[Coral-List] Coral reefs under threat

Sun Aug 6 01:13:28 UTC 2023

Bruce,  I sent a box of Caribbean corals to Seattle many years ago, mostly
Acroporas, dry-packed in some "easter grass", the cellophane-like green
stuff of our childhood.  They all survived a 15-hour journey!  This stuff
would make a good MS thesis if someone is looking for one!

Austin

On Sun, Aug 6, 2023 at 1:02 PM Bruce Carlson <exallias2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> To amplify on Lonnie’s email:  many decades ago, Ed Bronikowski
> accidentally discovered that corals survived better with no water than
> those shipped in water.  In one shipment, some of the bags broke and the
> corals were damp but not submerged.  They all survived whereas others still
> in bags of water had died.  We tried this in the 1980’s shipping a variety
> of corals from Palau to the Waikiki Aquarium in Hawaii and it was very
> successful with high survival rates.  The corals had to be protected from
> rolling around (we used strips of plastic, not newspaper), and they had to
> be damp - they couldn’t dry out.  The reduction in weight was a big help
> with air cargo costs.  But without the water, the corals could be more
> susceptible to cold temperatures in the cargo hold of the planes.  Most
> coral shippers still ship coral fragments submerged in bags of water, but
> the “ "dry-method” can work.
>
> Not sure if this would work for Caribbean corals, but this story is an
> interesting counter-point to some of the messages that have been posted.
>
> Bruce
>
> > On Aug 5, 2023, at 8:05 PM, Longin Kaczmarsky via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >
> > Back in the day, when there was a much larger aquarium trade in live
> corals, the technique used to ship corals was with no water. Just wrapped
> in wet newspaper. Shipping times are typically 8 or more hours. And they
> survived just fine.
> > Lonnie Kaczmarsky, PhD Coral Biologist
> >
> > Sent from my iPad
> >
> >> On Aug 4, 2023, at 7:11 PM, Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >>
> >> Note: This message originated from outside the FIU Faculty/Staff email
> system.
> >>
> >>
> >> Doug, good points.
> >>
> >> The corals in the shallows of Fiji get exposed for an hour or two during
> >> extreme low tides every year, and they mostly survive, although if a
> hard
> >> rain falls during that time, it can result in high mortality.  Corals in
> >> areas with wave action get re-wetted repeatedly and so they do not
> suffer
> >> as long as the waves and swells occur, but corals in the calm areas do
> get
> >> more stressed, and often will bleach slightly in the exposed areas, or
> the
> >> exposed parts will sometimes die. Not all species react the same. The
> >> Diploastrea massive corals, for example, are much more sensitive.  Next
> >> time you go out in the water, notice that the Diploastrea corals of the
> >> subtidal boundary form flat-topped "microatolls" at a lower level than
> the
> >> Porites colonies, about 20-30cm lower, and sometimes with flat-topped
> >> Porites sitting on top of them.  I assume that these Diploastrea
> colonies
> >> show us the extreme low water mark for the spring tides, as they die
> when
> >> exposed, while the Porites colonies show us the mean low tide level,
> >> growing up as high as possible, and being able to easily survive the
> spring
> >> tides while exposed.
> >>
> >> 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 10:31 AM Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <
> >>> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Thank you for informing us of this!!  Yes, corals can't be out of
> water for
> >>> very long before they are in very deep trouble.  My guess is that they
> are
> >>> dead before 2 hrs out in the air, maybe 1 hr, they may well suffer
> damage
> >>> well before that.  I don't know of any studies of the effects of
> exposure
> >>> to air on corals that report how long they can stand being in air or
> what
> >>> the sublethal damage to them is for shorter periods out in the air.
> But
> >>> they are very sensitive to exposure to air.  Does anybody know any
> >>> literature on this??
> >>>
> >>> On Fri, Aug 4, 2023 at 10:08 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
> >>> _______________________________________________
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