Coral disease and monitoring in the Florida Keys. (Marine Matters).

Introduction

In 1943, Emile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau invented the "aqua lung," which for the first time gave divers freedom of movement beneath the sea. It is astonishing to realize that the first generation to SCUBA dive and interact with the world beneath the sea may be the last to experience coral reefs unaffected by modern civilization's pollution. A study on coral reefs released in 2001 by the United Nations Environment Program's World Conservation Monitoring Center reported that the world's coral reefs cover a much smaller area than once thought and that coral reefs around the world are disappearing at alarming rates. Globally, coral reefs cover 113,720 square miles, less than one tenth of one percent of the oceans, yet are home to 25% of all of marine life that has been identified by man.

Threats to corals

The world's oceans are affected by 2.3 trillion gallons of sewage effluent that is dumped into coastal waters every year and 2.8 billion gallons of industrial wastes that are discharged into the oceans every day (Boesch et al. 2001). Both of the above-mentioned sources of pollution are point sources of pollution because of the way they reach the water, through pipes and/or channels.

Nonpoint sources of pollution reach the ocean as surface runoff, atmospheric deposition, and through ground water. It is misleading to think that point source pollution is the only pollution affecting the marine environment. In 1993, it was reported that 77% of the total nutrients reaching Chesapeake Bay were from nonpoint sources (Olivieri 1997). Nonpoint sources of pollution are most likely responsible for escalating the incidence of coral disease on remote reefs through out the world. The incredible amount of atmospheric pollution generated from Mexico City alone was estimated at 12,000 tons per day in 1997. A 1998 report released by the World Health Organization indicated that, in China, 21 million tons of sulfur dioxide, 14 million tons of smoke-filled dust, and 13 million tons of suspended particulate matter were released into the atmosphere in a one-year period (EIA 2001). An ongoing study by Dr. Eugene A. Shinn of the US Geological Survey has been observing the connection between African dust and coral disease in the Caribbean (Shinn 2000). Hundreds of millions of tons of this dust, laden with mercury, pesticides and bacteria are atmospherically transported across the Atlantic Ocean every year, potentially creating one of the largest nonpoint sources of pollution affecting Caribbean coral reefs.

Corals are stationary animals and can only be as healthy as the water that passes over them. The ocean water passing over the coral reefs in the Florida Keys contains a potpourri of point source pollutants from as far away as South and Central America that are carried to the reefs via the largest moving body of water in the world, the Gulf Stream. Closer to Florida's reefs, polluted storm water from South Florida's massive urban development combine with agricultural runoff from Florida's farm lands and is channeled into Florida Bay via an elaborate system of canals originally designed to "drain the swamp." This water ultimately passes over the coral reefs of the Florida Keys. Adjacent to the reefs, over-development and inadequately treated sewage in the Florida Keys contributes to the elevated levels of nutrients found on the reef (Sutherland 1999). There is no single source of pollution or "silver bullet" that can be blamed for the decline of coral except for man's inability to deal with the pollution that we create. The excellent web paper by Reef Education Network, Energy Cycles: What Goes Around Comes Around, makes a very good point about lessons we can learn from the coral reef environment by summarizing that good management of limited resources has been the key to successful tropical coral reef development (REN 2002).

Coral Monitoring

In 1996, 168 coral reef monitoring stations were established throughout the Florida Keys as part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Coral Reef Monitoring Project. Dr. James Porter was one of the 24 scientists on the monitoring team. In the first assessment in 1997 (AMNH 2002), Dr. Porter was quoted as saying "Nothing within any of our experiences prepared us for the increase we've seen in coral illness. We saw a 300% increase in the number of stations afflicted by disease."

Corals are the barometers of the ocean, similar to canaries in coal mines. They are indicators of the health of our oceans. When corals become stressed, they frequently change their appearance, signaling to us that something is wrong (Nicolls 2002).

In 1993, I launched the Reef Relief Photo Monitoring Survey Program in the Florida Keys. The goal was to document with photographs and video specific coral formations over time. It was anticipated that it would take several years to observe any changes that might occur because of the slow pace at which coral reefs grow. However, within four years, by late 1997, coral diseases had escalated to epidemic proportions and were exacerbated by the worst coral bleaching event ever recorded in the Florida Keys. Reef Reliefs archive of images taken between 1993 and 1999 depict a coral reef in the throws of extinction. During the survey, yellow band coral disease was discovered, white pox coral disease was discovered, and white plague type II was first observed in the Lower Keys.

Coral disease is a relatively new field of study for scientists and there is a tremendous amount of debate surrounding the issues related to the global decline of coral. It appears that before scientists discover the exact causes of coral disease, the world will lose a majority of its coral.

The corals are telling us something, and I think it is something like, "you're next."

[FIGURE 1-5 OMITTED]

Additional Information

The Coral Disease Page: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/ homepages/mccarty_and_peters/coraldis.htm

Porter, J.W. 2001. The Ecology and Etiology of Newly Emerging Marine Diseases. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.

Porter, J.W. and K.G. Porter, eds. 2002. The Everglades, Florida Bay and Coral Reefs of the Florida Keys. CRC Press, Boca Raton.

Literature cited

American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). 2002. Florida's Fragile Reefs: What's Happening to This Underwater World? AMNH BioBulletin. (http://sciencebulletins.amnh.org/ biobulletin/biobulletin/story773.html)

Boesch, D.F., R.H. Burroughs, J.E. Baker, R.P. Mason, C.L. Rowe, and R.L. Siefert. 2001. Marine Pollution in the United States. Pew Oceans Commission, Arlington VA. (http://www.pewoceans.org/ inquiry/marine/)

Nicolls, M. 2002. Canaries in Coal Mines: Corals on Reefs. CRC Reef Research Center, Queensland, Australia. (http://www.reef.crc.org.au/publications/ explore/feat26.shtml)

Olivieri, R.A. 1997. Eutrophication of Coral Reefs. STAR Program, National Center for Environmental Research, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (http://es.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/fellow/ aaas/olivieri.html)

Reef Education Network (PEN). 2002. Energy Cycles: What Goes Around Comes Around. The University of Queensland, Australia. (http://www.reef.edu.au/asp_pages/secc.asp?formno=7)

Shinn, E.A. 2000. African Dust Causes Widespread Environmental Distress. USGS Information Sheet, Center for Coastal Ecology, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior. (http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/african_dust)

Sutherland, D. May 19, 1999. Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Smothered by Sewage. Environment News Service. (http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may99/1999L-05-19-01.html)

U.S. Energy Information Adminiatration (EIA). 2001. Country Analysis Briefs: China: Environmental Issues. (http://www.eia.doe.gov/ emeu/cabs/chinaenv.html)

Craig Quirolo

Director of Marine Projects, Reef Relief, Re. Box 430, 201 William Street, Key West FL 33041; [phone] [e-mail], www.reefelief.org