[Coral-List] A Swim Through Time on Carysfort Reef; EFFORT TO ASSEMBLE A LIST OF REMAINING HEALTHY CARIBBEAN CORAL REEFS

Hafeez Jamal hjwaves at gmail.com
Fri Aug 7 13:56:25 UTC 2020


Hi Mike,

Very well said.

Hafeez

On Mon., Aug. 3, 2020, 9:42 a.m. Risk, Michael via Coral-List, <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

>    Hi Steve.
>
>    I dove on Carysfort in 1961, and the few hairs I have left are all
>    off-white. Allow me to comment, because I am not prepared to absolve
>    reef biologists from all blame. (I already wrote one paper on this, so
>    I will be brief.)
>
>    Surely the main point of Phil's video is that decline started early,
>    far earlier than any significant climate excursions. As an example: in
>    your paper, you mention "threats" to Florida's reefs, including cold
>    water-which puts you in the amusing position of defending them at both
>    ends of the thermometer. You do not mention nutrients or water quality,
>    you do not cite Lapointe, but you do observe that the majority of your
>    transplants kark in a few years.
>
>    Fifty years ago, those pesky geologists showed us that bioerosion was
>    far more important than grazing, yet most American reef biologists of
>    following generations simply ignored the process. The evidence of
>    impacts from land-based sources has been around since Columbus, who
>    knew to approach coastlines along river mouths: yet we now have a
>    generation or two of reef biologists who believe the reefs will come
>    back if the grazers come back.
>
>    Reef biologists never learned to speak with one voice. We have now been
>    deprived of the results of the one experiment that would have been of
>    the most use: what is the effect of climate change on healthy reefs?
>
>    Mike
>      __________________________________________________________________
>
>    From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf of
>    S Miller via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>    Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 9:22 AM
>    To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>    Subject: Re: [Coral-List] A Swim Through Time on Carysfort Reef; EFFORT
>    TO ASSEMBLE A LIST OF REMAINING HEALTHY CARIBBEAN CORAL REEFS
>
>    Hi Phil and Coral-List
>    Great historic record from Carysfort Reef.  How do you like being
>    called
>    historic?  The second generation of coral reef scientists is now old. I
>    remember one of my mentors saying early in his career that there
>    weren't
>    many gray-haired coral reef scientists. Now?  Many gray hairs across
>    generations.
>    I saw Carysfort in the late 1980s and Carbbean reefs in the 1970s.
>    There's no question about what we lost.
>    There's also no question about what we continue to lose and why.
>    But I'm confused about your comment that "we have not figured out how
>    to
>    keep reefs from disappearing."  If by "we" you mean coral reef
>    scientists, then you are putting too much on the shoulders of our
>    community.  If you mean society as the collective "we," then you are
>    correct that reefs are viewed as a resource to exploit.
>    Still, it's a good question to ask if our community has failed coral
>    reefs.  Is it our fault because we didn't explain things well enough,
>    fast enough, or because we lack emotion or sex appeal in our outreach?
>    Or, did we fail because we monitored reef decline instead of doing
>    something else?  My view is that we did everything that could be done.
>    Could we have done more?  Could we have communicated more effectively?
>    Probably.  Would it have mattered?  No.
>    After all, damage across most of our planet from global warming
>    continues despite dozens of NGOs spending tens of billions of dollars
>    to
>    educate and influence policy makers. They failed, too.
>    You didn't exactly say it this way, but our society values other things
>    more and it's not even close.
>    So what happens now?  What choices do we have?
>    It's not that complicated, in my humble opinion. We do what most of us
>    have always done.
>    Act local and think global still matters. Just about every coral reef
>    benthic ecology paper today addresses this idea in one way or another,
>    with a plea at the end about the need to stop carbon emissions.
>    I also believe that restoration has a role to play, despite the
>    relentless advance of global warming.
>    Thanks for posting the Carysfort Reef video.
>    Best Regards
>    Steven
>    You can read about our restoration views in a recent paper on
>    restoration results in Florida.
>    [1]https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231817
>    PLOS ONE, May 2020  Survivorship and growth in staghorn coral projects
>    in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
>    On 7/28/2020 11:05 AM, Phillip Dustan via Coral-List wrote:
>    > I made this video to open eyes about the dramatic changes that have
>    > occurred in a short time.
>    > Many of the current crop of reef biologists have no idea of what
>    we've lost.
>    > All the nature films to increase people's love for the sea, all the
>    > monitoring projects that increase our resolution, all the management,
>    all
>    > the restoration, all the rhetoric about protecting reefs, etc.... on
>    and on
>    > have not worked.
>    > The mantra that people protect what they love has proven false.
