[Coral-List] Fwd: Coral-List Digest, Vol 161, Issue 13

Tue Jan 25 18:25:33 UTC 2022

 All,

I am by no means an expert, just a botanist with an ear to the ground in
coral research, but there may be a reason the article didn't mention the
Tahitian reef's location: to reduce impact on its pristine nature. I'm sure
if you contacted the article authors and stated your research interest,
they might be willing to confirm the location. But for everyone else, they
might not - Tahiti probably has a vested interest in keeping its location a
secret, sequestered away from the prying eyes (and hands and flippers) of
those who might not have such academically- or conservationally-inclined
reasons to visit. If the mysterious reef is any of the locations you
mentioned with powerful bottom current, it might also be a safety issue!

Really, it just reminded me of how the locations of some of the oldest
trees in the world are closely guarded secrets. Food for thought!

Best,
HRH

---------- Forwarded message ---------
Message: 4
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2022 10:08:14 -0500
From: William Precht <william.precht at gmail.com>
To: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Cc: "Edmunds, Peter J" <peter.edmunds at csun.edu>, Sal Genovese
        <sal.genovese at gmail.com>, James Leichter <jleichter at ucsd.edu>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] new mesophotic reef discovered in Tahiti
Message-ID:
        <CAGVTjtEL=E1Pr3QzEKyF09D5fc7R3qi50eNeYbPvoZMW0tAg5w at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

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
> > _______________________________________________
> > Coral-List mailing list
> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >
>
>
> --
> 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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> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
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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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