[Coral-List] Coral reefs under threat

[Austin Bowden-Kerby]

Sorry-re-sent, as I keep forgetting to remove the C4C logo, which gets an
automated rejection from the list!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yes, of course Bill,  do no harm!

Yes, do what you can to lower the stress, but if using containers, don't
assume that this is safe- change the water often.  Do not let the mucus and
stress generated chemicals build up, as they will.  And once a coral goes
into toxic shutdown, it seems to spread to the others in the tank- this is
never a problem with deck transport.

Exposure to air is part of the evolutionary heritage of shallow water
corals,which have evolved the ability to survive exposure during spring
tides, even when not sprayed.  Being shoved into a container with unrelated
genotypes and species is not natural, it adds to the stress from what I
have experienced.

But this is a mute point for many of us, as we simply do not have access to
tanks or containers big enough to hold the amount of corals we need
to transport.

People often have a hard time believing that there is no mortality and
stress might be lower for at least some species with deck transport,
assuming that the corals are frequently and copiously sprayed.  We do this
routinely on a weekly basis as we now plant corals onto A-frame structures
with children as part of our present strategies, and then we move the
planted frames out 2-3 km in the boat afterwards, so they are exposed to
the air for 30 minutes or so, sprayed, and with no mortality, with
thousands of branches moved in this way.  However, when moving corals in
tubs, I have had corals stress and corals die (plus back problems
afterwards from lifting water), but this has never happened with air
exposed corals, as the corals do not suffer low oxygenation- the only
danger is drying up which is easily solved by spraying. Of course the deck
surface must be clean and no gasoline or oil present.  You can place them
on a tarp and use that also to shield them from direct sunlight and
wind, but not at the expense of spraying them.  Cloudy days are best, but
rainy days are not good.

In the Solomon islands, we moved entire canoe-loads filled with staghorn
corals, all heaped up, and splashed for over an hour, with no mortality to
the corals. One day someone will set up an experiment and do this for hours
and then perhaps continue for days, to prove that this does not result in
any mortality at all.

When I started doing coral work in the Caribbean in 1993 at UPR, many were
horrified and opposed, how dare I break corals?!!!  How dare I play God?!!
But now many routinely use the methods that I pioneered.  But in this
crisis, the most important thing is to act swiftly, and to use whatever
resources you can find.  So if you are waiting to buy some expensive tanks-
if they are on order and have not arrived, don't wait!  Act now!  The
corals need your help!   Mother nature can intervene as well- She can send
us dark cloudy days, and She can send us a giant fan to cool off the
waters- so if a hurricane pops up, it could be a real blessing that could
help save many corals, especially if it is a near miss storm.

This is a defining moment for coral reefs, and the corals need our help.
We can no longer afford to just sit back and watch on in horror as they
die.  Translocation to cooler reefs has been an option all along for those
reef areas with a strong thermal gradient, but few took this seriously,
thinking that we had much more time.  Even now, everything that we do with
corals assumes that humanity and governments will one day get climate
change under control, so that these lethal temperatures will one day no
longer be the overriding threat.

Regards to all,

Austin


Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
Corals for Conservation
P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands

https://www.corals4conservation.org
Publication on C4C's coral-focused climate change adaptation strategies:
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-1924/4/1/2/pdf
Film on our "Reefs of Hope" coral restoration for climate change adaptation
strategies:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG0lqKciXAA
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
<https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/>