>    > It's more like, "People exploit what they need to make money, then
>    move on
>    > to richer places to do the same over and over...."
>    > While the scientific community has greatly increased our resolving
>    power to
>    > watch reefs degrade, we have not figured out how to keep reefs from
>    > disappearing...
>    >     This is the point of my offering at this time - more of an
>    emotional
>    > plea than a documentary.
>    > I've always thought a coffee table book titled :How they Die" about
>    all the
>    > human activities that kill coral reefs would be interesting as all
>    the
>    > current and past books are eye candy divorced from current reality.
>    >    Maybe a website of  such atrocities would help jar people into
>    action?
>    > Reefs are ecosystems, not resources.
>    >   Phil
>    >
>    >
>    > On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 9:03 AM Steve Gittings - NOAA Federal <
>    > steve.gittings at noaa.gov> wrote:
>    >
>    >> Alina - I was part of that 1981 group with Tom Bright at Carysfort
>    Light.
>    >> It was with mixed feelings thatI had to leave a couple weeks early
>    to
>    >> attend my wedding!  Still, looking back, it was such a privilege to
>    see
>    >> such a seemingly healthy place just a few years before the coral
>    world
>    >> changed so dramatically.
>    >>
>    >> I like the idea of hearing about places that haven't changed much
>    since
>    >> the 70s or before.  I'll put the Flower Garden Banks out there.  The
>    >> earliest dives and pictures there were in the early 60s and the
>    first
>    >> measurements of coral cover in the early 70s.  Very little has
>    changed,
>    >> though macroalgae is more persistent since the *Diadema *dieoff.
>    Coral
>    >> cover, which when first measured was just under 50% on the reef
>    caps, is
>    >> now closer to 60%.  There are lionfish, but impacts to native fish
>    are not
>    >> evident yet, and they are trying to control abundance with culling.
>    It is
>    >> certainly not without threats, but the banks seem to benefit from
>    their
>    >> isolation.
>    >>
>    >> Steve
>    >>
>    >> On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 8:45 AM Alina Szmant via Coral-List <
>    >> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>    >>
>    >>> Thanks Phil for the nostalgia. I first visited Carysfort in 1981
>    when I
>    >>> stayed for two weeks out at the lighthouse with Tom Bright's group
>    doing
>    >>> nutrient uptake experiments with A cervicornis, and it was
>    incredibly
>    >>> beautiful. The US Coast Guard had trouble bringing their boats to
>    the
>    >>> lighthouse pier because the coral was so thick and shallow
>    everywhere. From
>    >>> the light house tower, one could watch giant blue and rainbow
>    parrotfishes
>    >>> swimming among the A palmata colonies that extended seaward for 100
>    m or
>    >>> more on the reef flat. When I returned with Peter Glyn  and a class
>    of
>    >>> students the spring of 1984, there wasn't any live Acropora coral
>    anywhere
>    >>> (we did transects). It was shocking! In the mid 2000's Margaret
>    Miller and
>    >>> I tried to do our coral larval rearing research working from the
>    >>> lighthouse, and still almost no coral, and the large Orbicella
>    colonies
>    >>> were mostly dead as well. I am glad I had a chance to see this reef
>    (and
>    >>> many similar ones in Puerto Rico) back in the day, because I am
>    pretty sure
>    >>> they won't recover within what is left of my lifetime. There may be
>    great
>    >>> live coral gardens in places like the Solomons, but the situation
>    in the
>    >>> Caribbean is dire and getting worse in my experience.
>    >>>
>    >>> That said: I think it would be useful for Coral-List researchers to
>    start
>    >>> a list of places within the Caribbean that are still close to what
>    was the
>    >>> norm back in the 1970s. If there are clusters of localities that
>    haven't
>    >>> been impacted by bleaching, disease epidemics, flattened by major
>    storms
>    >>> but recovered, that would be a worthwhile list to compile and serve
>    as a
>    >>> basis for investigating factors that have allowed some places to
>    survive
>    >>> while others have succumbed.
>    >>>
>    >>> I volunteer to assemble such information if anyone out there is
>    willing
>    >>> to share, and I send out an updated list monthly to all on Coral
>    List. If
>    >>> you know of sites that still look like the 1975 version of
>    Carysfort and
>    >>> can document this with short video, collection of photos or even
>    better...
>    >>> data... and want to be part of such an effort, please contact me.
>    >>>
>    >>> Best,
>    >>>
>    >>> Alina
>    >>>
>    >>>
>    >>>
>    ***********************************************************************
>    **
>    >>> Dr. Alina M. Szmant, CEO
>    >>> CISME Instruments LLC
>    >>> 210 Braxlo Lane,
>    >>> Wilmington NC 28409 USA
>    >>> AAUS Scientific Diving Lifetime Achievement Awardee
>    >>> cell: 910-200-3913
>    >>> Website:www.cisme-instruments.com
>    >>>
>    >>>
>    >>> **********************************************************
>    >>> Videos:  CISME Promotional Video 5:43 min
>    >>> [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAYeR9qX71A&t=6s
>    >>> CISME Short version Demo Video 3:00 min
>    >>> [3]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa4SqS7yC08
