Thanks Ross -

Since so many islands are reef based not mountain based this is
important.

However, This almost smells like a dead fish.
Almost without fact or information - but a repeated statement
of 'extensive loss of coral' - sounds like a "'global warmer'
if it kills me type".

I would suspect some testing of water for chemical or temp drop.

Hum - off St. John - those big boats dump bilges around the world.

Those traveling into Monterey Bay were watched closely.
IIRC, The Coast Guard caught some others that traveled down coast
and dumped offshore but within limits.  With bilge tests the
ship was caught.

The report just seems to governmental nothing.

Wonder what is really going on.

Martin

Ross Mayhew wrote:
> I pass this along because the general health of the world ocean, and
> especially of reef communities, is of extreme relevance to malacology
> and conchology - and both are in steep decline in recent decades.
>
> -Ross Mayhew.
>
> SCIENTISTS DOCUMENT DEEP-WATER CORAL MORTALITY EVENT
>
>   Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in
> cooperation with researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and
> National Park
> Service, are reporting the first description of coral loss on a deep U.S.
> Caribbean reef. Their findings are reported in this month's issue of the
> journal Continental Shelf Research. The coral mortality event on a
> deep reef
> was detected off St. John in the U.S. Caribbean using a remotely operated
> vehicle (ROV) deployed from the NOAA ship Nancy Foster noted during a
> sea floor
> mapping mission in 2005. "Over the past 30 years we have seen a
> tremendous
> decrease in live coral cover on shallow reefs in the Caribbean,” said
> Mark
> Monaco, a marine biologist from NOAA’s Center for Coastal Monitoring and
> Assessment. “The extensive loss of coral on this deep reef is especially
> noteworthy since deep reefs could serve as a source of future recruits
> for
> shallow reefs during times of stress."
>
> The well-documented degradation of shallower reefs that are often
> closer to land
> and more vulnerable to pollution, sewage, and other human-related
> stressors has
> led to the suggestion that deeper, more remote offshore reefs were less
> vulnerable. Yet the distribution, status, and ecological roles of
> Caribbean
> reefs deeper than 30 meters are not well known. Using video and
> pictures taken
> from the ROV, coral cover decline was estimated at 25 percent.
>
> Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 16 October 2007
> http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/20071016_deepcoral.html
>
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--
Martin H. Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
TSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Patron Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot's Medal.
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.
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