cortez marine":13fl2pe7 said:
I'm with Kalk,
We must do something about the new danger to the reefs he has singlehandedly exposed...eel rubbing! Stopping the eel rubbing is going to take a long time. We need research, an infrastructure to campaign with and serious grant money.
Soon, entire careers, big salaries and major funding may arise to deal with this new threat to our beloved reefs. Thanks Kalk. Lets start a new thread on this and finally get serious.
I have often wondered about these partially burned corals but lacked the insight, the courage and the vision to bring it forth. Mike, others and I imagined it to be cyanide burn but we were apparently mistaken...Now, a visionary has arisen in the East to show us the way.
Count me in for support.
Steve
PS.Seperate group or could AMDA host an eel rubbing section on its website to help kick things off?
Steve,
Obviously, you are not getting out enough. Just such a campaign is already in place.
Some time ago, a number of sharp-eyed and sharp-witted people in the Philippines recognized that eel rubbing was killing corals. Somebody knew somebody who knew somebody who knew the President, so she was informed of the reef crisis situation.
In a way that only President Arroyo can...she belted out to her fellow Pinoys,
"We, as a united country, must do something about this terrible eel rubbing that is destroying our precious coral reefs. Now there is nothing wrong with an eel, until that eel rubs. It is the rubbing that has got to stop. We have got to bring an end to the rubbing that the eels do when they rub!!!! Unlike hard-working people like you and I, eels really don't have anything to do all day. Apparently they just start rubbing, and continue rubbing until they kill the reef. We have got to stop the eels from rubbing or stop the eels before they rub!" And with that she stormed off.
During his weekly 6 minutes of free time, Ron Popeil heard her frantic public address on his pocket shortwave radio. He immediately set to work on inventing and perfecting a tool that the Philippine people could use to control the eels. He had to stop the eels from rubbing.
He first thought of rubber or plastic guards to put on the coral to protect it. He rejected that idea when it was suggested that shipping the corals to a factory that could install the guards would create too much of a delay in actually solving the problem.
He then thought of that rope system that keeps people in orderly lines at banks and theaters. He figured that he might be able to set up something like that on reefs to keep the eels from rubbing. Then he realized that an eel is already like a rope, and that an eel is not likely to take guidance or orders from a rope.
He finally set upon the idea that one would have to go after the eels directly. He quickly began to draw plans for the
Moray-O-Matic, a series of high-technology revolving blades incorporated with a laser sighting system. A reef-saver type person simply points the device towards an eel, lines up the laser sighting system and pulls the trigger. Within 5 seconds the eel is chopped, sliced and diced, so to speak.
Although I have never seen a Popeil
Moray-O-Matic device, I have seen the results.
Long live the reef!