More bad news for reefs

[luckyfish]

Came across this article on Yahoo. Hope the link works. In the next decade or two our reef tanks may become coral sanctuaries



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060330/ap_on_sc/coral_death

 

[RadioQST]

That's both very sad and very alarming.

 

[Codeman00]

I just got back from a week of diving in Bonaire and I did see many of the star corals in shallow water that didn't look healthy. Some were over half dead for no apparent reason. I kept thinking that something must be really wrong for the corals to look like this. I guess I was right.

 

[gflat65]

Cody,

Where all did you dive in Bonaire (or Klein)? We were there for our honeymoon 5 years ago and it was awesome. Who'd you dive with?

We did Cancun the week of March 6th and there was some bleaching of the plating LPS (hope I don't get flamed for the LPS terminology...) and Cozmel was a huge disappointment this time around. The reef flats in Cozumel are covered in several inches of sand, so there were a few small (3-6' diameter) heads here and there, but they were separated by 20-30' of sand... Pretty devastating (mostly attributed to Hurricane Wilma). The wall dive was okay, but was missing alot from the last time we were there. Even in Cancun, there was so much macro algae everywhere that I can see it getting overrun soon, like the Caribbean did back in the late 70's, early 80's when the urchin died off. I counted less than 10 (seen) urchin in eight dive this year. That is sad... Better get your diving in now.

 

[Codeman00]

I actually did 17 dives while I was there...so I was about everywhere you could be on the main island of Bonaire. I unfortunately only had a chance to do one dive on Klein, and it was one of the best dives. I dove as far north as Ol' Blue and as far south as south of the salt piers. Let me qualify my statement above by saying, I thought that it looked like something was wrong with the corals....I never heard anyone else say anything about it. And since this was my first time diving Bonaire, I really can't compare it to another time I was there. I did see tons of sea urchins (all different types)..so there's s healthy population down there. It was some great diving....especially the night dives off of the shore....wow.

I have been to Cozumel also....but it was back in '98. Its sad to hear how much damage was done by the hurricanes. I had read that they were asking for volunteers to put corals back in place after the devastating storms.

I agree, get your diving in soon.

 

[gflat65]

While in Cozumel, I couldn't help from waving my hand over the corals to knock the sand off... My wife kept laughing at me. Man, I'd love to be one who helps put corals back in place. That would be a really cool thing to help with.

17 dives. Man, I thought we got alot in with 8 dives in three days (I wanted at least one more day, but the wife needed beach time, then the winds and waves picked up and they closed the harbor).

 

[RobbyG]

This trend is very disturbing, I have seen a few TV shows where they have proven that the Dust storms from Africa are the cause! They are just blanketing Caribbean reefs with a Toxic coating. The really sad part is that no end is in site, as Africa gets drier every year.

 

[Reefdiver77]

I dove for the first time in the Carribean in Aug 05 while on a short trip to Puerto Rico. I did notice dead corals and I mean huge corals (unsure of the variety). It looked like a whole "forest" of them in one area was dead. It looked like a bone yard.There were lots that seemed to be thriving, though. I will be returned to Puerto Rico on June for 2 weeks and will be diving. It will be interesting to see the difference. The article mentioned PR specifically. There was a quote from a researcher at the U of PR. They have a fantastic marine research facility in Old San Juan. I had the link to it, but can not locate it now. I will post that. I was amazed at the work they did there and the tanks they maintained. The location could not be beat. The view was breath taking. Wow Cody, 18 dives in a week. We will probably do 6 the 2 weeks we are in PR. I would love to do more, and although my hubby loves to dive, he also loves golfing. I have been known to dive without him though . In fact my bumper sticker reads"My husband said he is going to leave me if I go diving one more time.....I'm going to miss him."

 

[Reefdiver77]

I found the link: http://www.neuro.upr.edu
Nick would love to go to Grad School here!! First thing first>graduate from the U of M!!