The Coral Reefs are dying! 36% are already dead

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 3:03pm

April 6, 2016
CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.)

I'm sorry. I think this trumps politics and yet some politicians are mocking our efforts to mitigate climate change, efforts that might save the rest of the reefs if we act right now. Let's get basic and fight for the human right to live. And let's not take all the animals down with us.

This is from 2010, 6 years ago!:
"You could argue that a complete collapse of the marine ecosystem would be one of the consequences of losing corals," Carpenter said. "You're going to have a tremendous cascade effect for all life in the oceans."

April 11, 2016
MIT: The Race to Save the Coral Reefs

April 13, 2016
NOAA: Coral Reef Conservation Program

Now about that Canadian LEAP Manifesto that will move us away from fossil fuels. Politicians where I live are mocking it as frivolous, silly, pie in the sky. Here's Canadian hero Avi Lewis on the issue. (NDP = New Democratic Party, once leftist, now centrist.)

April 12, 2016
What is the LEAP Manifesto?

The Leap Manifesto is a document that calls for a radical restructuring of the economy as Canada swiftly moves toward ending the use of fossil fuels. It was released last September in the midst of the federal election campaign.

April 12, 2016
Intro to Avi Lewis.

If there’s an NDP gene, Avi Lewis surely has it. His late grandfather, David, was once federal leader, while his father, Stephen, ran the Ontario branch and remains a party elder statesman. But it was the Leap Manifesto—a creation of the younger Lewis, his wife, author Naomi Klein, and a number of other prominent activists—that helped crystallize discontent over Tom Mulcair’s leadership this past weekend. The journalist and filmmaker spoke to Maclean’s about Leap’s role and where the party goes from here.

He Didn't Mean to Blow up the NDP Convention

What follows the death of the coral reefs is mass starvation for people and animals who depend on it for food. There's more, the coral reefs protect the shorelines in the event of tsunamis and storms. We need them. And politicians are debating whether we need to move away from fossil fuels right now.

Tags:

coral reefs

environment

climate change

global warming

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Comments

Submitted by hecate on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 3:16pm

the co-founder

of satanic Microsoft, Paul Allen, recently destroyed a reef all by his lonesome.

The anchor chain of the MV Tatoosh, the 43d largest yacht in the world, destroyed 14,000 square feet worth of reef in the Caymans' West Bay replenishment zone, wiping out more than 80% of the reef.

The 300-foot yacht is owned by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. Allen has disclaimed all responsibility, saying that he anchored his yacht where directed and moved it when divers alerted him to the damage.

It is unlikely that Allen will be asked to make any reparations for the damage he has done.

This tube claims that Science Men may be able to use cross-breeding to help some of the reefs.

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 3:24pm

The reefs should be legally protected, strongly enough

to levy massive fines on satanic destroyers, like Paul Allen.

Where I live, millionaires recently sued to be allowed to erect docks as long as a football field over the rocky shoreline. That would enable them to bring in their massive yachts. They lost the suit and their protesting neighbours and the ocean won. hahaha!

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by JtC on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 3:49pm

Thank you Marilyn...

There is no quicker way to the front page at c99p than a climate change essay. IMHO that is front and center.

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 4:01pm

I'm with you JtC and thanks for the platform upon which

I can vent my passionate concern.

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by joe shikspack on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 4:10pm

evening marilyn...

thanks for this. this problem wouldn't trump politics if our politics were authentic.

unfortunately, our politics are no longer about humans. the politicians have decided that they would create a super-public, made of corporations whose concerns are about maximizing profits first and all other considerations later.

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 4:38pm

We can't rely on them, we have to push them

They are too compromised to even care. "They've got the guns, We've got the numbers."

Here's an example of people pushing for action:

For The First Time, A State Just Banned Neonicotinoids, A Pesticide Threatening Pollinators
Because Maryland is suffering from such noticeable losses, Finck-Hayes said that the bill garnered a large amount of public support throughout the legislative process, not only from beekeepers, but from environmental organizations, farm organizations, water quality organizations, and voters writ large. A 2015 poll conducted by the Maryland Pesticide Network found “enormous voter concern about risks posed by pesticides,” and overwhelming support for policies that would restrict or label neonicotinoid pesticides.

