Scientists detail unprecedented loss of coral reef species during 2010 cold weather event

Miami – August 26, 2011 – Remember the frozen iguanas falling from trees during Florida’s 2010 record-breaking cold snap? Well, a new study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science shows that Florida’s corals also dropped in numbers due to the bitter cold ocean conditions.

“It was a major setback,” said Diego Lirman, associate professor at the UM Rosenstiel School and lead author of the study. “Centuries-old coral colonies were lost in a matter of days.”

The chilly January temperatures caused the most catastrophic loss of corals within the Florida Reef Tract, which spans 160 miles (260 kilometers) from Miami to the Dry Tortugas and is the only living barrier reef in the continental U.S.

The Florida Reef Resilience team, a rapid-response research group comprised of scientists and resource managers, conducted a month-long survey of 76 reefs sites for Miami to Key West during and shortly after the unusually cold weather.

The research team compared the mortality rates of corals from the cold event to warm-water events, such as the highly publicized bleaching event in 2005, and concluded that cold-water events cause more widespread morality than warm-water events. The results were published in the August 2011 issue of the journal PLOS One.

The study found coral mortality reached over 40-percent for several important reef-building species and that smaller size colonies in shallow and near-shore coral reefs were hardest hit. This is in contrast to a four-percent decline during warm-water events that typically impact larger size colonies. Coral species that had previously proven tolerant to high temperatures were most affected by the cold-water event.

“This was the single worst event on record for Florida corals,” said Lirman.

“The 2010 cold-water anomaly not only caused widespread coral mortality but also reversed prior resistance and resilience patterns that will take decades to recover,” the authors conclude.

Ice-cold Arctic air swept into Florida in early January 2010, plummeting air temperatures to an all-time low of 30ºF (1ºC) and dropping ocean temperatures to a chilly 51ºF (11ºC).

Florida’s reefs are located in a marginal environment at the northernmost limit for coral development. Corals have adapted to a specific temperature range and are typically not found in water below 60ºF (16ºC).

Changes in climate patterns as well as others impacts, such as coastal development, pollution, over-fishing and disease have put added stress on coral reefs worldwide. The authors cite the need to improve ecosystem resilience through reef restoration, pollution reduction efforts and the use of management tools, such as marine protected areas, in order for coral reefs to survive future large-scale disturbances.

“We can’t protect corals from such an extreme event but we can mitigate other stresses to help them recover,” said Lirman.

The paper, titled “Severe 2010 Cold-Water Event Caused Unprecedented Mortality to Corals of the Florida Reef Tract and Reversed Previous Survivorship Patterns,” was supported by the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, The Nature Conservancy, and the ARRA program.

– University of Miami Rosenstiel School News

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In an effort to share my outrage with the world, I took my newly found trash — the “Stars and Stripes” fishing bait box – to the internet. What I discovered is that our society, however ashamed of it, enables these offenders. If ocean conservationists want to tackle this problem in the real world, we need to reach beyond the current message and audience to find real-world solutions.

A dose of psychology might help us face reality.

Here’s the response I received when I took my litter campaign to the internet and my assessment of it.
“Sometimes the bait boxes blow overboard and can’t be retrieved. Let’s hope this was just an accident, not intentional littering.” In my armchair psychological opinion, this is an enabler’s response.

The term “enabler” is described as “third parties who take responsibility, blame, or make accommodations for a person’s harmful conduct.”

What this reply says to me is “Oh, it’s not their fault, it’s the environment’s fault.” Should we be blaming third parties (or a gust of wind) for the intentional act of a single person? No and I won’t accept this excuse. This box clearly didn’t blow off a boat. It was in perfect condition, sitting on the rocks overlooking the gorgeous blue ocean waiting for its proper disposal.

And, how often do boxes fly off boats anyway? Is this a problem that can be fixed?

