[Coral-List] Media hyperbole in coral science

[Bill Allison]

The fact that it is so hard to get unified action wrt the immediate,
palpable threat of covid-19 does not augur well for climate change action.

On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 1:45 PM Steve via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

>
> Hi Benjo,
>
> I think it’s hugely important to consider the impacts of “media” hyperbole
> as it applies to coral reef science. Public perceptions are everything when
> it comes to developing political will and if we are to have any hope of
> bringing about the changes necessary to save coral reefs public perceptions
> must change. At present the messaging has been woefully inconsistent,
> ambiguous and confusing. Outside of the scientific community the idea that
> abounds seems to be that restoration in combination with genetic
> engineering can save the world’s coral reef ecosystems. Perhaps the 2012
> ICRS Consensus Statement could stand as unifying tenet. It seems to me that
> it provides a set of principles that could form the basis of a more
> authentic and effectual message. In summary it proclaimed that to ensure
> the future of coral reefs we will need global action to reduce carbon
> emissions as well as improved local protections to address land-based
> pollution, sedimentation and over-fishing. Although scientists certainly
> have a right to promote their work with enthusiasm, the question arises as
> to whether or not they also have some level of ethical responsibility to
> see to it that a more concise message is delivered as to what really needs
> to be done to “save coral reefs”. In the post-truth, internet-based world
> of today the importance of precise and factual messaging has become more
> important than ever.
>
>
> https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/as-scientists-we-must-fight-fake-news-with-truth
>
> Regards,
>
> Steve Mussman
>
> Sent from EarthLink Mobile mail
>
> On 4/24/20, 11:08 AM, Benjamin Cowburn via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
> Hyperbole are what the media do best! It happens every day. Here in the UK,
>
> a chief medical scientist said with lots of caveats that '*SOME *of the
>
> lockdown measures *COULD* continue for *UP TO* 6 months time'. Headlines in
>
> the paper the next day: UK WILL BE IN LOCKDOWN FOR 6 MONTHS. I don't know
>
> how we as scientists can combat this misrepresentation! At least they are
>
> hyperbole and not bare faced lies e.g. 'I always new this was a pandemic'
>
> or 'Let's inject people with disinfectant'
>
> This is a debate I'd like to continue, if people think there is any use in
>
> it!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Benjo
>
> On Fri, 24 Apr 2020 at 15:35, Keri O'Neil via Coral-List <
>
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
> > Hello all,
>
> >
>
> > Thank you for sharing the article Doug. I can provide a little more
>
> > background from the scientific perspective. The corals that have been
>
> > releasing larvae are Mycetophyllia lamarkiana. We have also been
>
> > monitoring M. aliciae but no larvae have been released from them yet.
> These
>
> > corals have been held ex-situ for 18 months at this point. They were
>
> > collected as part of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Coral Rescue
>
> > Project led by Florida FWC and NOAA Fisheries. We have held all
>
> > Mycetophyllia we have close together in a recirculating aquarium system,
>
> > hoping that if sperm was released it would have enough residence time in
>
> > the tank to fertilize nearby corals before being removed by filtration.
>
> > The parent corals are held in greenhouses and get natural sunlight (in
> the
>
> > Tampa area, which is close in timing but not exactly the same as the
>
> > Florida Keys). We manually change their water temperature setting monthly
>
> > to mimic a 10 year average of water temperature from data from Key Largo,
>
> > FL, with extremes highs removed such as major bleaching years. They do
> get
>
> > natural moonlight, but there is a fair amount of light contamination from
>
> > nearby streetlights and even small LEDs in the greenhouse on various
>
> > electronics. Soon we will look at the recruits from this event to confirm
>
> > that cross fertilization did occur, as genetic samples have also been
>
> > collected from parent colonies in this project.
>
> >
>
> > Also we definitely did not intend to imply that no work had ever been
> done
>
> > on MLAM, and can’t control the exact wording in all of the news articles,
>
> > so I do apologize if we did not pay appropriate tribute to previous
>
> > investigations in this species. We have read the thesis by José Antonio
>
> > Morales Tirado from Ernesto Weil’s lab in 2006 and also Alina’s coral
>
> > reproduction paper from 1986, and these were critical to us even knowing
>
> > when to start to look for larvae in these species, but I think we can all
>
> > admit there is still a lot to document and learn about Mycetophyllia.
>
> > Although this one event certainly will not “save coral reefs”, we are
>
> > simply hopeful that we can continue to keep an ex-situ population of
> corals
>
> > with a high level of genetic diversity, and promote annual spawning even
>
> > when those corals are held ex-situ for an extended period of time.
>
> > Although no one wants to be faced with pulling corals off of the reef to
>
> > ensure their future, we believe this type of intervention can in fact
> help
>
> > prevent localized extinction of some species in Florida, and preserve
>
> > genetic diversity in the population, most notably in the wake of Stony
>
> > Coral Tissue Loss Disease.
>
> >
>
> > As Les said, we are celebrating our small success.
>
> >
>
> > With regards,
>
> >
>
> > Keri O'Neil
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > Keri O'Neil, MS
>
> > Manager & Senior Scientist, Coral Conservation Program
>
> > 701 Channelside
>
> > Drive
>
> > Tampa, FL 33602
>
> > P:813-425-1679
>
> > W:
>
> > flaquarium.org
>
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>
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>
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>
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>
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