On Sat, Aug 5, 2023 at 12:36 PM Austin Bowden-Kerby <abowdenkerby at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Sat, Aug 5, 2023 at 11:32 AM William Precht <william.precht at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> “If put into tanks of water for the same long period, oxygenation can
>> become a problem, and the stress seems to be greater to the corals than
>> when on the deck and sprayed.”
>>
>> If you can take the time and energy to spray the corals with seawater -
>> it doesn’t take much extra energy to do something similar with seven gallon
>> paint buckets - fill them with seawater and pour it into the holding
>> tanks/bins at five to ten minute intervals while transporting the corals on
>> the deck of a boat (or similar). Totally eliminates those concerns.
>>
>> Remember, what we are talking about here is also moving corals that are
>> under a tremendous amount of thermal stress already. They are already
>> compromised so whatever we do - like with CPR and first aid is “do no
>> harm”.
>>
>> “No one is promoting a free-for-all by untrained people. But the
>> alternative of just watching them bleach as conditions worsen, which is a
>> lot more risky for the corals than moving them to safety.”
>>
>> The urgency of the moment doesn’t give us license to abandon best
>> management practices.
>>
>> Let’s all keep fighting the good fight.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 4, 2023 at 6:57 PM Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List <
>> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks for your concern Nohora,
>>>
>>> Hopefully the people working with corals have many years of experience.
>>> They will understand about heat, light and UV levels.  No one is
>>> promoting
>>> a free-for-all by untrained people.
>>> But the alternative of just watching them bleach as conditions worsen,
>>> which is a lot more risky for the corals than moving them to safety.
>>>
>>> When we need to move corals out of the water, we always use spray bottles
>>> filled with sea water, and constantly spray them and shade them.  If
>>> sprayed and shaded, and if possible kept out of the wind, corals do
>>> amazingly well for several hours on deck, with no mortality at all.  If
>>> put
>>> into tanks of water for the same long period, oxygenation can become a
>>> problem, and the stress seems to be greater to the corals than when on
>>> the
>>> deck and sprayed.
>>>
>>> If moved from hot areas into cooler areas of the wider reef system, the
>>> corals once established in their new home, also need to maintain their
>>> original upright position, otherwise they will suffer from UV
>>> sunburn-like
>>> secondary bleaching on formerly shaded surfaces.  So if the corals are
>>> fragments, they must always go under shade, even if in cooler waters. We
>>> have used 50% shade cloth over iron bar table nurseries supporting rope
>>> culture in the summer months with 100% effectiveness.
>>>
>>> For those who do not have the option of moving samples of everything into
>>> cooler waters or into on-shore facilities, try shading your nurseries, as
>>> the photosynthetic process needs to be suppressed- and that is what the
>>> shading does.  Remember that the light reaction continues in hot waters,
>>> but the dark reaction is broken, so the reaction continues to split water
>>> molecules into H+ and OH- radicals, and because these ions are not fed
>>> into
>>> the dark reaction to produce sugar, they combine with water to form H2O2
>>> =
>>> hydrogen peroxide.  This burns the coral tissues and so the corals
>>> expel their algae in self defense.
>>>
>>> The present global mean ocean temperature spike has been running over 21C
>>> since July 18th, and it is not El Nino.  It has been traced to the
>>> delayed
>>> impacts of the Tonga eruption, and likely combining with several
>>> other factors, and the alarming thing is that it is predicted to last for
>>> five years, and it may not have reached its maximum yet.
>>>
>>>
>>> https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GL099381?campaign=woletoc
>>>
>>> https://www.livescience.com/tonga-eruption-water-vapor
>>>
>>> Jason Box, an Arctic climatologist, just explained the global thermal
>>> spike
>>> in this presentation, but due to the disconnect between scientific
>>> fields,
