[Coral-List] Coral Reef Insurance

[Douglas Fenner]

Steve,
    I don't think you're being too cynical.

    First, they seem to be directing the insurance only towards hurricanes
and storms.  These are in large part natural (though predicted to get
stronger due to global warming), and coral reefs have recovered from them
repeatedly, for millions of years.  Of course they assume that the corals
can grow back with help.  They didn't talk about either disease, which has
killed most of the Acropora in the Western Atlantic that forms the shallow
reef that protects the hotels, nor mass coral bleaching which is going to
start killing them more often in larger numbers until they can't regrow
even with help.  The insurance sounds good, but somebody's going to loose
out big time when bleaching is so often that corals can't grow, and there
will mostly just be a pile of dead rubble.
      Nothing like only paying attention to a mouse when there is an
elephant in the room.

Cheers,  Doug


On Sun, Jul 23, 2017 at 7:59 AM, Steve Mussman <sealab at earthlink.net> wrote:

> So I've seen this story pop up repeatedly on social media and I can't help
> but think that the headline is misleading. Seems to me that this enterprise
> is more focused on protecting hotels and beaches from storm surge rather
> than it is about conserving local coral reef ecosystems.
>
> Is this a sign that I have become too cynical?
>
> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-20/a-
> coral-reef-gets-an-insurance-policy-of-its-own
>
> Regards,
> Steve
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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>



-- 
Douglas Fenner
Contractor for NOAA NMFS Protected Species, and consultant
"have regulator, will travel"
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