A Solution for Coral Reefs in Peril

Alien54 writes "At the recent Coral Reef Symposium in Bali, Indonesia, scientists concluded that most of the world's ocean reefs have been killed or severely damaged with the remainder in certain jeopardy. Disastrous reverses in reef health threaten marine biodiversity, tourism, fisheries and shore protection worldwide. Reefs die for many reasons: rising water temperatures, sewage flows, eutrophication, disease, and negligence. A reef ecosystem that took hundreds of years to grow can be destroyed in a single afternoon by dredging, dynamite or cyanide fishing. But there is a solution. In pilot installations in Mexico, Panama, Indonesia, Maldives, Thailand, and Papua New Guinea, artificial reefs have been built where corals grow rapidly even in stressed environments. Applying a low voltage electrical current (completely safe for swimmers and marine life) to a submerged conductive structure causes dissolved mineral crystals in seawater to preciptate and adhere to that structure. Surviving coral fragments are mechanically attached, and end up doing very well indeed. During the 1998 warming, fewer than 5% of the natural reef corals survived. But on the artificial reefs, 80% of corals not only survived, they flourished. Corals from these reefs are now recolonizing the surrounding natural habitats."

Comments

Cyanide Fishing ??

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

I guess I'll switch my usual Filet-O-Fish for a Big Mac.

A Solution in Peril?

[Njoyda Sauce]

I thought the solution was in peril. Damn those sneaky barnacles!

Re:A Solution in Peril?

[jepaton]

Of course it is. Install Reef::Coral from CPAN and execute the following perl script:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Reef::Coral;
Reef::Coral->save("all");

Re:A Solution in Peril?

[gibson_81]

No no no ... that's a solution in Perl, not a solution in Peril =)

Who was it?

[SightlessMind]

Reefs die for many reasons: rising water temperatures, sewage flows, eutrophication, disease, and negligence.

OK, Billy. Explain to me again what you were doing last week when you should have been feeding the reef!!!

I wonder if any of the advertising agencies...

[The_REAL_DZA]

...will get the idea to lay such cables in patterns designed to "grow" a company's logo? Imagine the irony of a series of coral reefs that spells out

E X X O N

Of course, Life magazine might get a circulation boost out of it.

IT'S ALIVE!

[CountBrass]

That's all we need: Franken-Coral.

Re:cyanide fishing...

[GigsVT]

Good Lord - I've heard about this - cat juggling! Stop! Stop! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Good. Father, could there be a god that would let this happen?

Perl?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, Who read 'Perl' and not 'Peril' and wondered how regular expressions could be good for the environment?

Re:Stop this

[julesh]

Coral is my girlfriend and this thread keeps getting weirder.

That's because its all a bizarre dream. I mean, really. You have nothing better to do than post amusing comments on slashdot. You don't _really_ have a girlfriend! ;)

Finally, I can dump my toxins again!

[desertfish]

I've been storing hundreds of gallons of polychlorinated biphenyls in the back of my shop for years. Now maybe I can dump them into the big drink again without suffering the wrath of that damned coral-hugging MIT hippie in his little Zodiac.