>>> he missed the Tonga data: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYdvn2pGyOw
>>> But it he mentions other combining factors, but whatever the cause, if
>>> the
>>> off scale thermal spike holds, there is a chance that this will become
>>> the
>>> new norm for our summers for several years, and so the summers of 2024
>>> and
>>> 2025 could potentially be repeats?  We may need to change our operational
>>> assumptions, to stop restoring and begin treating what we do as
>>> endangered
>>> species conservation, and assisting the reefs to survive this crisis, via
>>> facilitated climate change adaptation.
>>>
>>> The Tonga eruption was massive:  "146,000 metric tons of additional water
>>> vapor entered the stratosphere and mesosphere, reaching a maximum
>>> altitude
>>> of 33 miles (53 km), which is in the mesosphere, the layer of the
>>> atmosphere that extends from the top of the stratosphere to an altitude
>>> of
>>> 53 miles (85 km)."  This makes it the largest and highest injection of
>>> water into the stratosphere since satellites began taking measurements.
>>>
>>> "We estimate that the excess water vapor is equivalent to around 10% of
>>> the
>>> amount of water vapor typically residing in the stratosphere," which is
>>> the
>>> biggest increase in the records. The water vapor will remain in the
>>> stratosphere for an estimated 5 years.  This excess water warms the
>>> atmosphere, and persists much longer than the other volcanic gases, like
>>> sulfur dioxide which leaves the atmosphere within 2-3 years, so the
>>> water's
>>> warming effect only kicked in after the cooling effects of the other
>>> gases
>>> were gone.  The Tonga explosion is the first eruption on record to cause
>>> a
>>> warming effect, rather than a cooling effect, on the planet.
>>>
>>> The mean ocean temperature began deviating in March, and has gone more
>>> and
>>> more off scale since, with an increase of about 0.7C over a very short
>>> time
>>> period.  Follow the unfolding drama on a day to day basis here:
>>> https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/
>>>
>>> If the marine heat wave has not hit your area yet, for areas of the
>>> Caribbean with warm nearshore reefs and cooler offshore reefs, there is
>>> still time to move samples of genotypes from the nearshore reefs out to
>>> cooler outer reefs as a precautionary measure, to shade your nurseries,
>>> or
>>> if the option exists, to move samples into cooler onshore tanks.  But if
>>> you want to do this, you are racing time!
>>>
>>> If engaging in field translocation, you had better locate the corals
>>> where
>>> they are secure from the impacts of hurricanes, which although they can
>>> save us by cooling the waters, they can also destroy reefs and coral
>>> nurseries as well.  The best location for outer reef sites is behind
>>> reefs
>>> and 1-2 meters lower than the reef, so that breaking waves roll over the
>>> top, and located near passes and openings that let in cooler oceanic
>>> water.
>>> More water movement also seems to suppress coral bleaching - but shade
>>> cloth might get dragged off in such areas, so do account for that!
>>> Deeper
>>> nurseries might be more protected?  The link to my film below might help?
>>> Iron bar rope nurseries lend well to shading, but the tree type nurseries
>>> do not.
>>>
>>> But as Nohora has reminded us, corals are not stones, they must be
>>> handled
>>> with loving care!  Kept wet, cool and shaded during transport, and shaded
>>> in their new location, as it is high UV season, plus you don't know how
>>> hot
>>> it will get!
>>>
>>> Take care over there, so much depends on what we do now!  And for areas
>>> severely impacted, whatever survives now will become even more precious.
>>> So protect it from the coral predators of all types by any and all means!
>>> The predators will be absolutely starving for coral tissues!
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Austin
>>>
>>>
>>> Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
>>> Corals for Conservation
>>> P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
>>>
>>> https://www.corals4conservation.org
>>> Publication on C4C's coral-focused climate change adaptation strategies:
>>> https://www.mdpi.com/2673-1924/4/1/2/pdf
>>> Film on our "Reefs of Hope" coral restoration for climate change
