[Coral-List] Florida bleaching threatens coral; trying to save corals in nurseries
International Coral Reef Observatory
icrobservatory at gmail.com
Sat Aug 19 16:20:39 UTC 2023
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
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