The bee-keepers were right. I remember getting scoffed at, on TOP for daring to mention neonics. Spammed for using the term "pesticide" to encompass both insecticide and herbicide. After my first essay on bees blaming pesticides, a scientist wrote a counter diary with many comments thanking him for a "real diary" on the topic. The beekeepers were on my side.

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 10:56pm

Well, this is disappointing

Neonics are banned from gardeners but not from farmers and vets. Let's see, who uses more pesticide in Maryland, farmers and ranchers or home gardeners?

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by Hawkfish on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 4:12pm

Sigh. This is why I might vote for HRC

We probably don't have time to wait for the revolution. At least she accepts it is happening and that we could do something about it.

And because she won't do enough, we can give her a big kick in the pants by pushing things like I-732. Which is also not enough, but probably more than she will do.

OTOH, maybe she can't even win, and I should spend as much time on the reefs with my kids as I can.

—

We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Submitted by detroitmechworks on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 4:38pm

After TPP, it won't matter whether she "Believes" it...

Because Anything the US does to stop it will be conveniently blocked by corporate courts.

Cue Crocodile Tears and Lots of talk about how we must "EMBRACE the Suck"

—

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Submitted by Steven D on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 4:59pm

Hillary is an equal opportunity

politician.

She accepts both climate change and fossil fuel industry donations!

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 4:40pm

Politicians can't save the planet

We need action from large groups of people. That's what I call a "force."

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by stevej on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 4:44pm

If the marine ecosystem collapses

we are just about finished as a species.

Coral is very much the canary in the ocean coal mine so to speak and the reduction of coral should have been taken much more seriously decades ago.

A GOP or Clinton WH would be a disaster for the environment.

—

“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 5:04pm

Hi Steve, I can't stop thinking about it,

so it dwarfs all other issues that are grabbing the headlines. The ocean is our life. Strange that the view of the ocean sells real estate but there's so little concern about what we are putting in it.

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by stevej on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 8:06pm

I agree

If we have nowhere we can survive everything else becomes kind of moot.

I've always liked swimming in anything apart from swimming pools and used to know a lot of surfers. These people were really into the deeper environmental stuff and had little time for those who's environmental interest began and ended with a pretty view.

—

“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

Submitted by Lenzabi on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 6:11pm

Things are bad, but the

Things are bad, but the corporates refuse to see it or let others think about it, the oceans are dying around us. The oceans die, we die, simple as that.

—

So long, and thanks for all the fish

Submitted by Oldest Son Of A... on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 7:02pm

The Lobster Fishery in Long Island Sound has Collapsed...

What was once a thriving lobster fishery now has closed due to a collapse of the fishery...

As the fishery was collapsing there were several summers in a row, where the western end of the sound was declared an "Oxygen Deficient Dead Zone" due to warm water, which decreases the dissolved oxygen in water, and high nutrient levels from inadequate water treatment...

Many of the caught lobsters showed signs of being sick and had parasitic infestations...

Lobster fishermen were convinced that this was a result of mosquito control efforts which included a lot of spraying, in efforts to control Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and West Nile Virus via infected mosquitos. Any chance a lobster fisherman had with a microphone in his face turned into a rant about pesticides that haven't been used in 40 years, and the effects of them, while ignoring the actual pesticides in use, and their low toxicity or non-existent toxicity...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Czdp0qRcPE]

In the end it was determined that the lobster die off was largely caused by "Hot Water" and I'm not talking about boiling water in a pot. "From 1976 to 2014, the temperature of Long Island Sound increased by 2.9 degrees, according to measurements taken in Niantic Bay by Dominion Nuclear Connecticut. Since 1999, the average water temperature in the summer has been at or above 68, a level that studies indicate can send lobsters into respiratory stress, a spokesman for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said."

The water temperature in Long Island Sound peaks in the months of August & September which also coincides with that first rainfall the fisherman in the video spoke of...

Long Island Sound is near the "Southern Extreme" at which the "American Lobster or Homarus americanus could be found, south of New Jersey to the Carolinas comprised less than 1% of the total catch.

The answer is simple..

Those that were able to crawl away fast enough without being overcome by disease, parasites, warm water, or low dissolve oxygen levels are now living well in Casco Bay, Penobscot Bay, or Bar Harbor. Maine Lobster Fishermen are enjoying record catches, and profits, with a huge demand for their product. While they buy new boats and pots enjoying the bonanza, perhaps they should be buying boats and pots from the Connecticut Lobster Fishermen. They should also be aware that in a few years they may be faced with no lobsters, and lobster fishermen in Gulf of St Lawrence, Hudson Straight, and Hudson Bay, will be looking for more boats and lobster pots...

