There is a project somewhat like this in Eilat too. When i was diving last summer, a scientist snorkled above us in order to see the different places that we visited. She interviewed me and my dive buddy after the dive to find out what we saw, what we thought was missing, how the university nearby could help out... they, too, are "planting" aquacultured corals into the sea.
There was an IMAX film I saw at the Museum of Natural History maybe 5 years ago about a team of photographer/scientists who wanted to figure out why a particular reef off an island near Fiji had pretty much died. I don't remember what it was called, but it was the culmination of years of research, and it was beautiful - it led the viewers through the recognition of the problem, attempt to get funding to understand it, all the theories they went through and then their conclusions -- all in movie form with sad sad sad images of this dead/dying reef... but it ended hopefully - they figured that there were many things killing that reef that were fixable, and they were working to educate the islanders to bring the reef back - since it was a MAJOR source of the island's economy, they were amenable to change.
that's the main thing here - this was a story about one reef that pretty much sustained an island community. This country does not feel the pain of the world's reefs in that intimate way.
Thought you might like the link below to a May 1 NY Times article and video on efforts of mariculture sps corals to rehabilitate Florida reefs. It was pretty interesting to me to learn that mariculture faces the same RTN and other problems we face in aquaculture and tanks.
wow that place looks like the ultimate frag swap! lol jk
thats what i want to do someday. put my skills of keeping ocean creatures miles away from the ocean to good use. i think what theyre doing is great! i hope the reefs get better.
i always wonder if being a reefer means that we want to protect the reefs or keep them in our tanks....:scratchch :scratchch :scratchch
The IMAX Daisy mentioned is coral reef adventure its still around. If you live in Nassau county it plays at the cradle of aviation by Nassau community college great documentary.
Bump for great movie -- it really was well-done, and my kids loved it, too - there is a scene where they go searching for the one part of the reef ecosystem that will tell them that the reef is truly doing okay - grey reef sharks. I won't tell you whether or not they find them, but it's a cool part of the movie...
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!..I think I'll stick around this forum..just skimming around seems like a lot of serious reefers here and would love to be part of this community.
Plus you provide a spell check!..I'm in!-Dave
Excellent!...exactly what I wanted to hear,I just hope I don't get "banned"...I don't have much in the way of a thought filter,removed it from my sump years ago-D