Carribean coral deaths

[Obi-dad]

The death of carribean coral continues to get worse, article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090610/sc_nm/us_climate_reefs) . I will miss it, I used to get to travel there frequently on business trips, and would snorkel there any chance I got. This is really sad for people like me who have seen the glory of the coral reefs there, but for many people who haven't it just doesn't mean anything to them. Very sad.

[fishman_CT]

That is so sad! I have snorkeled there too and it was very beautiful. I hope people can change their ways (over development, pollution, etc.) so that our future generations will be able to enjoy the worlds reefs in their natural environment, and not from a fish tank.

[Gooch79]

Like how they blame climate change in the headline but then offer no evidence to back it up while later on in the article indicate that several factors are at play.

[FroMan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15175082#post15175082 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gooch79
Like how they blame climate change in the headline but then offer no evidence to back it up while later on in the article indicate that several factors are at play.

ahhh you too are picking up the the agenda......

[Obi-dad]

'Agenda' or not, we are losing corals in the wild big-time - doesn't matter to the corals if there are multiple factors.

[staninct]

Greg is right. Finger pointing and politics aren't going to help the situation. Its really a shame considering the fairly quick rebound of the reefs off Cozumel since the hurricane and all the re-seeding programs going on in the Keys and other parts of the Caribbean that things like pollution are still growing as a problem and decimating these colonies.

[Gooch79]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15186259#post15186259 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by staninct
Greg is right. Finger pointing and politics aren't going to help the situation. Its really a shame considering the fairly quick rebound of the reefs off Cozumel since the hurricane and all the re-seeding programs going on in the Keys and other parts of the Caribbean that things like pollution are still growing as a problem and decimating these colonies.

Agreed, Finger pointing and politics should be left out of it which is why I took issue with the title of the news article.

On another issue, isnt there a "dead spot" growing in southwest florida? I used to live there and everything was fairly normal then, but now it is reported that there is black water that is stopping all growth in that area. Anyone else hear about this?

[staninct]

I've heard about those spots, I think some of them are offshore algal blooms with almost 0 dissolved oxygen in the water. I guess there are a number of these areas that float around the Gulf of Mexico caused by runoff from the Mississippi River and swamps along the coast. The one you are referring to might just be one of these.

[Gooch79]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15186740#post15186740 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by staninct
I've heard about those spots, I think some of them are offshore algal blooms with almost 0 dissolved oxygen in the water. I guess there are a number of these areas that float around the Gulf of Mexico caused by runoff from the Mississippi River and swamps along the coast. The one you are referring to might just be one of these.

I know of the one just outside of the Mississippi River and that is caused from fertilizers that head down river but this one is around the 10,000 islands area of southwest florida. There really isnt any river draining into it and the Everglades there is a protected national park. So their situations are a little different.