[Coral-List] Florida bleaching threatens coral; trying to save corals in nurseries
Austin Bowden-Kerby
abowdenkerby at gmail.com
Sun Aug 20 11:16:54 UTC 2023
Dear Nohora and everyone,
Referring to me as a "coral restoration promoter" and referring to coral
restoration and coral rescue efforts as "coral breaking projects" belittles
and degrades the efforts of an entire field of science which is finally
recognized at high levels as being a vital component of saving coral reefs
in the present climate crisis. I helped launch the field of coral reef
restoration over 30 years ago when I moved to Puerto Rico from my
preliminary work in the South Pacific in 1993, to become the first to focus
on endangered Caribbean Acropora coral restoration. My work has always
been based on the fact that these branching corals incorporate
fragmentation as a key life history trait, with some species relying more
on asexual fragmentation for reproduction than on sexual processes.
What you quote of my letter is not being said by many- it is a minority
voice at this point. Since 2016, I have been trying to convince other
restoration practitioners to stop using the numbers of coral fragments
planted as their primary measure of success, but rather to focus on
bleaching resistance and the number of coral species and genotypes secured
from demise, within areas of reef with good prospects for survival into the
future. In my view, each coral species should be viewed as an endangered
species over the long term, and our goal being to do everything we can to
keep each species alive and genetically diverse and in reproductive
condition. Few have incorporated this into their work and so now we see
the result.
The present catastrophe has many lessons appropriate not just for the
Caribbean or Florida, but for coral reefs all over the planet. My hope is
that those with more resources, such as in Australia, will get busy right
now- during the cool season, before it is too late, as the global marine
heat wave is not only persisting, but it looks to be worsening. Everyone
on this list should be following this unfolding development, as it could
impact all that we do. The magnitude and suddenness of the shocking global
thermal anomaly is so badly off-scale that it is clear that this is no mere
El Nino, and we are over a tipping point of some sort.
https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/
Clean waters and ecologically balanced no-take reserves will not save coral
reefs on their own. While they offer a good foundation and are required as
part of any solution, coral-focused adaptation is also required.
Translocation must be systematically implemented as an adaptation measure
for those coral reefs with a strong thermal gradient. Kiritimati Atoll
taught me that lesson in 2015-16. It changed my entire mindset when I saw
over a dozen Acropora coral species go locally extinct from bleaching on
otherwise pristine reefs due to mass bleaching. The corals of the cool
ocean side were adapted to about 30C max, while the same species of corals
of the warm lagoons were adapted to over 34C, but both populations
perished. Translocation of coral samples from the hot lagoon to the cooler
outer reef clearly would have saved these species, but that realization
came too late. This is the link to my narrated presentation on the mass
coral die-offs and horrific devastation that I witnessed, and how it
impacted my work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arkeSGXfKMk Now
others are facing this situation. It is abundantly clear to me that we can
not allow corals to "shelter in place". Lahaina has shown us what happens
when we shelter in place during a firestorm.
Most well funded restoration projects are in US states and territories. As
far as the millions of dollars in funding for restoration- we have not
seen that over here in the developing world where most coral reefs are
found. Will the failure of restoration efforts due to mass bleaching now
impact our future prospects for funding? I certainly hope that the
restoration community of Australia is better prepared, as they could be
next, and if they are unprepared, that would heap even more negative
ramifications on the field. However, because the GBR has a wide shelf and
strong thermal gradients, they have a much easier solution via local
translocation. This is what we are doing here in Fiji, but the clock is
ticking.
Regards,
Austin
Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
Corals for Conservation
P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
https://www.corals4conservation.org <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 Sun, Aug 20, 2023 at 4:20 AM International Coral Reef Observatory <
icrobservatory at gmail.com> wrote:
> Interesting to read that coral restoration promoters are now acknowledging
> that " We can not fool ourselves
> that planting a million corals will solve these problems". Millions of
> dollars invested on that strategy failed and still the governments budgets
> are guided by the beneficiaries of those projects into that direction of
> procrastinating the real solutions to prevent further damage to the
> remaining healthy and resilient coral reefs or coral colonies. Choosing to
> continue with ONLY coral breaking projects will have a higher environmental
> cost.
>
> We understand the efforts from the academia and young researchers to run
> further experiments to select the more fitted coral for evolution.
> According to Siqueira et al 2022, recent widespread human-mediated
> reductions in staghorn coral cover, may be disrupting the key
> macroevolutionary processes that established modern coral reef ecosystems
> https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30234-6#MOESM1
> However, speaking of experiments and models, did untouched coral reefs
> (without intervention of breaking coral colonies in the last 20 years), if
> any in the Florida Keys, fare any better during hot peaks? or there were
> no control sites in the Florida Keys?. We have two case studies where there
> was coral bleaching in Panama close to the Colombian Hope Spot Capurgana
> Coral Reef where there were no reports of coral bleaching within the
> potential sanctuary. The difference is that there was no massive scaled up
> restoration (Breaking coral colonies) program in the last one.
