http://capwiz.com/lcv/dbq/vote_info/?command=results&sort=Last&state=FL&submit.x=12&submit.y=7
Coral-List mailing list
Coral-List@coral.aoml.noaa.gov
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
February 14, 2010
Dear Coral Reef Researchers,
We would like to remind you that the 2nd Asia Pacific Coral Reef Symposium will be held in Phuket, Thailand during 20th-24th June, 2010. The information of the symposium is available at http://www.thaicoralreef.in.th/2ndAPCRS/main.html. There will be keynote addresses, invited speakers, 24 mini-symposia (oral/poster presentations), workshops, student competition, side events, exhibitions, social activities and tours. The deadline for abstract submission is 1st March 2010.
We would like to invite you, your colleagues, your students and your family to join us for greater cooperation among all researchers and managers in the Asia Pacific region.
Thank you and best regards,
Thamasak Yeemin
*********************************
Thamasak Yeemin, D.Sc.
Marine Biodiversity Research Group
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
Ramkhamhaeng University
Huamark, Bangkok 10240, THAILAND
Tel/Fax: +66-2310-8415
Cell phone: +668-1842-3056
www.thaicoralreef.in.th
Coral-List mailing list
Coral-List@coral.aoml.noaa.gov
February 14, 2010
The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) section of NOAA has decided that the petition to list 83 species of corals as either threatened or endangered, had sufficient information supporting listing 82 of those species, such that it will make a full review of their status. One species (Oculina varicosa) was ruled not to have been sufficiently supported and will not be reviewed.
The petition was submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity, and can be downloaded from their website at www.biologicaldiversity.org Do a search on “coral” (upper right) to find the petition. The petition was primarily based on the paper in Science that a third of reef corals have elevated risk of extinction: Carpenter, K. E., Abrar M., Aeby G., Aronson R., Bruckner A., Delbeek C., DeVantier L., Edgar G., Edwards A., Fenner, D. and 29 others. 2008. One third of reef building corals face elevated extinction risk from climate change and local impacts. Science 321: 560-563.
The petition makes the argument that these corals are endangered in large part because of climate change. NMFS has a year from the original filing date (Oct 09) to make a final decision. They are asking for submissions of information on these corals. Submissions must be made by April 12. A full explanation of the ruling and the request for submissions, where to send submissions and the deadline, are all in an article in a U.S. government publication, the “Federal Register” Vol 75, No. 27, Feb 10, 2010, p. 6616.
To view this article in the Federal Register, go to http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/retrieve.html then click on 2010, and enter page number 6616 at the bottom. That will bring up the first page, and you can then go to the second page, etc.
Douglas Fenner
Dept Marine & Wildlife Resources
American Samoa
Are the World’s Coral Reefs on Death Row??
The video of a speech by Charlie Veron to the Royal Society can be watched at: https://www.zsl.org/science/news/join-our-campaign-to-save-the-worlds-coral,1209,AR.html
Veron, J.E.N., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., et al. 2009. The coral reef crisis: The critical importance of <350 ppm CO2. Marine Pollution Bulletin 58: 1428-1436. (open access)
Veron, J.E.N. 2008. Mass extinctions and ocean acidification: biological constraints on geological dilemmas. Coral Reefs 27: 459-472. (selected best paper of the year by the journal)
Veron, J.E.N. 2008. A Reef in Time, the Great Barrier Reef from beginning to end. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 289 pp.
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Fellow Floridians,
Florida is a state in the midst of a clean water crisis. Our lakes, rivers, spring, and coastal estuaries are drowning in nutrient pollution. The good news is, after years of inaction and neglect, positive changes and real water quality improvements may be on the way with your help!
Nutrient pollution, from things like nitrogen and phosphorus, reach our waters as pollution from farms and neighborhoods brings excess fertilizer and runoff. Algal blooms, increased red tides, fish kills, and polluted waters are the results. This is a problem people created, and people can solve.
Recently the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new, potentially stronger water quality standards for Florida. By setting numeric nutrient standards for Florida’s waters it’s possible to improve water quality and decrease pollution. Florida’s leading polluters are working hard and spending lots of money to stop this effort. Only the voices of Floridians united for clean water and healthy coastlines can ensure that EPA continues to do the right thing and is serious about implementing the Clean Water Act.
During the week of Feb. 15th the EPA will be holding three public workshops across Florida to hear from you, and to hear from folks like you who want clean healthy places to paddle, fish, bird, swim, surf, and sail. This is a historic and critical opportunity to speak out for clean water. The hearings will be held on:
Tuesday Feb. 16th in Tallahassee, Fl. (The Florida Springs Rally is being held in Tallahassee on this day as well!)
Wednesday Feb. 17th in Orlando, Fl.
Thursday Feb. 18th in West Palm Beach, Fl.
Florida’s water quality crisis can be solved. It can be solved by folks like you speaking out and being advocates for the rivers, springs, and coastlines you love and use. Future generations of Floridians deserve clean, healthy water and we can be the catalyst for change to make it happen.
Come to one of the Public Hearings, and look for folks from the conservation community who will be there to greet you with a sticker to wear, talking points for comments, and informational brochures. Wear blue to show your support for clean water!
Below are the dates and locations of the three public hearings in Florida. We need folks to attend, show their support, and consider submitting written or verbal comments. In some cases the online registration for the hearings through EPA has closed, but speakers will still be able to sign up at the hearing to speak. Environmental groups will be at the hearings with talking points, sample comments, and buttons or stickers you can wear to show support.
This is an incredible and critical opportunity to make a real and substantial difference in terms of the health of our waters in Florida!
