling?, the "European Space Agency" (ESA) would like
> to invite young researchers to join leading experts in Earth Observation,
> Modelling and Data Assimilation for keynote lectures,
> hands-on computing practical and poster sessions.. The EO Summer School
> will be held in ESRIN (Frascati, near Rome), 2-13 Aug 2010.
>
> More information can be found on http://envisat.esa.int/envschool/.
> Applications should be made on-line no later than 15 March 2010. All
> enquiries
> should be addressed to envschool at esa.int
>
> Kind regards,
> The EO Summer School Organising team
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________
> ________
> Veja quais s?o os assuntos do momento no Yahoo! +Buscados
> http://br.maisbuscados.yahoo.com
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:49:16 -0500
> From: Allan Bright <allanjbright at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Coral disease or bleaching??
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID:
> <154c45071002160849i7aa77072p4fe115a98c6f019c at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> For those who are interested, I too have observed these ring shaped
> bleached spots on colonies of Acropora palmata in St. Thomas and St.
> John, USVI. I conducted monthly surveys of A. palmata colonies at
> five sites around the two islands from September 2007 through July
> 2009. During this survey period, I noticed this pattern of bleaching
> on 12% of my regularly monitored colonies (condition observed
> year-round). On a few colonies the bleached spots were observed every
> month during the survey period (one colony of which contained a
> Microspathodon chrysurus territory). The general characteristics of
> the pattern I observed are a ring/circle (~2cm diameter) of thin,
> bleached tissue with the corallites appearing worn down. The bleach
> spots generally occurred in great numbers, sometimes leaving large
> areas of the colony bleached. No tissue loss was observed as a result
> of this condition, with the exception of one colony where tissue loss
> occurred post-bleaching (after approximately 7 months of condition
> observed to be present). From my observations, it appears as though
> damselfish are repetitively nipping at particular areas of the colony
> resulting in this bleaching pattern. On two occasions I have
> witnessed the yellowtail damsel, Microspathodon chrysurus, nipping at
> these small bleach spots.
>
> Photo examples can be found at the following link (my apologies for
> the poor image quality):
> http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/ab47/allanjbright/?action=view¤t=bl
> eachspots.jpg
>
>
> Williams et al. (2006) also suggest damselfish as possible cause of
> bleached rings on colonies of A. palmata.
>
> Williams, D.E., M.W. Miller, and K.L. Kramer. 2006. Demographic
> monitoring protocols for threatened Caribbean Acropora spp. corals.
> NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFSSEFSC-543. 91 pp.
>
> regards,
> Allan Bright
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:01:10 +0800
> From: Clement Dumont <cdumont at hku.hk>
> Subject: [Coral-List] sea urchin removal to prevent bioerosion
> To: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Message-ID:
> <A079DF1679D36540A0B97A14317E122A12B13FA5B4 at MAIL.hkucc-com.hku.hk>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Dear all,
> thank you for all the comprehensive replies from which I learned a lot. My
> initial question, however, remained unanswered. Does anybody is aware of
> report/publication of such removal practice of grazers to protect/restore
> coral reefs (i.e. removal program similar to the crown-of thorns)?
> I have also a project in Malaysia where the Marine Park rangers remove
> every year the sea star Acanthaster planci in an attempt to prevent
> population outbreaks. However, when I found similar densities of sea stars
> at the sites where removal occur with sites where no sea stars are
> collected. Unthinking removal programs are generally unsuccessful and can
> even further damage the corals (e.g. Japan sea star removal).
>
> Best wishes,
> Clement
>
> ---------
> Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:54:02 +0800
> From: Clement Dumont <cdumont at hku.hk>
> Subject: [Coral-List] sea urchin removal to prevent bioerosion
> To: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Message-ID:
> <A079DF1679D36540A0B97A14317E122A12B13FA575 at MAIL.hkucc-com.hku.hk>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Dear all,
> the Hong Kong government took the initiative (based on brief observations)
> to remove every year thousands of the sea urchin Diadema setosum and the
> corallivore snail Drupella sp. to prevent the excessive bioerosion of corals
> (but no studies have been conducted). Being really surprised by this
> initiative, I started a cage experiment with different densities of urchin
> to examine whether Diadema is the major factor contributing to bioerosion.
> With no much surprise (the experiment is still running), we have a higher
> recruitment of macroalgae and also higher sedimentation on corals
> non-exposed to sea urchin grazing and even with high densities densities of
> urchins, still no sign of bioerosion. Hong Kong waters are highly polluted
> and the nutrient enrichment and high sedimentation may rather be the main
> causes of corals degradation.
> I am therefore curious whether such sea urchin removal practice (not on a
> fishery purpose) is/has been conducted elsewhere to prevent bioerosion of
> corals.
>
> Thanks,
> Clement
>
> ----
> Clement Dumont
> Research Assistant Professor
> The Swire Institute of Marine Science
> & The Division of Ecology & Biodiversity
> The School of Biological Sciences
> The University of Hong Kong
> Pokfulam, Hong Kong, PR China
>
> Phone: (852) 51 99 1730
> Webpage: http://web.hku.hk/~cdumont/
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:33:55 -0500
> From: Eugene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
> Subject: [Coral-List] Endangered species status will be considered for
> 82 corals
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID: <a06230912c79f5a3ef4dd@[131.247.137.127]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
>
> Coral-Listers, Be careful what you wish for and beware of, "The Law
> of unintended consequences." At stake is the listing of 82 species
> of corals which is the first step toward making all Atlantic coral
> reefs off limits to divers and researchers (except for an elite few).
> Imagine the increased paperwork ect., that will be required to obtain
> a permit to study any of these corals or a reef where they live. If
> passed the next step will be designation of critical habitats to
> protect these species----from what? and how? Every scuba diver
> bubbles Co2 into the water, (exhaled breath contains up to 40,000 ppm
> Co2).Down the road we may have to stop scuba diving or mandate the
> use of rebreathers. The Co2 battle is being fought vigorously on many
> other fronts so why use corals as pawns to create a new tangle of
> government regulations and bureaucrats? What is really behind this?
> Job creation? More coral police? The only winners I see will be the
> lawyers! I think that this time The Center for Biodiversity has gone
> over the top and is more obstructionist than I ever thought they
> would be. I wonder who supports them? How do they get their funding?
> Now that's something to ponder! Lets be reasonable! This action is
> not going to save corals. Just look to the geologic record. The
> grandest reefs the world has ever known grew during the Cretaceous
> when Co2 levels were more than 7 times present levels. To and Earth
> scientist this action appears to be just one more issue for people to
> disagree on in a country already so politically divided on most any
> subject one can think of. No this is not Glen Beck speaking... Gene
> --
>
>
> No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
> ------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
> E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
> University of South Florida
> Marine Science Center (room 204)
> 140 Seventh Avenue South
> St. Petersburg, FL 33701
> <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
> Tel 727 553-1158----------------------------------
> -----------------------------------
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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