I tried to share my outrage directly with “Stars and Stripes” but I cannot find them on the internet. I’m not outraged at “Stars and Stripes,” in fact, I wanted to commend them for including the responsible messaging on their bait boxes. I’d like to hope that at least some of their customers read it and, in turn, do the right thing. Maybe they can tackle the “boxes flying off the boat” problem next.

But clearly their message, however obvious (for those who speak English at least), isn’t getting through to all customers. This is where I blame the ocean conservation world. In my opinion, the messages about marine debris are barely reaching the target audience.
Here’s an example from another response I received following my internet outrage campaign:
“trash and debris, and the harm it causes our marine life is a sad sight indeed! Through education and outreach, [we] hope to make people understand the role they can play in protecting the environment, versus degrading it. Check back soon and we’ll share some of our marine debris resources for our fans.”

Although a good first step, I don’t need these resources. I, like your other fans, know this – that’s why we are fans. We get it, but that person, fishing down the street, doesn’t get it — even when it’s staring him in the face. How can we make HIM, and those enabling him to continue trashing the ocean, get it?

An article by Michael J. Formica in Psychology Today sums it up nicely “pitting who we are against who we believe that we should be in order to then be in the world as we see it.”

We can all close out eyes and see a trash-free world. But we all need to open our eyes a bit wider to acknowledge there is a problem.

– Annie Reisewitz
I also want to acknowledge a response that I liked:
“We could enforce littering fines. It might curb some of the littering!” good idea!

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This is the sad and ironic scene I discovered while in The Florida Keys last weekend. Obviously this was not an effective message for one “Stars and Stripes” fishing bait customer.

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An international team of scientists assessed the population status of several fish species for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

A new study by top fisheries experts presents an alarming assessment of several economically important fish populations. The analysis of 61 species of “scombrids,” which includes tunas, bonitos, mackerels and Spanish mackerels, and billfishes, which include swordfish and marlins, classified seven as threatened with extinction, four as “near threatened” for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Billfish Landing in Ghana/David Die

University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science associate Professor David Die and colleagues scientifically evaluated the species population and conservation status under the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, which is the most widely accepted system for classifying extinction risk at the species level.

“The IUCN assessments offer an alternative that can be used by fishery management organizations to assess conservation status of marine resources,” said Die, who has conducted research on highly migratory tuna and billfish for 12 years.

Die conducts research on highly migratory tunas and billfish and regularly contributes to assessments of Atlantic billfish and Atlantic tropical tunas. He contributed information on abundance trends and biological parameters for the Atlantic species of large tunas and billfish participated in this recent IUCN review study.

Of the 61 known species, seven are classified in a threatened category, being at serious risk of extinction. Four species are listed as Near Threatened and nearly two-thirds have been placed in the Least Concern category.

According to the IUCN there is growing concern that in spite of the healthy status of several epipelagic fish stocks (those living near the surface), some scombrid and billfish species are being heavily overfished, and there is a lack of resolve to protect against overexploitation driven by high prices.

Global fish populations are under pressure from overfishing, pollution, habitat degradation, and disease. In 2005 the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) determined that 70% of the world’s commercially important marine fish stocks were fully fished, overexploited, or depleted.

Scombrids and billfishes are found throughout the world’s oceans, primarily in tropical and temperate coastal and marine regions and vary greatly in size and lifespan. The largest billfish, the Blue Marlin, and largest scombrid species, the Atlantic Bluefin, can grow to more than 4-meters long. In contrast, the smallest scombrid species, the Indian Mackerel, only grows to a maximum of 31 centimeters.

The health of ocean fisheries is assessed in several different ways. The IUCN review seeks to identify species threatened by extinction where as fisheries management evaluations focus on a population’s sustainability of exploitation.

“The two processes have different objectives,” said Die. “So conclusion on conservation status of some species may slightly differ between the two processes.”

The study, titled “High Value and Long Life—Double Jeopardy for Tunas and Billfishes,” was published in the July 7 online issue of the journal Science.

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