Mass Die-off of Invertebrates at East Flower Garden Bank NMS

[diversteve]

Just saw this tonight - apparently divers on the Fling found it first:

NOAA scientists report mass die-off of invertebrates at East Flower Garden Bank in Gulf of Mexico

 

[NAM001]

what a shame FG is a wonderful place fo9r diving.

 

[drrich2]

Interesting news, especially since a range of different species were affected, albeit in 'patches.' Wonder if the recommendation to abstain from diving there is affecting dive boat trips & their passengers?

Richard.

 

[beaverdivers]

Wow! The white mat of death looks forbidding. What is it?

 

[tursiops]

Wow! The white mat of death looks forbidding. What is it?

That's what they are trying to figure out.

 

[diver 85]

Sorry to see this.........Keep us posted as to what they find out-------hoping for the best, FGB is a beautiful dive site.....

 

[NAM001]

After seeing this i thought: SB should have a hot watch section. The post office has the top ten wanted posters hung Scuba Board should have its own version. A section that is not for pro's and cops discussion but centralized information that effects us all directly or indirectly. We can go to the hot watch items forum and get the latest of the highest level issues of the recent times.
Things like this would certainly qualify as a hot topic to be watched. Perhaps a monitor can pick this up. I see from the news a river pollution issue in florida that i would think would qualify as a hot topic also.

 

[tursiops]

If you want to follow the scientific discussions on this, go to The Coral-List July 2016 Archive by thread and look for the threads on NEED ADVICE and Mortality Event. The first posting was July 28.

 

[CuzzA]

Wow! The white mat of death looks forbidding. What is it?

It looks very similar to what I've seen in marine reef tanks when a coral begins to die. A white mat of fungus and bacteria eat the dead tissue. I don't think the white mat is the cause, rather the effect. So the question is what weakened the coral to the point that it began to die or could no longer defend itself against against disease.

 

[ReefHound]

Interesting news, especially since a range of different species were affected, albeit in 'patches.' Wonder if the recommendation to abstain from diving there is affecting dive boat trips & their passengers?

Richard.

Of course it is. East Bank is closed for diving so the Fling is visiting West Bank for three dives then moving to Stetson for 4 (weekend trip). On the plus side, this gives a lot of people a chance to night dive on Stetson and many divers rate Stetson higher for marine life. Let's just hope it doesn't spread to West Bank and it gets closed. Stetson only trips may not appeal to many divers.

Edited to add: I'm not clear if NOAA has imposed a ban on diving EB or just recommended against it but the Fling is honoring the recommendation.