[Coral-List] SCTLD in ballast water

Steven L Miller smiller52 at gmail.com
Mon Aug 8 19:38:16 UTC 2022


Dear Dr. Collado-Vides

I am a long-time fan of Shifting Baselines, which your first point 
addresses. Our views are shaped by slow motion change and forgotten 
history. But to your second point, if you are suggesting that the Miami 
dredge project has something to do with SCTLD, then you are mistaken. 
While you acknowledge "no proof of anything," I'm concerned that many on 
this List will infer a link between the dredge project and SCTLD based 
only on your links to decade-old newspaper stories.

To my knowledge, nothing conclusive exists that ties SCTLD to ballast 
water or the Miami dredge project. Testable hypothesis could be framed 
related to ballast water. I'm not sure the same can be said related to 
SCTLD and the dredge project. After all, the Miami sewage outfall is in 
close proximity to the dredge site and outflow from the Miami River is 
through the dredge channel. Both contain a thick stew of anthropogenic 
bacteria and viruses and who knows what else.

This thread was started when the precautionary principle was cited as a 
reason to address ballast water and SCTLD. That is, act based on the 
idea of not doing possible harm instead of having to first prove damage. 
In this case, while it'snot harmful to suggest (hypothesize) such a 
linkage to dredging, without context and facts (and testing) a false 
narrative can easily arise.

I apologize if I misunderstood and you weren't suggesting a link between 
dredging and SCTLD.

Sincerely,

Steven Miller, PhD

Senior Scientist

Nova Southeastern University



On 8/5/22 6:29 PM, Ligia Collado-Vides via Coral-List wrote:
> Hi all,
> We have no proof of anything, published papers can wait for many years, or never publish because we do not have the people at the right time. We need more forensic perspectives in the way we address the environmental problems.
>
> However memory is also something we lose very rapidly, Dredging for the huge enlargement of the Port of Miami 2018-2019, spread to the lower Keys, Caribbean.... years after....
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://maritime-executive.com/article/construction-begins-at-portmiami-on-u-s-s-largest-cruise-terminal__;!!FjuHKAHQs5udqho!N_1stqx5lewtX-UoBuBLGnpAo46b6Ox4TThg6BpwWNUKb2d0SG2oRZyZcIsyA7laWQHZxpCQow6HzvJo0A$
>
>
> https://maritime-executive.com/article/construction-begins-at-portmiami-on-u-s-s-largest-cruise-terminal
>   	Construction Begins at PortMiami on U.S.’s Largest Cruise Terminal
>
>
> U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Takes a Prominent Role at RIMPAC. Published Aug 2, 2022 9:44 PM by The Maritime Executive This year's Rim of the Pacific naval exercise has received considerable attention ...
> maritime-executive.com
>
> Draconic events need to be documented, we tend to totally forget traumatic events, and of course request accountability...
>
> Best
> Ligia
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Coral-List<coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>  On Behalf Of Eugene Shinn via Coral-List
> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2022 3:46 PM
> To:coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: [Coral-List] SCTLD in ballast water
>
> Note: This message originated from outside the FIU Faculty/Staff email system.
>
>
> I scanned the interesting research paper that blames coral disease is spread by ships ballast water. It is a reasonable hypothesis. However, I agree with Alina Szmant. I too have not seen the proof. She pointed out that the paper was not peer reviewed. The first thing I noticed in the papers title were the words, “simulated ballast water.” If I were a shipping company owner and that study was being used as proof my ballast water was the major spreader and cause of coral reef demise I would surely have my high paid lawyers go on the attack. They could quickly point out that the study of simulated ballast water does not prove my ballast water causes disease. That otherwise excellent study made me wonder why did the authors not sample water from actual ship ballast tanks? Why use simulated ballast water? At the same time I have to agree there is no evidence that real ballast water is not a carrier of coral disease. Ballast water may actually be spreading coral toxins from reef to reef. However, the real question is If there are disease organisms in ballast water, where did they come from in the first place. Clearly once these agents are in the water column they can easily be moved along with water currents. They do need ballast water for transport. The major current flow directions in the Caribbean are well known and the strongest of these currents flow past the Belize and Florida Keys reefs.
>
> As many list readers know I have been advocating since the 1980s that disease agents in the Caribbean were originally brought to the western Atlantic/Caribbean in dust clouds transported by the Tradewinds. Dust particles carrying disease causing agents are constantly dropping out as the dust clouds move along. Many even cross over into the Pacific. Once corals and other organisms including /Diadema/ and Seafan diseases become established they are easily transmitted down current to affect other marine organisms. I have often suggested the demise of the staghorn fields at San Salvador in 1983, was a starting point for such transport.
>
> Back when my USGS dust study team was active in the late 1990s they cultured and identified around 200 microbes and fungi that were being transmitted in African dust clouds. At the time we knew asthma was rampant in children on those windward islands in the Bahamas. Even Puerto Rico is well known for its respiratory diseases. In those days it baffled me why so many competent scientists rejected the dust hypothesis. Later as I matured I realized it was all about politics and funding. I suppose blaming coral diseases on ballast water these days is politically correct. Gene _______________________________________________
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