Coral Reef Health

[jbd]

thanks for a very interesting post. I guess the question would be if the coral was killed off the first time will the transplanted coral be killed off over time. Could it be that by reducing the stressors, that Genesis so aptly mentions, transplanted corals could survive and repopulate now barren areas?

Genesis,

I think your last post is an accurate assessment of the situation. Speaking purely hypothetically and with you playing the part of the general public and I playing the part of some organization seeking funds to reduce the stressors and repopulate the the coral reefs--what would it take on my part to convince you to donate hard earned money to help fund the project?

Others may take up the part that I have asked Genesis to play in this discussion.

 

[Genesis]

1. Show me how you can accomplish the reduction you claim you can accomplish.

2. Pledge, in a legally-enforcable way, that my funds will not be used in a fashion to penalize those beyond the 75th percentile of the problem. That is, you must convince me that you're going to address the 75% part of the problem and not the "minor stressors" (this is going to be hard, since the cheap shots are all the minor stressors; the good shots are all difficult to accomplish.) This means that I want you on the hook for fraud if you claim to be doing one thing while actually doing another (like going after divers or boaters when the huge majority of the problem simply doesn't lie there.)

3. Show that you are going to use hard science - peer-reviewed science - to identify the targets upon which the sanction(s) will be lobbied for and/or levied.

4. Put forth the means for me to verify that you are executing on-plan.

The problem is that not one environmental activist organization will do any of the above, say much less all four.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I have no idea what percentage of coral damage is due to divers, however, I see alot of divers and I must believe it is significant. I just spent another weekend diving and I saw more divers walking on the bottom than swimming. Things seem to get worse every week. I know that seems impossible but it sure seems that way. I have several videos of rec divers from several places around the world. All these videos show the same thing.

I'm sorry, but divers need to wake up. Instructors need to wake up.

Like in all other unsolved problems there seem to be a real lack of accountability.

I wish I could have taken video this weekend. Out of the 50 or so divers I saw this weekend NONE of them should be allowed to dive outside of a swimming pool. You may think they have the right to dive but do they have the right to destroy everything in their wake?

 

[jbd]

show stopper, Genesis. I feel the same way, especially #4.

The big stressors related to agricultural and urban run off would be virtually impossible to accomplish without the force of government regulations and the the corporate lobby that would fight this is extremely powerful and well funded. As for the damage done by Mother Nature; well thats part of the larger picture anyways so that doesn't bother me too much.

I do think that all divers have a responsibilty to develope enough skill to avoid any and all contact with the reefs.

I would like to see far less fertilizing of lawns than currently occurs. I would like to see more electric powered boats and more boats that rely on sail. I would like to see more organic farming practices. I would like to see less of the large CAFO's(confined animal feeding operations). I would like to see more hybrid powered cars.

Until the general public sees real benefit in any of this wish list it won't come to pass.

 

[Genesis]

and unfortunately, without addressing those big stressors, the other elements will make little or no ACTUAL difference.

Its like the entire manatee issue. We put up more restrictions on boats, but never identify WHAT KIND of boat hit the manatee that got killed. (Its trivial to do, since small boats have skegs, which produce different injuries than inboard vessels)

Why not?

Wel, the cynic in me says that the reason is that the analysis would show that most deaths from boats are caused by commercial vessels, and thus the "no wake" zones would be completely unsupportable if the facts were put on the table.

But its easy to go after recreational interests, even if you don't actually fix anything. In fact it serves you REAL well if you're not particularly interested in solving the problem but ARE interested in attacking recreational boating and landowner interests!

The only difference is that we DO know where the big stressors on the coral are coming from - its already been investigated....

 

[narkosis]

JBD,

It is highly possible that the transplanted corals would also be killed off over time, since in our case, the stressors (ships) cannot be removed. The last time I visited was 3 months after I did the transplant, and most fragments had almost doubled in size (volume). However, it has been over a year now, so it's anybody's guess as to the status.

Mike,

You're so right on the lackadaisical (SP?) attitude shown by so many divers. I've personally seen DMs taking photos of divers standing on massive table acropora colonies. When asked why he did that, he said it was good for business, and customers keep coming back. That's a rather poor excuse, I think, since the colony probably wouldn't be able to take such abuse for long.

Having said that, Borneo Divers in Sipadan have an unwritten rule amongst some of the more stringent DMs that ANY diver caught touching the reef, regardless of qualification would be barred from dives for the rest of the day. If repeated, he would be barred for the rest of the trip. Very strict, but necessary in some cases, I think.