http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/protection/corals/deepseacorals/fy12/DSCRtCFinal.pdf

This report highlights the exciting discovery of deep-sea coral habitats as well as progress made in our nationwide research.

* *

Featured in the report is an overview of the program’s first three-year field study, focused on the Southeast U.S., which revealed new and currently unprotected deep-sea coral communities off the eastern and southern coasts of Florida. These fragile habitats are home to a wide variety of species, many of which are commercially important. NOAA’s deep-water coral investigations have been instrumental in providing data and documentation on the distribution and ecological significance of these resources.

In addition to the discoveries off the southeastern U.S., scientists are exploring deep-sea coral and sponge habitats off the West Coast, documenting their importance for fish, and providing key information to fishery and National Marine Sanctuary managers.

The report is complemented by descriptions all the program’s activities on our website: http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/deepseacorals

NOAA’s *Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program *provides scientific information needed to conserve and manage deep-sea coral habitats. We are committed to increasing the scientific understanding of these rich and valuable communities and making it available to ocean resource managers to inform conservation actions. The Program’s work is made possible through partnerships with other federal agencies, academic scientists and non-governmental organizations. I thank the many of you who have participated in making this a successful Program.

Tom Hourigan

Chief Scientist, Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program
_______________________________________________
Special thanks to:

Coral-List mailing list
Coral-List@coral.aoml.noaa.gov
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list

For Immediate Release: January 30, 2012

Contact:

Andrea Treece, Earthjustice, (415) 217-2089

Miyoko Sakashita, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 632-5308

Washington, D.C. – A lawsuit was filed today in federal district court seeking greater protections from fishing for threatened coral reefs in the Caribbean. The
lawsuit asserts that the National Marine Fisheries Service ignored science showing that parrotfish and other grazing fish play a key role in promoting the health of coral reefs; the government’s authorization of targeted fishing for parrotfish poses a risk to elkhorn and staghorn corals, protected under the Endangered Species Act.

“The Caribbean’s coral reefs are already in deep trouble, and reducing the parrotfish that help them stay healthy only makes matters worse,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “If we don’t take steps now to safeguard the creatures that keep these vital reefs alive, we risk losing all of it.”

According to the lawsuit, the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Endangered Species Act by finding that the targeted fishing for parrotfish would not jeopardize already imperiled corals or “adversely modify,” (i.e. damage) their critical habitat.

Excessive algal growth threatens the health of Caribbean reefs, choking out corals and degrading the habitat that other reef creatures-such as fish, sea turtles and lobsters-depend on. Fish, especially parrotfish, which graze on algae around coral reefs, play a key function in providing suitable habitat for corals to settle and build those reefs. Fish populations in the
Caribbean have been overfished, including the parrotfish that are the subject of this lawsuit; managing the overfishing of parrotfish will help corals recover and become more resilient to other threats, including global warming and ocean acidification.

“Restoring healthy populations of elkhorn and staghorn coral is critical to restoring the health of Caribbean reefs as a whole,” said Andrea Treece, an attorney with Earthjustice. “These corals provide shelter, nursery grounds, and hunting grounds for an incredible array of fish, lobsters, sea turtles and other species. Without better protection, we risk losing the entire reef community.”

“Corals are competing with algae, and without a robust population of parrotfish, the algae are going to win,” said Sakashita. “But wise management of our reefs can keep algae in check and promote both healthy corals and healthy fish.”

Elkhorn and staghorn corals were once the dominant reef-building corals in the Caribbean but they are perilously close to extinction. Corals suffer from a variety of threats, including pollution, global warming and ocean acidification. A key threat to corals, however, continues to be overfishing and competition with algae. The corals have declined by more than 90 percent
since the 1970s. In 2006, the two corals were protected under the Endangered Species Act in response to a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity.

Learn more:
* Parrotfish to aid reef repair
– BBC (video)
* Read the complaint.

Special thanks to Andrew Baker/ Coral-list @noaa.gov

http://www.earthtimes.org/pollution/co2-fish-eggs-larvae-ocean-acidification/1706/

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES & NEWS >> POLLUTION >>
Posted Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:00:00 GMT by Colin Ricketts

It’s the ‘other CO2 problem’, global warming’s little brother, and ocean acidification could be even more damaging than had previously been thought according to new research on how fish are affected. As the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises, more of it is dissolved into the sea, forming carbonic acid, making the sea more acidic.

While negative effects have been recorded for many simple marine creatures – coral reefs, shellfish, urchins and plankton for example – no research had shown that fish were damaged, until now.

Research published in Nature Climate Change by a team from Stony Brook University in New York dismisses the so-called ‘fish are OK’ theory.

According to the new research, the belief that fish were relatively unaffected by more acidic oceans ignored the effect of CO2 on fish larvae and even eggs.

Christopher Gobler and Hannes Baumann, both professors at the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (SoMAS) studied how higher concentrations of CO2 impacted on the eggs of the inland silverside – a common river estuary fish.

Gobler and Baumann examined levels of CO2 concentration which are predicted for later this century. At the moment the level is 400 parts per cubic metre (ppm3), which is expected to rise to 600ppm3 by the middle of the century and 1,000ppm3 by the 2200.

They found a terrible toll. Eggs and larvae of the inland silverside were very sensitive to rises in CO2 levels and at the levels predicted for the end of the century, CO2 was killing 70% of the fish within a week of their hatching. Those larvae that did survive were significantly smaller than under current conditions.

