dead reefs

[chuckg5]

Just got back from sailing in the fl. Keys. made it down to Key West an back up to Coconut Grove. Dove on the reefs down in Key Largo on Molassess Reef. Its dead. We were on our 42 Vagabond and grabbed one of the moorings. Surrounded by 8 or 10 dive boats all with tourist, snorkling and scuba. we dove over the side and luckly had fins on, the current was strong and might have taken me away if not for the fins! The reef thou was 95% dead. Maybe 5% had living coral, the rest was gray an filled with sea grass for the colorful fish to feed on. I lived in the Keys in the 70's and it was a real living reef. I know, 'the good old days' but I don't think all those tourist knew what they were witnessing. Has anyone else experinced this?

[brak]

I dove on Molasses reef a few times this year and it was quite alive, at least where I saw it. Quite a bit of coral - perhaps not the kind of stuff you see in Caribbean (no native elkhorn) but nice coral nevertheless.

It is true that some reefs around the Keys are fairly dead (American shoal is all seaweed for example, and Alligator reef is spotty). Others are in pretty good shape - Molasses seemed to be the latter as is Looe key.

[chuckg5]

thank you for the positive feedback. I wish I saw that living reef. The mooring balls are directly in front of the Molassess Reef lite and we were on the closest ball. In about 20 feet of water. very gray an broken coral. I'll be back next year and take some photos.

[Brezzin]

I've dove all of those. French reef is my favorite because of the swim troughs. Key West is even worse as far as dead reefs go. There is hope though. They are finding that reefs can revive at a faster rate than previously thought and there are plenty of scientists committed to this area of research.

Dr. Mary Hagedorn a Smithsonian fellow currently at the University of Hawaii is one of these committed people.


‪Meet Our Scientist: Mary Hagedorn - Coral Science‬‏ - YouTube

Help Mary Save Coral | Home

[DGLawrence]

May we assume that the mooring balls around the reefs in the Keys are located so that we will not fetch up on the reef with our almost 7 ft draft?
We are looking at going to the Keys this winter.

[Capt Len]

It's the same dead reef problem in the Andaman Sea Thailand. Every year it's worse.Could it have something to do with temperature and acidity? The oysters and mussels in B.C. are not doing well either. Maybe there's a connection?

[Chadfunk48]

I see this post is old but,

Yes Len, a great deal of research points in the direction that it is more temperature than acidity (pH). The species of coral that have evolved to live in these waters cannot take the 1-2 degree change in water temperature that is happening and are simlpy dying. There is a arge amountl of info on the web if you are interested further.