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| Global Warming effecting our reefs |
by MaryAnn Lucking
Director of CORALations
Director of CORALations
When we left the last edition, we were monitoring a massive coral reef bleaching
event on Culebra in the fall of 2005. Corals bleach (expels the algae that lives
inside the coral animal’s tissue) in response to stress, and Caribbean Sea
surface temperatures in September of 2005 were way above normal with a
strange abatement in the trade winds.
In 1998 we observed a bleaching event that lasted for about two weeks, just prior
to Hurricane Georges. Most of these corals managed to recover. As the
temperature returned to normal, the corals were able to take in new algae and
regain their coloration and normal function. Corals recover from bleaching by
eating the free floating algae and then through some mysterious mechanism, the
algae moves, intact, into the skin of the coral animal to resume its function as a
solar energy collector for the animal. It was weird to see some huge colonies
recover from the ’98 bleaching event by taking in two different colored algae,
leaving some corals half brown and half green.
By spring of 2006, people came over to film underwater documentaries about the
bleaching. We floated over our transect lines and photographed the impacts. Our
lettuce corals, with their star sapphire like polyps, were now dead and completely
overgrown by aggressive sponges and nuisance algae fueled by the warm and
increasingly polluted waters. Many of the recuperating corals now exhibited the
signs of serious infections. The internet was buzzing with coral reef scientists
reporting the same or worse around other areas of the Caribbean.
While floating over the impacted corals we heard the sorrowful song of a
humpback whale off in the distance. It resonated with me a bit like a funeral dirge
for the corals we were monitoring. I wondered if the whales knew what was
happening as they return to calve in ever warming seas. I wished I could
somehow apologize for being part of the humanity that was consciously and
unconsciously responsible for this. I wondered if these dramatic changes and the
documentaries being filmed would motivate the folks who love the Caribbean to
become part of the solution, or if it would force people further back into the
recesses of denial. At times it seems to me that some folks actually hope we fail,
just to make them feel better about their own decisive inaction.
I doubt anyone will be shocked to hear that the Puerto Rico and federal
governments are falling short of their obligations to the public (as defined by law)
to protect our coastal resources. Unfortunately, falling short is all too common.
Anyone who has ever worked on coastal zone conservation issues knows that
many agencies have some jurisdiction along our shores. In response to any
question, all employees are seemingly trained to repeat: “That is not our
jurisdiction.” If you are a young professional seeking employment with one of
these agencies, my recommendation is that at your interview, no matter what
question is asked, just keep repeating: “I’m sorry, that’s not my jurisdiction.” I bet
you get the job! You should be aware that there is a rumor circulated among the
environmental conservationists in Puerto Rico that the government breeding
program for the Puerto Rican parrot is actually a publicly financed initiative to
produce low-cost labor that can be trained to answer government agency phones
with, you guessed it, “I’m sorry, that’s not our jurisdiction.” (Of course, the federal
agencies will be training their parrots to answer in English, and the local agencies
will be training theirs to answer in Spanish.)
In all fairness, over the past decade we have met many local and federal agency
employees who sincerely care about the environment, but feel bound by political
handcuffs to take any meaningful action. Over the past decade, local and federal
governments have spent the bulk of their coral reef conservation dollars on reef
mapping and monitoring, producing an expensive map of where our living corals
used to be. Despite the alarming data, little meaningful budget is dedicated to
actually conserving the corals. To us, meaningful government action includes the
re-tooling of our wastewater treatment plants so they function to actually clean
the wastewater. To us, meaningful government action means enforcing the
control of erosion at the many construction projects now irreparably
contaminating Puerto Rico’s water sheds, reservoirs, rivers, and coastal shores
with muddy runoff. To us, Today, meaningful government action would move
energy conservation inititiatives.
The rapid decline of coral reefs that are thousands of years old may be the Earth’
s “canary in the coal mine.” If you are someone who enjoys some of life’s simple
pleasures (like breathing air) you need to take action with the rest of us today. If
you demonstrate that clean coastal water and energy conservation are important
priorities for you, then they will soon become priorities for our political “deciders”
as well. As a local friend from down island always tells us, “You got to push dis
mon!”
