Maui vs. Caribbean ... Reef Grabbing

[MauiScubaSteve]

To touch the coral, with bare hands or gloves, means transferring bacteria and other stuff on to the coral and that part will die...

Are you sure that holds for all coral, all over the world. Like I said earlier I am one of the enforcers, but I do not believe in propaganda; I believe in education. Reef-er madness is not education!

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Do Hawkfish kill coral when they perch on it? Not advocating humans touching coral, but just saying.... I actually don't know, but almost every coral head has one of these little guys hangin' out....

Best wishes.

 

[ReeferBen]

Do Hawkfish kill coral when they perch on it? Not advocating humans touching coral, but just saying.... I actually don't know, but almost every coral head has one of these little guys hangin' out....

Nope, the corals are fine with it. There are plenty of fish on the reef that do actually eat corals though. Ever notice how much more the polyps are open at night vs. day, some of this has to do with all the polyp pickers out during the day.

Being an aquarium enthusiast and a HUGE supporter of aquaculture practices

Assuming you have a reef tank, any pics?

have transitioned from an attitude of wanton destruction of our environment to an attitude of actively caring for it.

or atleast acting, and talking like we care about it lol. Yet the destruction of the reefs continues as our populations continue to grow, and we continue to develop, often in a destructive way. In any case I hope I am just being the pessimist in this and things really will change for the better.

How often do we see reports like these:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6652866.ece

 

[OneRestlessNative]

Assuming you have a reef tank, any pics?



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Yes, I do have an aquarium. Unfortunately I'm at work and can't post a photo at this time. I'll try this weekend if I get a chance. I have yet to venture into the hard coral keeping aspect of this hobby. I have read in some depth the needs and requirements for sucessfully keeping corals of that nature and I'm choosing to wait untill I feel comfortable keeping and maintaining them. I have only had my tank up about 2 years and have some various mushrooms, zooanthid, anthelia colonies(soft corals), and a few fish. There is so much to learn about propper husbandry of the reef aquarium and keeping a healthy happy tank. It has only made me MORE aware how fragile this ecosystem is and how subtle changes can have detrimental effects in very rapid timeframe... There are some absolutely stunning, healthy, flourishing, full blown reef tanks out there and the technology, imformation, and practice has come a LONG way in the past decade or so...... I suspect in the future as the reefs continue to decline, people will look to sucessfull aquarists and aquaculturists to help aid in replentishing the natural ecosystems if we havent damaged them beyond repair.

 

[String]

Are you sure that holds for all coral, all over the world. Like I said earlier I am one of the enforcers, but I do not believe in propaganda; I believe in education. Reef-er madness is not education!

Im not sure that follows totally anywhere despite the claims. The chances of land based bacteria surviving on the skin of a dive in salt water for any length of time which is then able to infect and spread a marine organism is small indeed.

I've heard the bacterial transfer anecdote many times but never actually seen documented proof this is in fact the case.

 

[ReeferBen]

There is so much to learn about propper husbandry of the reef aquarium and keeping a healthy happy tank. It has only made me MORE aware how fragile this ecosystem is and how subtle changes can have detrimental effects in very rapid timeframe...

Couldn't agree with you more. Ive been in the hobby for about 13-14 years now and still learn new things all the time. It absolutely makes you more aware of the fragile nature of reefs, and able to recognize corals, along with coral ailments. You should check out reef2reef.com they are a real good group of reefers there.

Sorry to get off track everyone.

 

[DennisS]

Nope, the corals are fine with it. There are plenty of fish on the reef that do actually eat corals though. Ever notice how much more the polyps are open at night vs. day, some of this has to do with all the polyp pickers out during the day.

Parrotfish are a good example, coral in, sand out.

 

[Scuba Monster]

Some days the shotgun is only a bb gun; some days it is a bazooka; some days the same group of divers will each have a different velocity to negotiate. It was easy for you, when you went through.

I position myself next to the shotgun (left in the picture) and if you had not followed my example for safe exiting procedures I would have stopped you and made you follow instructions. Sure, you made it, but what if the next person, with less skill than you had a more powerful surge to deal with; your example of not following instructions could have caused another diver to be injured.

There are only a couple small pieces of black coral inside the Cathedral, and no coral of any kind anywhere near the shotgun.

Good point

 

[Scuba Monster]

Are you sure that holds for all coral, all over the world. Like I said earlier I am one of the enforcers, but I do not believe in propaganda; I believe in education. Reef-er madness is not education!

What is "Reef-er madness?"

All I am saying is that understand and respect the sensitivity of the reef system. If you don't know what not to touch, then don't touch it. What is the point of someone grabbing live coral to take a photo, when they have been asked not to? In my opinion it is disrespectful, not madness.

In my earlier example, not just about the coral, I had a diver manhandle a remora that ended up on my leg, which I wasn't crazy about. This never would have happened if he left it alone in the first place. I've seen remoras try to hitch a ride on divers that were just swimming by, but this guy pulled it off of a sleeping nurse shark. Consequently the thing hitched a ride on me ... and those things are ugly too!

You're point about the shoot at Cathedrals is well taken.

 

[elmer fudd]

Let me start this off by saying I DO NOT ADVOCATE touching the reef for any reason, and it is not something that I do. BUT saying that touching a coral kills it is a pretty far fetched statement. Being an aquarium enthusiast and a HUGE supporter of aquaculture practices, here is a video on just how resilient coral can be during the "fragging" process to generate multiple new corals from one existing mother colony. Note the bare hands and crude implements.....

YouTube - Fragging and mounting an Acropora with coral shears

YouTube - Fragging corals frog spawn

YouTube - Frag an Anemone


YouTube - Zoanthid Reef Fragging - The Planet Coral Fragging demonstrations on real live Coral.

Those practices above are done for aquarium and reef replenishing programs worldwide with great success.

That's interesting. I'd always heard about how delicate the coral was, but then when I saw the way sea turtles would bump up against and gnaw on it in Hawaii I began having some doubts. Considering that sea turtles seem pretty much impervious to the stuff and seem to routinely bump up against it in ways that would shred wetsuits and that in the past there would have been far more of them, perhaps we're blaming diminishing coral on the wrong thing.

I'm not saying that we haven't caused the poor health of the coral reefs or that we should start using them as jungle gyms, but I am thinking that their decline probably has little or nothing to do with people touching it, except in certain very high use locations. I'm guessing the decline in coral is probably 99.9% related to things like bad drain fields, fertilizer runoff, pesticides and bottom trawling.