" Death of Coral Reefs could devestate nations"

[Hannawa]

An article I saw on yahoo news.

"Many Caribbean countries get nearly half their gross national product from visitors seeking tropical underwater experiences."

"The economic damage could be enormous. Ocean fisheries provide direct employment to at least 38 million people worldwide, with an additional 162 million people indirectly involved in the industry, according to the U.N."

Wow that is a loooooot of people!

[toddmh]

reefs have been around for millions of years through cataclysmic changes in the earth we can only imagine..

I don't believe for a second that all the worlds reefs could die off,but it is good tactically for people that depend on reefs and people with other special interests to report things like this..

[superkat]

Originally Posted by toddmh

reefs have been around for millions of years through cataclysmic changes in the earth we can only imagine..

I don't believe for a second that all the worlds reefs could die off,but it is good tactically for people that depend on reefs and people with other special interests to report things like this..

i.e. let's add a couple more zeros or decimal points to your purchase. I do agree that there is a need to protect the fragile nature of our oceans...that we should start taking extreme care to not inflict damage that is irreversible...but we can not always believe what we read....especially in the media...

[mr86mister]

Aquaculture aquaculture aquaculture!!!!! It is a must! Grow and share your corals locally. If you pick out of the oceans now then.... Just kidding about being so aggressive. It is extremely important to start sharing from tank to tank now. If you have the money and the time to start building aquaculture vats, do it. You could make a pretty penny but at least we know we aren't taking things out of the ocean!

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

Let's remember this to:

Reefs have survived.
However, many "reef creatures" such as corals and others,
have changed or given way to new species where old ones died out.

Due to most likely the development & changes of things in the environment as the earth itself had changed over many many times.
New creatures arise with these new environments, & some old live on because they adapt.

But the oceans we see today are NOT the ones of ages past.
They've gone through evolutionary changes at every level.

The question is, what is the difference between "natural" progression in this and changes that are "un naturally" caused by man via his practices, inventions, and pollution?

The earth in all of it's periods, with all it's stages of different lifeforms, has been going on a lot longer than mankind has been alive. But mankind has most likely caused more "un natural" change than anything before us had done.

Mankind is the only living creature that has really "created" things himself. Some not so good. Some that do damage to the environment. In ways that come about un naturally as opposed to natural planetary changes and evolution.

Dinosaurs disapeared most likely from internal planetary changes having to probably do with coming changes within our solar system in space as well.
It changed the earth and it's habitats. Those that could not adapt died off and new creatures appeared.

But this was a natural happening whether in the planet itself or from the cosmos somehow. It was NOT caused by the creatures and lifeforms living on the earth itself.

That's the difference between the past ages of then and the now New Age of Man.

Man has "created" things himself and brought about "un natural causes" for bad and damaging things upon the earth.

I don't think the earth is going to come to an end or some ridiculous thought.
But NO one can deny that mankinds progress with ourselves HAS un naturally damaged the planet.

Does anyone know that 90 % percent of the nations citrus product comes from California and about 70% of our peaches come from there as well.
What does that have to do with any of this??
Bees polinate most of this crop and without them we would not be able to grow these foods effectively.

You see, Bees are dying each year at an alarming rate. (The good ones that is) like honey bees. They say it's changes in the environment. Changes that are hard to detect and pin down to exactly what. But over many years if not decades, most likely induced by a manmade or man caused effect on the environment for them. It's not just in the ocean. It's on land too. Just think as crazy as it sounds, what if you could not get any of those foods? I think somewhere, A LOT of people are going to feel the impact.

People do need to realize that globally, mankind has caused difficult to deal with- changes on the environment. I'm not a psycho type activist. Or a "oh my the sky is falling type".

But seriously, unless we make changes over a period of time, the earth is going to go through negative changes and decline.

As I watched on a net geo special- many reefs may eventually become nasty Jellyfish fields. Interesting, scientists have even shown certain pollution and changes in the area water conditions cause "Blooms" of these to form and take over whole eco systems destroying everything in their wake.

Brought on by manmade pollution and dumping, spills etc..
Also temperature "Fluctuations" supposedly caused by the ozone problems.
Yeah, maybe global warming too. That "term" that everyone balks at and hates.