One of the big problems of this "Global Climate Change" is going to be food for us. Agriculture is going to suffer as it is in California's Drought, the Marine Fisheries are undergoing changes like the Long Island Sound Lobster Fishery. The planet is in trouble, just wait until the last morsel of food goes to the highest bidder...

—

"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,

Submitted by janis b on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 10:26pm

Thank you for this informative post

The description of the lobster fisherman in the video was chilling when he talked about the "fog bank" of pesticides that arrive with the first heavy rainfall.

Submitted by Oldest Son Of A... on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 12:46am

That Particular Fisherman...

Fishes out of Norwalk Harbor which is in the heart of the oxygen deficient "Dead Zone."
He couldn't be more wrong as to why the fishery declined...

The 2.9ºF temperature rise was recorded at the eastern end of Long Island Sound near the area known as "The Race" which extends from the tip of Long Island through several small islands and rocks to Fishers Island near the Connecticut shore, and on to Watch Hill Point, Rhode Island. While most of Long Island Sound is about 100' deep, the race has shallows, and shoals, in the center a narrow gap where it drops from 50-250' deep. With a strong current 4 times a day on the incoming and outgoing tides. This is an area where there is a massive water exchange on each tide and certainly the best case possible for a lower temperature reading...

The water exchange on the western end of Long Island Sound is quite a bit less...

—

"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,

Submitted by janis b on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 1:13am

I’m trying to understand.

Are you saying that the decline is related to the deficiency of oxygen (due to insufficient exchange of water), and rising temperatures; but not the leaching of chemicals?

Submitted by Oldest Son Of A... on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 2:59am

It is more the higher temperature...

Than anything else, The lobster fishery was in distress 2 years before the 1st round of mosquito spraying...

This fisherman operates in the heart of the warmest areas of the sound with the least water exchange and frequent oxygen depletions in the summer. Yet hams it up whenever there is a microphone in front of him... He's in denial...

The fact is that Long Island Sound is converting to a warm water fishery. He can either sell off his equipment and get another occupation or wait for the Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) to make its way north. However, the spiny lobster has no where near the commercial value of the American Lobster which is a true lobster. The American lobster has claws with meat as well as the tail and the meat is much firmer and more tasteful...

It is unlikely they will arrive soon, as they wouldn't winter here with the cold winter water temperatures. The waters of Long Island Sound fluctuate annually about 77ºF and can change quickly with a single storm mixing up the temperature layers...

Fish can at least swim quickly to migrate from danger, while lobster walk across the bottom...

—

"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,

Submitted by janis b on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 3:41am

Thank you for the clarification and link

I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge for many reasons. One, I am always interested in the ongoing works of nature in all its myriad ways (even when tragic, as in this scenario); and two, because I have a personal relationship to the area you are referencing. I spent many formative years in southern CT and in the waters of LI sound, and continue to on my annual visits.

I was shocked to read of the entrance of the venomous lionfish. As much as I enjoy sashimi, I could never muster the nerve to sample the Japanese delicacy of the lionfish. I hope I don't meet one on my next visit.

Submitted by riverlover on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 7:03pm

In a former life a decade back

I was collaborating with a biologist at USFWS (fish and wildlife). He is Hawaii-based. We were working on a sea turtle disease, he was also a coral biologist. From what I recall, bleaching events occur when the temperature gets too hot, and the strange colonial creatures of corals spit out their algal partners. I think (not researched) that much science is trying to fast-select for corals that can persist at higher temps. Other science is working out ways to re-seed abandoned calcium structures or manmade equivalents with baby coral species, grown in lab.

The killing is pollution and pH change that is happening with CO2 absorption into oceans. Mitigation is needed there, IMO, slightly misinformed as it may be.

—

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Submitted by Oldest Son Of A... on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 7:12pm

Maybe we can get the hydrocarbon fuel industry...

To pay for studies to develop seafood, which thrives in carbonic acid seas...
Funding to be set at 200% of their yearly profit each year...

—

"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 10:43pm

Research that tries to maintain our status quo

We'll try this, we will try that but do not ask us to give up fossil fuels. Do not tell us to try to end the car culture that depends on fossil fuels. That's what's heating the planet.