>>> adaptation
>>> strategies:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG0lqKciXAA
>>>
>>> https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
>>> <
>>> https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Aug 5, 2023 at 9:04 AM International Coral Reef Observatory via
>>> Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Dear Colleagues,
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > In the urgency of rescuing coral colonies from Coral Bleaching areas,
>>> they
>>> > are being taken out of the sea to bring them without water ashore...
>>> > forgetting that they are marine animals!! Let's protect better
>>> > #LifeBelowWater Avoid lethal interventions that do not consider basic
>>> > science.
>>> >
>>> > https://twitter.com/ArrecifesCoral/status/1687552205816020992
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Cordially,
>>> > Nohora Galvis
>>> > ICRS World Reef Award Winner
>>> > ICRO Transdisciplinary Researcher
>>> > International Coral Reef Observatory
>>> > Follow us on Facebook.com/ICRObservatory
>>> > on Twitter / Instagram / YouTube  ICR_Observatory
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > El jue, 27 jul 2023 a las 14:27, International Coral Reef Observatory
>>> (<
>>> > icrobservatory at gmail.com>) escribió:
>>> >
>>> > > Dear Colleagues,
>>> > >
>>> > > When we identify causes of degradation, we include climate change as
>>> > > global anthropogenic pollution and local impacts both caused by
>>> > > unsustainable development.  Therefore both are caused by intensive
>>> human
>>> > > activities that should be managed appropriately. That is why we
>>> support
>>> > > campaigns of global behavior change at the United Nations
>>> implementing
>>> > SDG
>>> > > 14 and SDG13. Coral reef scientists and in general Coral Listers
>>> should
>>> > > lead by example to avoid further greenhouse gases emissions and
>>> > destructive
>>> > > development, effective solutions need to find alternatives to stop
>>> global
>>> > > and local coral reef threats.
>>> > >
>>> > > The recent 100% mortality events in the Florida Keys are a result of
>>> > > cumulative stress from multiple factors. That is why we support
>>> > addressing
>>> > > the causes of degradation, INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ONLY in palliative
>>> care or
>>> > > scaling up breaking coral colonies.
>>> > >
>>> > > Taking into account, Sutherland et al. (2023) while high temperature
>>> has
>>> > > been identified as an important cause of coral mortality in both
>>> > bleaching
>>> > > and disease scenarios, a predictive model for White Pox Disease (WPX)
>>> > risk
>>> > > in Acropora palmata (using 20 yr of disease surveys from the Florida
>>> Keys
>>> > > plus environmental information collected simultaneously in situ and
>>> via
>>> > > satellite) indicates that the relative influence of HotSpot (positive
>>> > > summertime temperature anomaly) was low and actually inversely
>>> related to
>>> > > WPX Risk. https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03727
>>> > > Nohora Galvis
>>> > > ICRS World Reef Award Winner
>>> > > ICRO Transdisciplinary Researcher
>>> > > International Coral Reef Observatory
>>> > > Follow us on Facebook.com/ICRObservatory
>>> > > on Twitter / Instagram / YouTube  ICR_Observatory
>>> > >
>>> > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------
>>> > > De: International Coral Reef Observatory <icrobservatory at gmail.com>
>>> > > Date: mar, 25 jul 2023 a las 17:12
>>> > > Subject: Coral reefs under threat
>>> > > To: Austin Bowden-Kerby <abowdenkerby at gmail.com>, <
>>> > helder.perez at gmail.com>,
>>> > > Sebastian Szereday <seb.szereday at gmail.com>, <nicrane at cabrillo.edu>,
>>> <
>>> > > jlang at riposi.net>, Alina Szmant <alina at cisme-instruments.com>, <
>>> > > sealab at earthlink.net>, Mark Tupper <mark.tupper at port.ac.uk>, coral
>>> list
>>> > <
>>> > > coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > In agreement with Judith, Alina and Nicole, there is an alert for
>>> > > interventions on coral reefs that promise to save them but it may
>>> > > actually may worsen the coral reef integrity.
>>> > >
>>> > > Reading carefully the paper: The Influence of Foureye Butterflyfish
>>> > > (Chaetodon capistratus) and Symbiodiniaceae on the Transmission of
