[Coral-List] Bring back the Gulf
Eugene Shinn
eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu
Fri Aug 22 17:35:12 EDT 2014
Before attending an offshore drilling debate/hearing in Key West over
30 years ago I to took my friend (Dr. Jim Ray) diving at Looe Key reef.
On the way out Jim pointed to the distance and said, "what is that." I
replied that it was American Shoal lighthouse. He replied, "I didn't
think you had any drill rigs down here." His comment struck a nerve,
especially later that evening when a lady testifying against offshore
drilling proudly announced that her grandfather was in charge of
constructing the iron lighthouses on Florida reefs. When Jim testified
in favor of offshore drilling he was of course roundly booed and hissed.
Later I read about how lighthouses are constructed and also a report
about the need for lighthouses to protect ships and cargoes from coral
reefs.The later report also stimulated the beginning of coral reef
research. The author was geologist Alexander Agassiz reporting his
observations to the head of the lighthouse service.
I read how reef lighthouses were constructed and that it required
scarifying and flattening the reef to allow access of large barges and
heavy equipment needed to drive iron lighthouse legs into the reef.
After reading this material I concluded we are fortunate that
installation of offshore oil rigs in the muddy Gulf of Mexico bottom is
far less damaging than installation of a lighthouse on a coral reef. In
retrospect it seems ironic that oil rigs are considered ugly and
damaging to the environment while rusty lighthouses are seen as cultural
icons. If we really need to remove iron from the ocean why not remove
these antiquated iron lighthouses from the relatively more sensitive
coral reef environments? GPS has made them obsolete and most in the Keys
are no longer functioning. They are being replaced with smaller
automatic light towers. Should we not remove all that rusty idle iron
along with the tons of old batteries and other junk that litters the
surrounding area? If one thinks rig removal will bring back the Gulf
then maybe lighthouse removal will bring back the coral reefs? Or is
that just being too logical. Maybe Jimmy Buffet's Fruit Cakes Song said
it all. "We are flawed individuals, The cosmic baker took us out of the
oven too soon." Gene
--
No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
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E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
College of Marine Science Room 221A
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158
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