At TOP there's a "good news" diary praising fracking. Fracking and the increased production and use of methane has cut the use of coal. So it's easy for that kind of limited thinking because it's a simple: carbon vs methane. They seem to think methane is okay just because it's not a fossil fuel. It's not that simple.

Here's a thorough analysis and easy for non-scientists to understand too:

Methane vs. Carbon Dioxide: A Greenhouse Gas Showdown
Methane
Here’s the kicker: methane, the gas produced extensively by the livestock industry worldwide, traps up to 100 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide within a 5 year period, and 72 times more within a 20 year period. The good news is that methane also leaves the atmosphere within a decade. This makes for a short-lived, but intense climate changer.

So methane warms the planet rapidly, but it dissipates from the atmosphere more quickly than carbon dioxide. According the EPA, the GWP of methane is 21, which indicates its effect over a 100 year period. A 2009 report published by The World Watch Institute stressed that the more relevant GWP figure is 72, since it’s within the next 20 years that we desperately need to act to stop climate change before a domino effect is initiated and our imbalanced bio-systems spiral out of livable conditions.

To put it another way, any methane molecule released today is 100 times more heat-trapping than a molecule of carbon dioxide, or potentially even higher according to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by janis b on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 12:56am

New Zealand produces lots of methane agriculturally,

and from landfills. Because of this it is doing research into how to reduce methane. One trial seems innovative and beneficial. "A "brilliant" initiative which turns methane gas into electricity could prove to be a winner for the Hastings District Council and Pioneer Energy." The other is questionable.

NZ also has tons of water, but it’s management and maintenance needs much improvement.

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 10:45pm

Re Fracking, look what that is doing to our water

and there's no substitute for water.

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by Lenzabi on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 11:56pm

Frack the fracking

Fracking is damaging the water supply, yes, but the people praising the natural gas and methane it provides do not get how much worse Methane is than carbon! It actually is liable to speed up the warming cycle by a factor of 4 times what is going on now under carbon. And with how slow Humanity is to adjust with all the arguing. legalese, and other nonsense, while folks are waking up and shifting, it may be beyond the ability to fix things. It is those who are under the spell, and Greed virus, who want to keep the status quo, they are in the way of getting what needs to be done as quickly as it needs to be done, they have cared only about their short term monetary gains and not about the care-taking of the planet Eco-system so that their offspring can enjoy it all.

—

So long, and thanks for all the fish

Submitted by riverlover on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 5:32am

Check #SaveSenecaLake and the protests

As part of the grand power companies plan for natural gas transport to the Northeast, pipelines, waystations, fuel reserves are in the works. One is to use existing salt caverns (from salt extraction) under Seneca Lake for propane storage. 100,000 people rely on that fresh water source, which is already becoming "salty" due to leaching. What could possibly go wrong? Protests with arrests are made daily.

—

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Submitted by Pricknick on Wed, 04/13/2016 - 11:51pm

We came

from water. There is no possible other explanation.
We know little of where we came from, the water, yet we wish to explore other worlds.
It's the completion backwards principle.
We are truly fucked.

—

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Submitted by LeChienHarry on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 7:36am

Thanks for this. I wonder, has any group, researchers, done any

modeling of the domino effect of losing high percentages of corals world-wide? If it leads to or adds to fish and other ocean die-offs, how does that effect the land-based systems?

It seems to me biology, oceans, weather, climate, are inextricably linked. Just don't know if anyone is looking into the implications.

We are almost daily being told that predictions of ice-melt, warming, and climate change have been underestimated in their scope and the speed of change.

I assume the same in this realm.

—

You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce

If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.

Submitted by NCTim on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 9:23am

Thanks Marilyn

Climate Denying Think Tank With Ties to Exxon Gets Subpoenaed

The industry-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute, with its long history of promoting inaccurate science and policies to discredit climate change, is now caught up in the "Exxon Knew" scandal.

—

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Submitted by featheredsprite on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 11:38am

I shared

I shared this post with the Green Party on facebook.

—

Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

Submitted by MarilynW on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 2:41pm

Thank you for sharing

I put it on my FB page so I hope my people visited this site. My friends and family whom I dearly love seem to be mostly interested in cute animal videos.

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by Lady Libertine on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 3:02pm