>
> As the mission and the vision of the marine protected areas (Sanctuaries,
> etc), local stressors should be controlled within the protected coral reefs
> areas to be effectively protecting the marine ecosystems. Considering the
> strategy of translocation of corals, Can the new concept of protection be
> applied in vitro (aquariums) ? or this time the NOAA Fisheries implementing
> the section 4 of The Endangered Species Act of 1973 will provide a
> framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and
> their habitats IN SITU? Is necessary the effective protection in the designated
> critical habitats for five threatened Caribbean coral species, Orbicella
> annularis, O. faveolata, O. franksi, Dendrogyra cylindrus, and Mycetophyllia
> ferox
>
> Nohora Galvis
> ICRS World Reef Award Winner
> ICRO Transdisciplinary Researcher
>
>
> *International Coral Reef ObservatoryFollow us on
> Facebook.com/ICRObservatoryon Twitter / Instagram / YouTube
> ICR_Observatory*
>
> El vie, 18 ago 2023 a las 10:07, Risk, Michael via Coral-List (<
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>) escribió:
>
>> Hi Phil.
>>
>> Maybe it's just the old guys that really see the damage? But all the
>> data remain out there...yes, it has been amusingly depressing to see
>> all the folks running around with their hair on fire, trying to "save"
>> reefs that went from >60% cover to 2%, 1960-2000.
>>
>> I recall writing a summary report for one of your agencies (NOAA?) in
>> 2000, on the monitoring programs in the Keys. My first salt-water dive
>> was at Dry Rocks in 1961, and I was horrified by the results that were
>> presented in 2000. (The best of which, it must be said, being from the
>> FMRI program in which you were involved.)
>>
>> In my report, I characterized the situation as a "regional mass
>> extinction." That comment was removed by the editors.
>>
>> When money and science fight, science usually loses-but often that's
>> because we don't make enough noise. Or because some of us were bought
>> or rented.
>>
>> Mike
>> __________________________________________________________________
>>
>> From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf of
>> Phillip Dustan via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>> Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2023 8:19 AM
>> To: Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
>> Cc: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Florida bleaching threatens coral; trying to
>> save corals in nurseries
>>
>> Caution: External email.
>> Dear Listers,
>> The Florida Keys are pretty much gone having lost over 95% of their
>> coral
>> cover BEFORE 2000.
>> The fuse was lit before Global Warming reared its head when the
>> enlarged
>> water pipeline and new bridges were built in the 1980's, maybe even
>> before
>> that when the Army Corps "ditched" South Florida and Diadema died. The
>> Sanctuaries Program was a good idea but it was never really
>> implemented,
>> nor meant to protect the reefs. It supported the economic growth of
>> tourism. The massive influx of tourists DOUBLED the flush rate in Key
>> West
>> during the "mini" lobster harvest in August. Nutrients and fecal matter
>> flowed into the sea. Overdevelopment generated massive amounts of water
>> and
>> aerial-bourne fine sediments and the slaughter of fish and crustaceans
>> only
>> increased as the Tourist Board kept screaming "Come on Down".
>> We know this, we watched it happen. we measured it from space to
>> underwater.......It was a triumph of economic interests over biological
>> principles. Now, there is great concern over saving the very last bits
>> and
>> pieces when we should have been concerned with saving the ecosystem.
>> Saldy,
>> SCLD and hot water are now simply mopping up what's left. There were
>> Iconic Reefs in the Keys but no longer. But these funding efforts begin
>> to
>> support a "scientific" economy. Humpty Dunpty can't simply be put back
>> together again without restoring the environmental conditions that
>> supported the original development: clean water, intense sunlight, high
>> rates of herbivory, complex food webs........ The idea that we can
>> restore
>> the Keys is hubris with a heavy dash of politics, a "Let them eat cake"
>> approach..
>> Sadly, the plague of humanity has spread into the far reaches of the
>> Caribbean and the region is looking more and more like the Florida
>> Keys.
>> Perhaps we should begin to realize that there are no safe refugia for
>> coral
>> reefs in the Caribbean and efforts should begin to save the region, not
>> simply the Keys.
>> Phil
>> On Wed, Aug 16, 2023 at 8:04AM Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <
>> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> [1]
>> https://www.yahoo.com/news/floridas-coral-reef-danger-scientists-090
>> 340658.html
>> >
>> > 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
>> >
>> > One recent study estimates over 61,000 people died from heat during
>> > Europe's record-breaking summer last year.
>> >
>> >
>> [2]https://www.yahoo.com/news/record-breaking-heat-bakes-us-014459083
>> >
>> > 1 million Florida buildings will be overrun by sea-level rise, new
>> study
>> > shows, at a cost of $261-624 BILLION
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> [3]https://www.yahoo.com/news/1-million-florida-buildings-overrun-091
>> 3340.html
>> >
>> > Scientists size up human predatory footprint
>> > Humans are the ultimate predators, trapping, hunting, or otherwise
>> > exploiting 15,000 species of vertebrates--300 times more species than
>> > jaguars and 113 times more than great white sharks.
>> >
>> >
>> [4]https://www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-muscular-dyst
>> hy-therapy-lab-grown-chicken-and-humans-toll-wildlife
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Coral-List mailing list
>> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> > [5]https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>> --
>> Phillip Dustan PhD
>> Charleston SC 29424
>> 843-953-8086 office
>> 843-224-3321 (mobile)
>> "When we try to pick out anything by itself
>> we find that it is bound fast by a thousand invisible cords
>> that cannot be broken, to everything in the universe. "
>> * John Muir 1869*
>> *A Swim Through TIme on Carysfort Reef*
>>
>> Coral-List mailing list
>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> [11]https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>> _______________________________________________
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>
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