This is right. Better coastal water quality and energy conservation will not happen
unless we push dis mon! In the next issue something cool and optimistic. We will
be visiting the underwater coral farms on Culebra. The farms are growing corals
demonstrating resistance to thermal stress and water pollution, and are managed
by student divers from the University of Puerto Rico!
event on Culebra in the fall of 2005. Corals bleach (expels the algae that lives
inside the coral animal’s tissue) in response to stress, and Caribbean Sea
surface temperatures in September of 2005 were way above normal with a
strange abatement in the trade winds.
In 1998 we observed a bleaching event that lasted for about two weeks, just prior
to Hurricane Georges. Most of these corals managed to recover. As the
temperature returned to normal, the corals were able to take in new algae and
regain their coloration and normal function. Corals recover from bleaching by
eating the free floating algae and then through some mysterious mechanism, the
algae moves, intact, into the skin of the coral animal to resume its function as a
solar energy collector for the animal. It was weird to see some huge colonies
recover from the ’98 bleaching event by taking in two different colored algae,
leaving some corals half brown and half green.
By spring of 2006, people came over to film underwater documentaries about the
bleaching. We floated over our transect lines and photographed the impacts. Our
lettuce corals, with their star sapphire like polyps, were now dead and completely
overgrown by aggressive sponges and nuisance algae fueled by the warm and
increasingly polluted waters. Many of the recuperating corals now exhibited the
signs of serious infections. The internet was buzzing with coral reef scientists
reporting the same or worse around other areas of the Caribbean.
While floating over the impacted corals we heard the sorrowful song of a
humpback whale off in the distance. It resonated with me a bit like a funeral dirge
for the corals we were monitoring. I wondered if the whales knew what was
happening as they return to calve in ever warming seas. I wished I could
somehow apologize for being part of the humanity that was consciously and
unconsciously responsible for this. I wondered if these dramatic changes and the
documentaries being filmed would motivate the folks who love the Caribbean to
become part of the solution, or if it would force people further back into the
recesses of denial. At times it seems to me that some folks actually hope we fail,
just to make them feel better about their own decisive inaction.
I doubt anyone will be shocked to hear that the Puerto Rico and federal
governments are falling short of their obligations to the public (as defined by law)
to protect our coastal resources. Unfortunately, falling short is all too common.
Anyone who has ever worked on coastal zone conservation issues knows that
many agencies have some jurisdiction along our shores. In response to any
question, all employees are seemingly trained to repeat: “That is not our
jurisdiction.” If you are a young professional seeking employment with one of
these agencies, my recommendation is that at your interview, no matter what
question is asked, just keep repeating: “I’m sorry, that’s not my jurisdiction.” I bet
you get the job! You should be aware that there is a rumor circulated among the
environmental conservationists in Puerto Rico that the government breeding
program for the Puerto Rican parrot is actually a publicly financed initiative to
produce low-cost labor that can be trained to answer government agency phones
with, you guessed it, “I’m sorry, that’s not our jurisdiction.” (Of course, the federal
agencies will be training their parrots to answer in English, and the local agencies
will be training theirs to answer in Spanish.)
In all fairness, over the past decade we have met many local and federal agency
employees who sincerely care about the environment, but feel bound by political
handcuffs to take any meaningful action. Over the past decade, local and federal
governments have spent the bulk of their coral reef conservation dollars on reef
mapping and monitoring, producing an expensive map of where our living corals
used to be. Despite the alarming data, little meaningful budget is dedicated to
actually conserving the corals. To us, meaningful government action includes the
re-tooling of our wastewater treatment plants so they function to actually clean
the wastewater. To us, meaningful government action means enforcing the
control of erosion at the many construction projects now irreparably
contaminating Puerto Rico’s water sheds, reservoirs, rivers, and coastal shores
with muddy runoff. To us, Today, meaningful government action would move
energy conservation inititiatives.
The rapid decline of coral reefs that are thousands of years old may be the Earth’
s “canary in the coal mine.” If you are someone who enjoys some of life’s simple
pleasures (like breathing air) you need to take action with the rest of us today. If
you demonstrate that clean coastal water and energy conservation are important
priorities for you, then they will soon become priorities for our political “deciders”
as well. As a local friend from down island always tells us, “You got to push dis
mon!”
This is right. Better coastal water quality and energy conservation will not happen
unless we push dis mon! In the next issue something cool and optimistic. We will
be visiting the underwater coral farms on Culebra. The farms are growing corals
demonstrating resistance to thermal stress and water pollution, and are managed
by student divers from the University of Puerto Rico!
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