A World of Give and Take

A teeming coral reef [credit: JonLoach]

I’m skimming the headlines from this year’s International Coral Reef Symposium.

“One third of reef-building corals face extinction”
“Where are coral reef fish going?”
“Most reef fishes in Main Hawaiian Islands are depleted”

Now it’s not unusual for the state of our oceans to put me, a marine scientist in my imaginary life, into a depressive stupor. Yet today on my other internet tabs I also see that Fannie and Freddie are five trillion dollars in, and I’m trying to find an affordable apartment in Manhattan. Things all around are grim. I’m looking for a positive. I skim the symposium page again. A giant sea vacuum saving coral reefs? I had forgotten about these!

Researchers at the University of Hawaii are using the “Super Sucker” to slurp suffocating alien algae off reefs (the algae, but of course, was introduced by humans). Algae threatens reefs because it blocks out sunlight and seawater, essentially choking coral. The sucked up booty – as much as 800 pounds an hour – is then spread out on mesh tabletop, at which point native organisms are removed and thrown back into the sea while the offending algae is bagged to become organic fertilizer. After vacuuming the area, conservationists plan to release native sea urchins into the water, where the echinoderm will eat away at any of the remaining invader. Word is vacuumed reefs are looking cleaner. How about that: Humans finding ways to fix up their environmental messes. Score.

Another news item coming out of the conference is that Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed two preservation-friendly bills, one extending Forever Florida, “the world’s largest conservation land buying program,” and the other limiting sewage discharge into the Atlantic. I’m sure there’s fine print – like sewage can still be thrown into the sea everyday but Tuesdays after the full moon – however the motions cheer me regardless.

And ooo, here’s another spirit-lifting one from the symposium: new coral reef structures – possibly untouched by humans! – were just discovered in Brazil. According to the press release, scientists believe their existence nearly doubles the reef acreage of the Abrolhos Bank in the South Atlantic, a swath of coral largely considered one of the most important reef structures in the world. 'Untouched land, newly found.' It rings of Magellan and it’s heartening to know there are still places out there not many have set eyes upon. Let’s hope ocean trawlers and water pollution stay away.

Oh! And look here: A place to live! In Brooklyn. That has no sink in the bathroom. Or window in the bedroom. And is right next to the trash bins. But, hey – at this point, I’ll take what I can get.