[Coral-List] new mesophotic reef discovered in Tahiti

William Precht william.precht at gmail.com
Tue Jan 25 15:08:14 UTC 2022


All,

As a follow-up to the post by Dennis Hubbard - There is a reef off Moorea
 FP relatively close to the Gump Station called the Rose Garden. I dove
this reef at depths between 100-200 feet with Sal Genovese and Jim Leichter
about a decade ago - It looked identical to these recent photos from
Tahiti. Like the reef off Tahiti that Dennis described, I was also amazed
at the bottom currents at those deep depths. Unfortunately, in a recent
conversation I had with Peter Edmunds, he told me that this deep beauty off
Moorea was impacted by COTS and then a few years later by a major typhoon.
Let’s hope this reef off Tahiti can stay healthy well into the future.

Bill

On Tue, Jan 25, 2022 at 3:26 AM Dennis Hubbard via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Hi Doug:
>
> The article isn't clear on specifically where this "discovered" reef is, so
> I'm not arguing that this is hype. However, I distinctly remember
> organizing a group dive on a very similar reef about 10km east of the ICRS
> meeting venue when the meeting was in Tahiti... and in 30 meters of water..
> One of my greatest surprises was seeing a "shallow-water branching-coral
> reef" at those depths. However, on reaching the bottom we were swept back
> and forth about 30m at a time by the huge (and, more important, long-period
> ground swell. I remember it vividly because my dive buddy was Paul Enos,
> one of the early pioneers of understanding paleo-reef systems from a
> geologic perspective. I remember Paul's wife asking me on the dock to "look
> out for him" and thinking, "are you kidding"?
>
> If anyone does know where this reef sits on the south shore, please let me
> know. This was like seeing "an old friend".
>
> Denny
> Giant pristine coral reef discovered off Tahiti
>
> On Sat, Jan 22, 2022 at 8:36 AM Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
> > Very high coral cover, reef goes from 100 feet down to 230 feet, reef is
> 2
> > miles long.
> >
> > https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60047368
> >
> > Video of the reef:
> >
> >
> https://www.wsj.com/video/watch-scientists-study-rare-coral-reef-discovered-near-tahiti/0FFF8DE0-48DD-474B-AB1B-9068B2D0BE45.html?mod=djem10point
> >
> > 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
> >
> > Over 1 million sq km more land cleared for crops
> >
> >
> https://www.science.org/content/article/cropland-has-gobbled-over-1-million-square-kilometers-earth-s-surface
> >
> > Peat bogs hold TWICE as much carbon as the world's forests!!!
> >
> >
> https://www.yahoo.com/news/environmentalists-fight-protect-peat-bogs-233902101.html
> >
> > Slashing emissions by 2050 isn't enough.  We can bring temperatures down
> > now.
> >
> >
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/climate-deadlines-super-pollutants-hfcs-methane/2021/04/15/acb8c612-9d7d-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_story.html
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>
> --
> Dennis Hubbard - Emeritus Professor: Dept of Geology-Oberlin College
> Oberlin OH 44074
> (440) 935-4014
>
> * "When you get on the wrong train.... every stop is the wrong stop"*
>  Benjamin Stein: "*Ludes, A Ballad of the Drug and the Dream*"
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-- 
William F. Precht

 “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice
you have”

Bob Marley


"Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't
have the strength."

Theodore Roosevelt


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