“We knew from the study of other ocean animals, such as scallops and clams, that earliest life stages such as larvae are most sensitive to CO2 and thus targeted the same life stage during our investigation of fish,” said Professor Gobler.

Brad Warren, Science Director of Sustainable Fisheries Partnerships warned of the possible damage to the fishing industry.

He said: “This study is a shot across the bow and shows that some important fish stocks may be eroded by high CO2 levels. And keep in mind, as estuarine fish, inland silversides are likely to be adapted to higher levels of CO2 than many fish found in the open ocean, where chemistry is much more stable. This suggests that many commercially harvested marine fish stocks may be vulnerable too. Pelagic spawners, such as albacore, bigeye, yellowfin, and bluefin tuna, whose larvae are not adapted to acidified waters, could be particularly vulnerable.”

The researchers now intend to carry out more research across a range of fish species.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es202351y

Jacob Carstensen,*,† María S
anchez-Camacho,‡ Carlos M. Duarte,‡,§ Dorte Krause-Jensen,† and N
uria Marba‡
†Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
‡Department of Global Change Research, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Instituto Mediterr
aneo de Estudios Avanzados, Miquel Marques 21,
07190 Esporles (Illes Balears), Spain
§The UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009, Australia

ABSTRACT: Empirical relationships between phytoplankton biomass and nutrient concentrations established across a wide range of different ecosystems constitute fundamental quantitative tools for predicting effects of nutrient management plans. Nutrient management plans based on such relationships, mostly established over trends of increasing rather than decreasing nutrient concentrations, assume full reversibility of coastal eutrophication. Monitoring data from 28 ecosystems located in four well-studied regions were analyzed to study the generality of chlorophyll a versus nutrient relationships and their
applicability for ecosystem management. We demonstrate significant differences across regions as well as between specific coastal ecosystems within regions in the response of chlorophyll a to changing nitrogen concentrations. We also show that the chlorophyll a versus nitrogen relationships over time constitute convoluted trajectories rather than simple unique relationships. The ratio of
chlorophyll a to total nitrogen almost doubled over the last 30
40 years across all regions. The uniformity of these trends, or shifting baselines, suggest they may result from large-scale changes, possibly associated with global climate change and increasing human stress on coastal ecosystems. Ecosystem management must, therefore, develop adaptation strategies to face shifting baselines and maintain ecosystem services at a sustainable level rather than striving to restore an ecosystem state of the past.

http://news.ufl.edu/2011/10/11/coral-bacteria/

Filed under Business, Economic Impact, Environment, Florida, Research on Tuesday, October 11, 2011.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Bacteria that could potentially help corals resist the devastating disease white pox have been found by researchers at the University of Florida and Mote Marine Laboratory.

The findings could help maintain the health of Florida’s coral reefs, which bring in billions of dollars to the state annually and are important for tourism, fisheries, shoreline protection and pharmaceutical research.

“Coral reefs are a major attraction for tourists in Florida,” said Max Teplitski, a microbiologist and an associate professor at UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “They support the economies of South Florida, and they’re also important for fisheries and, in general, healthy ecosystems.”

“Unfortunately, in the past 20 years, corals have been degrading due to global environmental changes and direct human impacts, like overfishing and other pressures,” he said. “And also, diseases have been wiping out stressed corals in South Florida.”

White pox is caused by Serratia marcescens, a bacterium that commonly occurs in feces of animals and is capable of attacking a variety of animals and plants.

To combat white pox, Teplitski and a team of researchers began studying the interactions between the pathogen that causes the malady and other microorganisms that live on corals.

Their findings are detailed in a study Teplitski co-authored in this month’s issue of The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology.

Corals are ancient creatures that recruit microorganisms such as bacteria to protect themselves from disease. Their characteristic structure is built by animals known as polyps.

In the study, the researchers screened several hundred bacteria isolated from coral and non-coral polyps for the ability to help ward off white pox.

The researchers found four bacteria that stopped white pox disease progression under controlled laboratory conditions and, to some degree, protected the polyps from getting sick.

They also noted that polyps containing the bacteria survived white pox infection, whereas those without the bacteria died.

Based on these results, scientists may begin checking individual polyps for the presence of beneficial bacteria before introducing them into a reef system as part of coral reef restoration.

Kim Ritchie, senior scientist and manager for the marine microbiology program at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, said Florida’s coral reefs are some of the sickest in the world.

“They seem to be in the worst shape,” said Ritchie, a co-author of the study. “But the more we can learn about the balance of beneficial bacteria and pathogenic bacteria, the easier it will be to help the coral reefs in the Keys become healthier.”

The research was funded by sales of Protect Our Reefs specialty license plates, a statewide program administered by Mote Marine Laboratory Inc.

Study authors also include Ali Alagely, a former UF undergraduate student, and Cory Krediet, a doctoral student in the interdisciplinary ecology program at UF’s School of Natural Resources and Environment.
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The University of Florida is one of the nation’s largest public universities. A member of the Association of American Universities, UF received $619 million in sponsored research funding in 2010-11. Through its research and other activities, UF contributes more than $8.76 billion a year to Florida’s economy and is responsible for generating more than 100,000 jobs statewide. University of Florida Research; Working for Florida.
Credits

Writer
Robert H. Wells, rhwells@ufl.edu, 352-273-3569
Source
Max Teplitski, maxtep@ufl.edu, 352-273-8189
Source
Kim Ritchie, ritchie@mote.org, 941-388-4441

Special thanks to Carolyn Baker