by Reef To Rainforest | Mar 14, 2014 | Conservation, Fish, Science
How close are we? “This Close”! It occurred to me that sometimes we use the phrase “this close” in idle conversation, often holding up our fingers perhaps a centimeter apart, as if to give an actual indication of dimension when what we’re really trying to convey is is not something so physically concrete. Instead, we’re talking about missing the mark by “that much”, 9/10ths of the way, the slimmest of margins. We’re talking about a cry from the back seat, demanding to know “are we there yet?” with 10 minutes left on the car ride. In other words, “This Close” might be something best summed up as simply a goal not met, an accomplishment narrowly avoided, also known as hearbreaking disappointment, but on the edge of greatness all the same. Or my personal favorite twist on a classic phrase, “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” (yes you read that correctly)! The recent butterflyfish larviculture accomplishments by Frank Baensch & the Hawaii Larval Fish Project are nothing short of groundbreaking, but a captive-bred Butterflyfish is not here just yet. by Reef To Rainforest | Mar 4, 2014 | Corals, Events, Fish, Science
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHcsg3dnass Transcript of RESILIENCE, narrated by Bruce Carlson, Ph.D. Few places on earth captivate our sense of wonder as much as coral reefs. But how stable and enduring are coral reefs? Violent tropical storms frequently destroy fragile coral skeletons, but broken branches quickly sprout new growth. Coral reefs are resilient and adapted to recover from these natural events, but what happens when humans tip the balance? Let me show you two examples in Fiji. For centuries Fijians have harvested marinelife without serious harm to their reefs, but near the capital city of Suva there are may more people fishing. Let’s look more closely at this reef by Reef To Rainforest | Mar 3, 2014 | Fish, Photography, Science
CORAL, The Reef & Marine Aquarium Marine, has been named Hobbyist Magazine of the Year in a Niche Media awards ceremony in Charleston, South Carolina on February 26th. CORAL with its first Nichee Magazine Award. Likened to an Oscar for smaller publications, the Nichee Magazine Awards recognize excellence in content, visual presentation, and publishing acumen. CORAL is published in the small town of Shelburne, Vermont, but reaches an estimated worldwide audience of 37,000 readers, primarily in the United States and Canada, but with distribution in the UK, Australia, Scandinavia, South Africa and India. “We are thrilled to be recognized by our peers,” says Editor & Publisher James Lawrence. “In a time when print newspapers and magazines are said to be dying, in fact niche titles in many fields of interest are thriving.” “We couldn’t do it without our outstanding writers and photographers—some of the world’s best—our loyal readers and a small, dedicated and very hardworking staff in Vermont,” said Lawrence. “Someone here joked that this is Academy Awards weekend and we have already won ours, and I should keep the speech short.” The current incarnation of CORAL was launched in 2009 and is the official English Language Edition of the German title KORALLE, originally created by Publisher Matthias Schmidt and Editor Daniel Knop in 1999. One of Europe’s leading periodical and book specialty publishers, Natur und Tier-Verlag GmbH of Münster is the parent company of KORALLE and is known for publishing the work of authoritative authors, with bod graphics and arresting nature photography. by Reef To Rainforest | Feb 28, 2014 | Corals, Fish, Invertebrates, Science
The new Pacific gorgonian, Psammagorgia hookeri, named for Peruvian biologist Dr. Yuri Hooker. A startling splotch of vivid crimson growing on the substrate was what first caught the eye of Peruvian marine zoologist Yuri Hooker in 2002 while he was diving in the relatively unexplored waters of the Peruvian Pacific. Not a sponge, which Hooker collects from time to time, the colorful organism turned out to be a gorgonian coral, but not one he could identify. Now a team from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and the University of Costa Rica have collected the species again and have described as Psammogorgia hookeri in a new report published in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association in the UK. Dr. Yuri Hooker, Peruvian biologist who first collected samples of the coral. “This new species may be found nowhere else in the world,” said Hector Guzman, marine biologist and soft-coral expert at STRI by Reef To Rainforest | Feb 4, 2014 | Conservation, Fish, Industry, Invertebrates, Opinion, Science
Fish catch for the table: reef-side native people depend on their local waters for food and income. Landmark new paper says that a sustainable marine aquarium trade may be a key to the future of healthy coral reef areas By Ret Talbot The fate of coral reefs worldwide is now a well-publicized, front-page, six o’clock news crisis. In fact, three marine scientists just published a landmark paper that leads with this daunting proclamation: “Coral reefs are at the brink of a global, system-wide collapse.” Lead author of the paper, Dr. Andrew L. Rhyne: “Ending cyanide fishing and effective trade monitoring are necessary and critical short-term gains for the marine aquarium trade.” Ending cyanide fishing and effective trade monitoring are necessary and critical short-term gains. For those involved in the keeping of marine aquaria, it is logical—perhaps even imperative—to wonder whether or not embattled reef ecosystems can sustain fisheries pressure in addition to all the other stressors they face. Often the heated arguments come down to these two points of contention: 1. Is it possible to harvest live fishes and invertebrates from coral reefs in a sustainable manner?
