Comments on Coral Bones: 'Caribbean Corals in Danger of Extinction'

I dove in Bonaire probably five times or more in t...

2007-06-11T17:51:00.000Z

I dove in Bonaire probably five times or more in the late 70's and early 80's. When I photographed the reef growing out of the water (See:
http://globalcoral.org/Bonaire%20Underwater%20in%2019701980.htm), the water was distinctly cool. We always wore 1/8th wetsuits or shorties. The last time I was there a few years ago, the water was noticeably warmer.

Admittedly in the 80's, we generally went to Bonaire during the Christmas holidays, and my last trip there was in the fall.

I recall a conversation in 1980 with Peter Hughes who observed, "How can the sun be so damned hot and the water so damned cold". Not particularly scientific but you get the drift.

The other observation is that, the magnificent near shore reef that grew out of the water has been totally destroyed. This reef was perhaps 10 to 15 feet in depth and 20 feet from the shoreline. But, the deeper reef along the wall at 80 feet + is still there. Not as robust as in the 70's but it lives.

Jeff Houdret

Why circulate more false claims of discovery? Gee...

2007-06-11T10:35:00.000Z

Why circulate more false claims of discovery?

Gee, we've only been saying this for 50 years, based on direct observations. Where were they?

The claim that Bonaire is in excellent shape is only true in comparison to other places now, not how it used to be. Take a look at Jeff Houdret's photographs on the GCRA web site showing that the coral grew all along the shore to the surface so that one could not swim out from shore, so every hotel dynamited channels to let the swimmers out. Now one can only find a handful of tiny remnants of dead coral fragments from this once wonderful reef. The long term Bonaire photographic monitoring data,. which I have looked at, shows continuous decline, but they do not allow it to be published. When James Cervino and I found coral diseases all over Bonaire 10 years ago the response was to accuse us of being a plot against their tourism industry, and the head of the Bonaire Marine Park was almost fired for letting us look. Even today you can't say "coral diseases" without her involuntarily cringing.