[Coral-List] Steven Miller
Steven L Miller
smiller52 at gmail.com
Fri Oct 13 17:49:02 UTC 2023
Dear Nohora
Oh my. You made me smile this morning.
It's human nature I guess to make assumptions. In this case, maybe some
confirmation bias too?
Just to be clear, I am not the Steve Miller you addressed in your last
post. I am not the Regional Sales Manager for Restoration Dredge, or any
other dredge company affiliation.
Here's my contact information.
Steven Miller, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Nova Southeastern University
https://works.bepress.com/steven-miller/?_aiid=12167
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1QLmgmQAAAAJ
My career spans the time from when coral reef research was not dominated
by monitoring, but instead was defined by experimental ecology, to where
we are today - catastrophic decline.
Related to your post, what you call a coral reef adjacent to Port Miami
is instead a naturally occurring hardbottom characterized by extremely
low coral cover. The area is also subjected to major human-caused
modifications that started over 120 years ago when dramatic shoreline
modifications began in south Miami, including development of the port.
My point is, pick your battles. Damage caused by Port Miami dredging was
a fly-speck compared to losses elsewhere in Florida from global warming.
However, Port Miami dredging was an easy target that allowed local
groups and agencies to solicit public sympathy and funding. That's why
the science matters. It also matters how the science is communicated.
Please don't get me wrong. I am not advocating for unconstrained
dredging. Instead, best-practices are called for in terms of how
dredging is conducted, scientific monitoring is performed to evaluate
damages, mitigation costs are derived, and ultimately what restoration
activities arise.
If you want to discuss further, please contact me at smiller52 at gmail.com
or smiller at nova.edu.
Best Regards
Steven
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