>>> > > Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, Titus et al. (2022) have some
>>> > > suggestive evidence that butterflyfish do not directly increase
>>> > > infection rates, but instead might be increasing infection recovery
>>> > >
>>> https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.800423/full
>>> > >
>>> > > Increased coral mucus is a proof of stressed coral colonies.
>>> > > Considering Austin´s  message, if something has to be removed
>>> > > drastically from affected coral reefs is not the mucus eaters but the
>>> > > scaling up of coral fragmentation megaprojects that stress coral
>>> > > colonies and support unsustainable development (massive tourism,
>>> > > increased population in coral reef areas, enlargement of ports,
>>> > > channels, airports, prisons, etc).
>>> > >
>>> > > Taking into account that past local authorities in some case studies
>>> > > have stopped plans such as a prison in the Swan Island and an
>>> > > international airport on Tioman Island in Malaysia. The International
>>> > > Coral Reef Initiative, the International Coral Reef Society, the
>>> > > Society for Conservation Biology and UN SDG 14 envoys amongs many
>>> > > other organziations should play a more active role addressing the
>>> > > current decision makers of each country with respect and diplomatic
>>> > > SCIENTIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS according to their mission to avoid
>>> further
>>> > > catastrophes. Calling to actions to protect effectively life below
>>> > > water in coral reef areas of the world that will benefit all human
>>> > > beings.
>>> > >
>>> > > We as an International Coral Reef Observatory, are ready to support
>>> > > with letters if requested, to the top decision makers and shared the
>>> > > case studies where coral reefs are under threat, as well tagging in
>>> > > our social media the organizations encharged of the effective
>>> > > protection of coral reefs to promote global friendly environmental
>>> > > behavior and positive change to improve the conservation of coral
>>> > > reefs of the world.
>>> > >
>>> > > PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN TRYING TO CURE (or trying to restore
>>> > > afterwards) !! It is time to find alternatives to those developers
>>> who
>>> > > have coral reefs in the military target destroying ecosystems. The
>>> > > Blue Economy should not be based on paying A LOT to the justifiers of
>>> > > degradation, because the environmental cost will be higher sooner or
>>> > > later.
>>> > >
>>> > > Nohora Galvis
>>> > > ICRS World Reef Award Winner
>>> > > ICRO Transdisciplinary Researcher
>>> > > International Coral Reef Observatory
>>> > > Follow us on Facebook.com/ICRObservatory
>>> > > on Twitter / Instagram / YouTube  ICR_Observatory
>>> > >
>>> > > El mar, 25 jul 2023 a las 15:07, Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List
>>> > > (<coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>) escribió:
>>> > > >
>>> > > > Hi Alina,
>>> > > >
>>> > > > It's okay to be negative, as that is what scientists do- LOL!  I
>>> > > > understand completely. Less is best is what we all believe in.  So
>>> > > > your response is the sort of knee-jerk response I have come to
>>> expect.
>>> > > > I have been accused of "playing GOD" with coralliophila snail
>>> removal
>>> > > > in the Caribbean and Acanthaster removal in the Pacific in earlier
>>> > > > days as well.  Plus butterflyfish are beautiful, and they look so
>>> > > > gentle and innocent, and so I can understand that people's hearts
>>> > > > would tend to dominate their heads on this one.
>>> > > >
>>> > > > However, the corals have taken millions of years to evolve and
>>> their
>>> > > > future is on the line!  So if butterfly fish have even a slight
>>> chance
>>> > > > of being a primary means for transfer of SCTLD, the precautionary
>>> > > > principle in favor of the endangered species would remove them. If
>>> we
>>> > > > wait for all the facts to be published in peer reviewed journals,
>>> it
>>> > > > could be too late.  There are so few of the corals left, that
>>> removal
>>> > > > would translate to killing only a few hundred of the fish
>>> regionally.
>>> > > > The danger we face is not just to the Caribbean: coral reefs of