>    >>> CISME Cucalorus 10x10 Sketch   4:03 minhttps://youtu.be/QCo3oixsDVA
>    >>>
>    >>> -----Original Message-----
>    >>> From: Coral-List<coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>  On Behalf
>    Of
>    >>> Phillip Dustan via Coral-List
>    >>> Sent: Monday, July 27, 2020 8:47 AM
>    >>> To: Coral List<coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>    >>> Subject: [Coral-List] A Swim Through Time on Carysfort Reef
>    >>>
>    >>> Hi Listers,
>    >>> We talk a lot about  management and conservation but the reality is
>    >>> humanity lacks the political will to address the fundamentals
>    unless there
>    >>> is a direct and instant return on investment.
>    >>> Science tells us that coral reefs are ecosystems, not resources.
>    The very
>    >>> adaptations that enable them to thrive in nutrient poor tropical
>    seas
>    >>> leaves them vulnerable to humans. Maybe one day we will act on that
>    >>> reality, but right now I fear we are just trying to make ourselves
>    feel
>    >>> better, or develop a more and more precise way to document the
>    collapse of
>    >>> reefs all the while  increasing the level of funding for our
>    labs/agencies.
>    >>> This approach has not, and is not working.
>    >>>
>    >>>   Something to think about while most of us are out of the water
>    this
>    >>> summer.
>    >>> [4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCPJE7UE6sA
>    >>>
>    >>>
>    >>> --
>    >>>
>    >>>
>    >>>
>    >>> Phillip Dustan PhD
>    >>> Charleston SC  29424
>    >>> 843-953-8086 office
>    >>> 843-224-3321 (mobile)
>    >>>
>    >>> "When we try to pick out anything by itself we find that it is
>    bound fast
>    >>> by a thousand invisible cords that cannot be broken, to everything
>    in the
>    >>> universe. "
>    >>> *                                         John Muir 1869*
>    >>>
>    >>> *Raja Ampat Sustainability Project video*
>    >>>
>    [5]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RR2SazW_VY&fbclid=IwAR09oZkEk8wQkK6
>    LN3XzVGPgAWSujACyUfe2Ist__nYxRRSkDE_jAYqkJ7A
>    >>> *Bali Coral Bleaching 2016 video*
>    >>>
>    >>> *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo
>    >>> <[6]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo>*
>    >>> TEDx Charleston on saving coral reefs
>    >>> [7]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwENBNrfKj4
>    >>> Google Scholar Citations:
>    >>> [8]https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HCwfXZ0AAAAJ
>    >>> _______________________________________________
>    >>> Coral-List mailing list
>    >>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>    >>> [9]https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>    >>> _______________________________________________
>    >>> Coral-List mailing list
>    >>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>    >>> [10]https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>    >>>
>    >> --
>    >> Dr. Steve Gittings, Science Coordinator
>    >> NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
>    >> 1305 East West Hwy., N/ORM62
>    >> Silver Spring, MD  20910
>    >> (240) 533-0708 (w), (301) 529-1854 (c1), (301) 821-0857 (c2)
>    >>
>    >>
>    >>
>    >> *Follow National Marine
>    Sanctuaries<[11]http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/>*
>    >> *and our Earth is Blue Campaign
>    >> <[12]http://www.sanctuaries.noaa.gov/earthisblue>  on**:*
>    >>
>    [image:http://www.facebook.com/NOAAOfficeofNationalMarineSanctuaries]
>    >>
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>    [image:
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>    >> <[16]http://www.youtube.com/user/sanctuaries>   [image:
>    >>
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>    ms/>   [image:
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> References
>
>    1. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231817
>    2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAYeR9qX71A&t=6s
>    3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa4SqS7yC08
>    4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCPJE7UE6sA
>    5.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RR2SazW_VY&fbclid=IwAR09oZkEk8wQkK6LN3XzVGPgAWSujACyUfe2Ist__nYxRRSkDE_jAYqkJ7A
>    6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo
>    7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwENBNrfKj4
>    8. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HCwfXZ0AAAAJ
>    9. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>   10. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>   11. http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/
>   12. http://www.sanctuaries.noaa.gov/earthisblue
>   13. http://www.facebook.com/NOAAOfficeofNationalMarineSanctuaries
>   14. http://twitter.com/sanctuaries]<http://twitter.com/sanctuaries
>   15. http://www.youtube.com/user/sanctuaries
>   16. http://www.youtube.com/user/sanctuaries
>   17. http://www.flickr.com/photos/onms/]<
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/onms/
>   18. http://feeds.feedburner.com/NoaaNationalMarineSanctuaryNews
>   19. http://feeds.feedburner.com/NoaaNationalMarineSanctuaryNews
>   20. http://pinterest.com/nmsanctuaries/national-marine-sanctuaries/
>   21. http://instagram.com/noaasanctuaries
>   22. http://instagram.com/noaasanctuaries
>   23. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
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