February 16, 2010 at the FSU Conference Center (NEW location)
555 West Pensacola Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1640
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
February 17, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Orlando Universal
7800 Universal Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32819
1:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
February 18, 2010 at the Holiday Inn Palm Beach Airport
1301 Belvedere Road, West Palm Beach, FL 33405
12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
EPA encourages you to preregister for this hearing. Preregistration is strongly encouraged, as we expect a large number of participants. Everyone who attends will have the opportunity to speak, however those who have registered will be able to speak first. New information on the hearing process is provided below.
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/rules/florida/
(weblink to EPA site if you need it)
Thanks,
Joe Murphy
Florida Program Director
Gulf Restoration Network
352-583-0870 (office)
813-468-0870 (cell)
Florida Office:
34413 Orchid Parkway
Ridge Manor, Fl. 33523
joe@healthygulf.org
www.healthygulf.org
Read the fact sheet: NNC Numeric Nutrient Standards Fact Sheet (4)[1]
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/01/27/1447907/coral-in-keys-suffers-lethal-hit.html
Bitter cold this month may have wiped out many of the shallow water corals in the Keys.
Scientists have only begun assessments, with dive teams looking for “bleaching” that is a telltale indicator of temperature stress in sensitive corals, but initial reports are bleak. The impact could extend from Key Largo through the Dry Tortugas west of Key West, a vast expanse that covers some of the prettiest and healthiest reefs in North America.
Given the depth and duration of frigid weather, Meaghan Johnson, marine science coordinator for The Nature Conservancy, expected to see losses. But she was stunned by what she saw when diving a patch reef 2 ½ miles off Harry Harris Park in Key Largo.
Star and brain corals, large species that can take hundreds of years to grow, were as white and lifeless as bones, frozen to death. There were also dead sea turtles, eels and parrotfish littering the bottom.
“Corals didn’t even have a chance to bleach. They just went straight to dead,” said Johnson, who joined teams of divers last week surveying reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. “It’s really ecosystem-wide mortality.”
The record chill that gripped South Florida for two weeks has taken a heavy toll on wildlife — particularly marine life.
On Tuesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported that record numbers of endangered manatees had already succumbed to the cold this year — 77, according to a preliminary review. The previous record, 56, was set last year. Massive fish kills also have been reported across the state. Carcasses of snook and tarpon are still floating up from a large fish kill across Florida Bay and the shallow waters of Everglades National Park.
Many of the Florida Keys’ signature diving destinations such as Carysfort, Molasses and Sombrero reefs — as well as deeper reefs off Miami-Dade and Broward — are believed to have escaped heavy losses, thanks to warming effects of the Gulf Stream. But shallower reefs took a serious, perhaps unprecedented hit, said Billy Causey, Southeast regional director of national marine sanctuaries for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
PAST PROBLEMSCoral-bleaching has struck the Keys in the past, most recently twice in the 1990s, preceding a die-off that claimed 30 percent of the reef tract. But those events, along with others that have hit reefs around the world, have usually been triggered by water hotter than what corals typically tolerate.
Healthy corals depend on a symbiotic relationship between polyps, the living tissues that slowly build the hard outer skeletons that give species distinctive shapes, and algae called zooxanthellae that give them their vibrant colors. But when ocean temperatures veer from their comfort zone too much or too long, the coral begin to shed that algae, turning dull or a bleached bone-white.
The effect usually doesn’t immediately kill coral but can weaken it, slowing growth and leaving fragile reefs — home to millions of fish, crabs and other animals — more vulnerable to diseases, pollution and damage from boaters and divers.
Cold-water bleaching is unusual, last occurring in 1977, the year it snowed in Miami. It killed hundreds of acres of staghorn and elkhorn corals across the Keys. Neither species has recovered, both becoming the first corals to be federally listed as threatened in 2006.
This big chill, said Causey, shapes up worse.
“They were exposed to temperatures much colder, that went on longer, than what they were exposed to three decades ago,” he said.
Typical winter lows in-shore hover in the mid- to high-60s in the Keys.
At its coldest more than a week ago, a Key Largo reef monitor recorded 52. At Munson Reef, just about a half-mile off the Newfound Harbor Keys near Big Pine Key, it hit 56.
At Munson Reef, said Cory Walter, a biologist for Mote Marine Laboratory in Summerland Key, scientists saw losses similar to what was reported off Key Largo. Dead eels, dead hogfish, dead coral — including big coral head five- to six-feet wide, bleached white with only fringes of decaying tissue.
“They were as big, as tall, as me. They were pretty much dead,” said Walter, who coordinates Mote’s BleachWatch program, which monitors reefs.
The dividing line for damage seems to be Hawk Channel, which parallels the Keys on the Atlantic Ocean side.
East of the channel, at reefs such as Looe Key, one of the top tourist sites, there was only light paling on some coral, she said. In Hawk Channel itself, there were dead sponges and stressed corals but not many outright dead ones.
SURVEYING DAMAGEWest of the channel toward shore, damage was more serious. Walter estimated 75 percent coral loss at one patch reef, though with poor visibility, it was a limited survey. Some nurseries growing small staghorn and elkhorn corals for restoration programs also may have been hard hit.
Over the next few weeks, scientists and divers from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, National Park Service, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Mote Marine Laboratory, the University of Miami, Nova Southeastern University and other organizations will try to get a more completepicture of damage with reef surveys as far northas Martin County and as far south as the Dry Tortugas.
While they may not be able to save cold-damaged corals, Causey said, chronicling what dies and, more importantly, what survives, will help coral researchers in the future.
“We’re going to know so much more about this event than any other event in history,” he said.