>>> > > > perhaps the entire planet are potentially at risk, due to the
>>> > > > ineffectiveness of ballast water protocols, so certainly any risk
>>> to a
>>> > > > few coral predators is insignificant to the overall protection of
>>> the
>>> > > > corals of the planet.
>>> > > >
>>> > > > In addition to the published Noonan and Childress study,
>>> establishing
>>> > > > the 4-eyes as potentially problematic, in 2004 in Honduras and
>>> Belize,
>>> > > > we found that the 4-eyes were the primary vector in the rapid
>>> tissue
>>> > > > loss disease in Acropora.   It appeared that they were
>>> intentionally
>>> > > > spreading the disease, so the tissues would lift off or something!
>>> > > > They would bite an infected area and then a non-diseased
>>> neighboring
>>> > > > branch and alternate.  However, a later paper by Noonan et al.
>>> > > > suggests that the fish might remove diseased tissues and therefore
>>> > > > help in the healing as well.  However the fish do not confine their
>>> > > > feeding to the dead tissues, so while it could indeed help the
>>> lesions
>>> > > > by removing infected tissues, at the same time it bites non
>>> infected
>>> > > > tissues and colonies, and thus is a prime suspect as a major
>>> vector in
>>> > > > spreading the disease.
>>> > > >
>>> > > > With any emerging problem like this, we must grab what we can and
>>> run
>>> > > > with it. But the precautionary principle has resulted in a
>>> paralysis
>>> > > > of will, as it is being interpreted wrongly, that to do nothing is
>>> > > > better than to err on the side of over-reacting.  We wait for peer
>>> > > > reviewed publications, which take years to come out, and we tend to
>>> > > > discount observations and unpublished work.  I find the same
>>> > > > conservativeness when dealing with mass coral death due to
>>> bleaching-
>>> > > > and there is no emergency working group to address mass coral
>>> > > > bleaching either, no pile of funds to use for experimental
>>> > > > interventions during active events.  The failure of the system to
>>> > > > control this disease and to address mass bleaching threatens the
>>> coral
>>> > > > reefs of the entire planet, and this reflects poorly on the
>>> scientific
>>> > > > community.  Massive funding for urgent research and action was
>>> needed
>>> > > > five years ago, to include sampling of genotypes of the species
>>> > > > affected to secure them in land-based systems, predator/ vector
>>> > > > removal experiments, and the like.
>>> > > >
>>> > > > Back to the Titanic analogy: The ship is sinking, and our operating
>>> > > > system requires that all lifeboats be fully inspected and proven
>>> > > > seaworthy before we allow them to be launched and for people to
>>> board
>>> > > > them, normally a good policy.  But the ship is now sinking rapidly,
>>> > > > but we continue as normal, as the system requires that all
>>> lifeboats
>>> > > > must be adequately inspected before launching!  The passengers
>>> that we
>>> > > > are supposed to be saving are now drowning.... so it is time to
>>> break
>>> > > > the rules, even if some lifeboats have holes in them and start
>>> > > > sinking, we can repair them as we go!
>>> > > >
>>> > > > Regards
>>> > > >
>>> > > > Austin
>>> > > >
>>> > > > Noonan, K.R., Childress, M.J. Association of butterflyfishes and
>>> stony
>>> > > > coral tissue loss disease in the Florida Keys. Coral Reefs 39,
>>> > > > 1581–1590 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-01986-8
>>> > > >
>>> > > > The Influence of Foureye Butterflyfish (Chaetodon capistratus) and
>>> > > > Symbiodiniaceae on the Transmission of Stony Coral Tissue Loss
>>> Disease
>>> > > > Kara Titus, Lauren O’Connell, Kristiaan Matthee, Michael Childress
>>> > > > Front. Mar. Sci., 21 March 2022.  Sec. Coral Reef Research Volume
>>> 9 -
>>> > > > 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.800423
>>> > > >
>>> > > >
>>> > > >
>>> > > > Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
>>> > > > Corals for Conservation
>>> > > > P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Coral-List mailing list
>>> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>> > https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Coral-List mailing list
>>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>
>>