Alarming report of Carribean coral dying

[Torontonian]

Report from the CNN:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A one-two punch of bleaching from record hot water followed by disease has killed ancient and delicate coral in the biggest loss of reefs scientists have ever seen in Caribbean waters

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/03/31/coral.death.ap/index.html

 

[H2Andy]

just very sad

i am afraid it will only get worse

 

[archman]

It's such a simple fix, really. All we have to do is tow icebergs into the caribbean.

 

[Doc]

Report from the CNN:]

Scratch the Caribbean off of the list.

Damned republicans. Their fault. SUV's and all.

" The Caribbean is actually better off than areas of the Indian and Pacific ocean where mortality rates -- mostly from warming waters -- have been in the 90 percent range in past years, said Tom Goreau of the Global Coral Reef Alliance. Goreau called what's happening worldwide "an underwater holocaust."

OK, then Indo/Pacific, too.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

It's horrible.

 

[starlan]

Very depressing article. The reefs of T&C were in good condition mostly when I was there a few weeks ago, although I do see some bleaching in some photos. Kind of depressing to read about the loss of life in the USVI, im going to St John in May and wil dive a couple days and see for myself. This has been going on for decades, some state its not even global warming so much that causes the warm water but a natural trend that occurs every many decades. No one really knows for sure, except that our mother earth seems to have reached how much she can handle our existence. Were gonna wipe everything out eventually it seems. Apparantly 80% of the reef in the Caribbean had died by the 1980's, and this is the destruction of the remainder. There are many articles online on reef, coral and marine conditions worlwide, and they all suggest that the reefs are just continously dying.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Man... I feel like I've been slugged in the stomach.

 

[Torontonian]

It's such a simple fix, really. All we have to do is tow icebergs into the caribbean.

At the rate we are going, there won't be too many icebergs left to tow.

The U.S. has 5% of the population, but consumes >25% of the energy/resources on earth. (Ok, Canadians are only a little better) It's fine to tell 3rd world countries they should not use fridges or A/Cs with CFC, or that they should not use nuclear power, but at the same time we are doing (or have just done) what we are telling others not to do.

My children are learning how important it is to preserve the environment, yet we adults are not providing good examples.

I guess I better go on diving/snorkeling trips soon and often in order to see what's left.

 

[scubaaaronh]

That is a depressing article. I hope the reefs around bonaire will look ok next feb for out trip.

 

[Tollie]

This winter actually in December I believe I had a two week hiatus from our usual tour destination which is Desecheo Island about 12 miles off the west coast of Puerto Rico. When I returned it was as if I was looking at the snow covered Alps. Unbelievable… literally overnight the coral heads had bleached to a white.

When I checked my log this year vs. last I was astounded to see that I was recording temperatures about 3 degrees higher than the previous year… say 79 last year and 82 or 83 this year.

The bleaching event lasted about 6 weeks and then things have returned to normal… or apparently normal to my eyes.

It was very dramatic. Some of the older hands here had seen this before but it was a shocker to me.

I’d like to be flip and say that well wreck diving is really cool or some such thing. The truth is that it horrified me. I can only hope that it is part of some long cycle natural process.