[Coral-List] Fw: Impact of listing 66 coral species on coral research

vassil zlatarski vzlatarski at yahoo.com
Mon Dec 17 09:35:44 EST 2012


What a remarkable gracious and constructive reminder! 


Cheers,

Vassil

Vassil Zlatarski
D.Sc. (Biology), Ph.D. (Geology) 

131 Fales Rd., Bristol, RI 02809, USA;  tel.: +1-401-254-5121

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William Precht <william.precht at gmail.com>
To: Jennifer Moore - NOAA Federal <jennifer.moore at noaa.gov> 
Cc: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> 
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 6:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Impact of listing 66 coral species on coral research
 
Dear Coral List:

If you want some idea about the genetic basis of the million or so colonies
of *A. cervicornis* documented by Miller et al.  See paper listed below:

Hemond, E. M., & Vollmer, S. V. (2010). Genetic diversity and connectivity
in the threatened staghorn coral (*Acropora cervicornis*) in Florida. *PloS
one*, *5*(1), e8652.
The punchline to this paper reads as follows -

" Despite the current patchiness of *A. cervicornis* in Florida, the
relatively high genetic diversity and connectivity within Florida suggest
that this population may have sufficient genetic variation to be viable and
resilient to environmental perturbation and disease."

Data does matter and these data should guide management decisions!

To quote Dr. Jane Lubchenco when she first took on the role as NOAA
Administrator.

“ I have consistently emphasized that scientific knowledge should inform
decision-making, that scientists have an obligation to communicate their
knowledge in a clear, credible, relevant and useable fashion, and that
management and policy decisions should focus on the common good and the
long-term.”

                                                   Dr. Jane Lubchenco  (March
29, 2009)

Hopefully, we won't lose site of these data in a rush to judgement of
expanding ESA authority from Threatened to Endangered for the Caribbean
acroporids.

Happy holidays,

Bill Precht





On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 7:57 AM, Jennifer Moore - NOAA Federal <
jennifer.moore at noaa.gov> wrote:

> I urge everyone with questions about the ESA process and how it was applied
> to these particular species, to read the Proposed Rule, and Status Review
> Report.  In those documents we lay out exactly how we determined the 66
> proposed species meet the definition of either threatened or endangered,
> and why the 2 Caribbean acroporids should be reclassified from threatened
> to endangered.  Also remember that we determined that 16 of the 82
> petitioned species do not meet the definition of threatened or endangered..
> Population size is one factor that we consider in making listing
> determinations; however, there are several other factors including the
> magnitude and certainty of threats to the species.  Further, in corals,
> particularly fragmenting species, it is virtually impossible to determine
> population size from visual census.  One must consider percent clonality
> when applying census data to population estimates.
>
> Please visit http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/82CoralSpecies.htm  and read
> the Federal Register Notice and supporting documents to understand the
> process by which we made our determination.  Also if anyone has questions
> for the NOAA staff who lead this proposal, please contact Lance Smith (
> lance.smith at noaa.gov), Chelsey Young (chelsey.young at noaa.gov), or me (
> jennifer.moore at noaa.gov).  We are happy to answer questions.
>
> Cheers,
> Jennifer
>
>
>
> --
>
> *Jennifer Moore
> ESA Coral Coordinator | Protected Resources Division
> NOAA Fisheries Service
> 263 13th Ave South
> Saint Petersburg, FL 33701
> 727-551-5797 phone | 727-824-5309 faxjennifer.moore at noaa.gov
> http://sero.nmfs..noaa.gov/pr/esa/acropora.htm*
>
> *http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/82CoralSpecies.htm*
> <http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/82CoralSpecies.htm>*
>
> To those who sacrificed careers of adventure in the wide-open spaces
> to wrestle for conservation in the policy arena. *
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
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