[Coral-List] time to rewild the seas?

[Douglas Fenner]

Is it time to begin rewilding the seas?
including giant clams and zebra sharks on coral reefs

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/04/rewilding-the-seas-overfishing-oceans?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Raja Ampats better have zero spear fishing and clam collecting or they
won't last long.  Is there any place other than the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park which is so well protected that there are natural numbers of
giant clams?  In the past there were even clam poachers that came from
other countries to take them from there. You might have to hire armed
guards like at pearl oyster farms to protect them well enough.  Clam
hatcheries work great, but when you plant them on the reef, you just give
clams which are expensive to produce to people for free who quickly take
them.
    I believe that giant clams were petitioned for listing under the US
Endangered Species Act, and NOAA is currently reviewing information.
    I suspect most reef MPAs don't have strong enough protection for giant
clams and sharks.  Most aren't big enough to protect sharks, which will
roam outside small MPAs.
     A study of reef sharks on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and at
Cocos-Keeling atoll, found that only inside "no-go" areas on the GBR were
populations similar to that at Cocos-Keeling atoll, in "no take" areas they
were low levels like in areas open to fishing.

Ongoing collapse of coral reef shark populations
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982206022767

Cheers,  Doug

-- 
Douglas Fenner
Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
NOAA Fisheries Service
Pacific Islands Regional Office
Honolulu
and:
Coral Reef Consulting
PO Box 997390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298  USA

Slashing emissions by 2050 isn't enough.  We can bring down temperature now.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/climate-deadlines-super-pollutants-hfcs-methane/2021/04/15/acb8c612-9d7d-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_story.html

Humans have destroyed 97% of earth's ecosystems
(well, more like only 3% are fully intact)
https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB1fH7DT?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare

Study: One-third of plant and animal species could be gone in 50 years.
(but 2-4 times worse in tropics)
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-02/uoa-soo021220.php
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/8/4211