Dear Mike;-
    Nice to hear from someone who understands what's going on. So as long as the surface is bright and shiney, and kids can wade at the beach, nothing else is of much interest.  One wonders if there are other areas (other than Florida) that are undergoing the same problems. I would suspect so. If true, is there some international body that could have some effect?
      Art


--
PLEASE NOTE: My new, long-term, and correct email address is: [log in to unmask] Please update your records!

---- mike gray <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> [log in to unmask] wrote:
> > An article in todays paper notes that A sizeable percent of Elkhorn Coral has died off due to the warming of the waters in the Caribbean. 40% in some areas.
> >     The article notes that the reefs are vital for fish, lobsters and "other sea life". I assume that "other sea life" includes the mollusca. Since the source of the warming is solar radiation, there isn't much "we" can do about it. But perhaps we should be monitoring the effects. Any thoughts, ideas?
> >       Art
>
> The major part of the reef system here in Florida, which
> stretches a couple hundred miles from the Tortugas to Palm
> Beach, was once a shallow barrier reef and there are places
> where the ancient elkhorn, which can only live in very shallow
> water, is quite easily seen at 60 - 65 fsw. Over the past 10,000
> years or so, this reef has grown by adding successive layers of
> species of corals. Currently, the top of the reef is at about 45
> fsw at the top, 65 fsw at the inside base, and 85 fsw at the
> outside base, and the corals are what would be expected at those
> depths.
>
> Elkhorn and staghorn, are very shallow water species, typically
> awash and therefore found in areas that have been under water
> for only a few thousand years at most, and on unstable bottoms.
>
> Global warming does not kill reefs, it builds reefs. But the
> reefs are indeed getting whacked big time.
>
> Here in Florida, we are rapidly and systematically killing off
> the corals and making it impossible for them to reestablish
> themselves.
>
> Beach renourishment, for example, dredges coral sands of 62 -
> 250 microns, (along with billions of live-ground mollusks,
> including juvenile S. gigas, a supposedly protected species) and
> deposits this fill atop silica beach sands. The result is an
> unstable mix which drifts into the shallows, increasing
> turbidity and obliterating all those "beginnings" - the elkhorn
> and staghorn - just off the beach. The good news is that the
> renourished beaches erode very quickly, keeping the Army Corps
> of Engineers from running out of things to do.
>
> Treated sewage, for another example, is treated to remove
> certain things but still contains huge amounts of nitrogen and
> ammonia. One local plant dumps 13 million gallons a day directly
> onto the Boynton Ledge, until recently one of the world's most
> beautiful reefs. It has been proven that elevated ammonia levels
> in this discharge is the cause of a cyanobacteria that has
> devastated the reef. The county agrees. The state agrees, and
> has refused to reissue the treatment plant's permit. But there
> is no process for stopping the discharge - the plant simply
> continues operations without a permit.
>
> Soon, a seven-mile stretch of reef that was home to 134
> personally-collected species of mollusks, about 140 species of
> sponge, perhaps 60 species of coral, half a dozen tunicates
> including one that I believe has never been described, and all
> the other critters I once knew well will be just a big dead rock.
>
> The reefs - and the mollusks - are out of sight. Out of sight,
> out of mind. No one is bothered by what goes on below the
> surface, whether it is slaughter of protected S. gigas or
> destruction of the reef life.
>
> I'm glad I've seen the underwater world, and will be able to
> tell my grandkids what was there, back then. They will never see
> it for themselves.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> [log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
> To leave this list, click on the following web link:
> http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
> Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
> click leave the list.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------