[Coral-List] coral disease in the Caribbean

Thu Oct 3 15:14:39 UTC 2019

Hi Greg,

Very grim!  Obviously, one has to apply strong imagination to recreate the
splendid scenery of Yucatan coral reefs in 1980s.

Hope of interest (free access): CICIMAR *Oceánides*. 22(1, 2): 45-116.

Cheers,

Vassil

Vassil Zlatarski

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

On Thu, Oct 3, 2019 at 9:48 AM Gregory Boland via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Steve,
>
> Just back from 5 days of diving in Cozumel on 9-28-19.  The coral
> situation is grim, especially on the further north reefs like Paradise just
> next to the cruise ship piers on our second dive early last week.  Heads of
> cavernosa and Orbicella were nearly all dead with 1-2 inch white bands of
> mortality so recent that algae had not even had a chance to establish and
> little remaining live tissue. Other large portions of these heads were
> covered in green algae and the remainder being older mortality. There was
> virtually no Eusmilia alive anywhere (saw dozens of completely dead
> clusters on most reefs).  The few live calicies in a few places did not
> look healthy and were surrounded by dead skeletons. Most all large heads of
> Pseudodiploria and Colpophyllia were completely dead on all reefs (glad I
> did not invest any time to try and see Colpophyllia spawning at 10:30 PM as
> it would have been hard to find any alive). Actually Palancar appeared to
> be in better shape than Paradise, Yucab and the
>   northern reefs, perhaps because mortality had occurred earlier and white
> bands were not noticeable. Porites porites seems to be the one species
> immune from the new disease.  Agaricia is doing pretty well too, but some
> noticeable limited mortality, or possibly bleaching, hard to tell with that
> group while whizzing by in the current. Often thinking about the Flower
> Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico with 50 - 80% live coral cover, some
> Cozumel reefs had nearly zero percent cover and most all at 1-2% cover or
> less now.
>
> Water was a consistent 86 degrees everywhere above 80 ft. Saw little to no
> bleaching anywhere. Ironically, at Scuba Club Cozumel where we were
> staying, there is a very healthy .5 m diameter Pseudodiploria head growing
> on a dock piling at about 8 ft deep and a very healthy A. palmata in 3 ft
> of water just in front of the hammocks on shore. It has been there for
> years and is growing nicely with no signs of disease or damsel fish bites.
>
> One rumor going around was that the closure was based on the idea that
> divers could be spreading the bacteria between reefs on dive gear,
> certainly with no evidence. We all know the urchin die-off did not need any
> divers to move pathogens around. UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de
> Mexico) had very recently installed stainless marker eye bolts (not even
> bacteria film on epoxy) at Paradise and at least one other nearby reef we
> dove on. I know Dr. Elva Escobar there and will ask about this work.
>
> I have images of most everything mentioned if anyone interested.
>
> Greg Boland
> ________________________________
> From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf of
> Steve Mussman via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Sent: Monday, September 30, 2019 8:44 PM
> To: Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
> Cc: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] coral disease in the Caribbean
>
> Hi Doug and Listers,
>
> Can anyone shine additional light on the this SCTLD (Stony Coral Tissue
> Loss Disease)?
> Based on the article you posted there are many at work trying to figure
> out the dynamics involved, so I was hoping there might be at least some
> preliminary information available.
> Cozumel recently decided to (at least temporarily) shut down a number of
> reefs along the southernmost tract of their marine park, so I was wondering
> what their rationale was. The reefs in the affected area (especially
> Colombia and Palancar) are among the most popular dive spots in the region.
> Perhaps they are trying to reduce stress on the reefs that might be caused
> by high diver traffic in those areas. Another article I read claims that
> they suspect that it is caused by a bacterial infection. The famous
> currents in Cozumel generally run south to north, so I suspect all the
> reefs there are at risk. I saw examples of the disease back in July while
> diving there and at the time they were experimenting with a gum-like
> substance which they were applying as a barrier in an attempt to stop the
> progression of the disease. I have pictures if anyone is interested and any
> more information would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Steve Mussman
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Sep 30, 2019, at 12:50 AM, Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >
> > As new disease wipes out Caribbean coral, scientists tear up reefs to
> stop
> > the spread
> > O
> >
> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-environment-corals-idUSKBN1WB24D?fbclid=IwAR2wrhPCGLyiUmf7ZBicchXCQpPN2kM6bJtSdChSCTrOK2jiHAkUIY1gGKU
> >
> >
> > Cheers,  Doug
> >
> > --
> > Douglas Fenner
> > Ocean Associates, Inc. Contractor
> > NOAA Fisheries Service
> > Pacific Islands Regional Office
> > Honolulu
> > and:
> > Consultant
> > PO Box 7390
> > Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
> >
> > "Global warming is manifestly the foremost current threat to coral reefs,
> > and must be addressed by the global community if reefs as we know them
> will
> > have any chance to persist."  Williams et al, 2019, Frontiers in Marine
> > Science
> >
> > A call to climate action  (Science editorial)
> >
> https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6443/807?utm_campaign=toc_sci-mag_2019-05-30&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=2840296
> >
> > New book "The Uninhabitable Earth"  First sentence: "It is much, much
> worse
> > than you think."
> > Read first (short) chapter open access:
> >
> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/read-a-chapter-from-the-uninhabitable-earth-a-dire-warning-on-climate-change
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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