[Coral-List] 20 newly listed coral species
Steve Mussman
sealab at earthlink.net
Mon Sep 22 11:26:11 EDT 2014
Dear Alina,
Your depiction presents a sobering reality, but I would prefer to stress
that the plight of the grey wolf and the world's coral reefs are one in the
same. We could evaluate and prioritize the implications for any number
of individual threatened or endangered plant or animal species, but the
prospects for all ultimately depend on our ability to educate, raise public
awareness and alter some of humanity's fundamental beliefs and behaviors. No
small task and perhaps too much to justify any reasonable expectation of
success. But if we don't continue to get "worked up" by even the least
egregious of these insults then we in a sense become complicit and in my
view share responsibility for the ecological atrocities that you mention.
Even if we choose a benign lifestyle in order to distance ourselves from
society's indiscretions we can't escape the fact that we remain fully aware
of the transgressions occurring everyday all around us. So it may well be
pretentious to think that we can save what is left of our coral reefs, but I
see no option but to keep trying to raise the issue with dogged
persistence. After all I don't consider it hyperbole to argue that the fate
of grey wolves and coral reefs are essentially the precursors that shed
light on the path of our own destiny.
Regards,
Steve
-----Original Message-----
>From: "Szmant, Alina"
>Sent: Sep 19, 2014 4:08 PM
>To: Steve Mussman , Shaye Wolf , "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov"
>Subject: RE: [Coral-List] 20 newly listed coral species
>
>I'd like to point out the irony about all this ESA stuff with the 20
species of corals, each of which have probably millions of remaining
individuals spread out over large geographic areas, and most of them have a
number of congeners, compared to that of a terrestrial mammal, (formerly)
ESA species, the grey wolf: there are now after decades of ESA recovery
programs (many Millions of $) only a few hundred individuals remaining in
most of it subpopulations, yet it has now been delisted in several US states
(notoriously Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska) and now are being exterminated by
shooting them from helicopters! What sense does this make? These are
keystone predators, with documented important structural ecological
importance in North American wilderness (what little there is left of this),
and yet all these laws and programs really mean nothing if a single wolf
happens to impact any human interest at all. There are many hundreds of
corals species; there is only one grey wolf species and maybe only one to
three additional species of wolves world-wide, and all of them are
threatened or endangered yet they are still hunted by Federal and State
agencies as well as trophy hunters. I honestly cannot get too worked up
about the plight of these 20 coral species, or the reefs they are living on,
as long as most people (including the members of coral list) give a blind
eye to the ecological atrocities we perpetuate daily all around us
everywhere we live. Take off your blinders folks. If we can't save the few
remaining members of an ecological critical species, the species that gave
origin to our beloved domestic dog, how can we pretend we are going to save
a few coral species which most people can't tell apart from all the similar
looking coral species.
>
>
>
>"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds
discuss people." Eleanor Roosevelt
>
>"The time is always right to do what is right" Martin Luther King
>
>*************************************************************************
>Dr. Alina M. Szmant
>Professor of Marine Biology
>AAUS Scientific Diving Lifetime Achievement Awardee
>Center for Marine Science
>University of North Carolina Wilmington
>5600 Marvin Moss Ln
>Wilmington NC 28409 USA
>tel: 910-962-2362 fax: 910-962-2410 cell: 910-200-3913
>http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
>*******************************************************
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Steve Mussman
>Sent: Friday, September 19, 2014 3:30 PM
>To: Shaye Wolf; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>Subject: Re: [Coral-List] 20 newly listed coral species
>
>
> Hi Shaye,
> Thanks for your clear explanation relating to the purpose and objectives
of
> the Center for Biological Diversity and of the impending impacts of the
ESA
> listing. Seems pretty straight forward to me. Listers have been discussing
> ways to increase public awareness of the issues affecting coral reefs for
> some time, so let's hope that this step will lead to broader concern and
> ultimately the implementation of a much needed plan of action. I would
like
> to point out that the NY Times recently ran an Op-Ed piece that
illustrates
> that at the very least the recent ESA listing is increasing exposure to
the
> urgency of the issue at hand.
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/opinion/we-can-save-coral-reefs.html?smid=
> fb-share&_r=0
> Now, we just need to get behind the effort and continue to explore
> additional ways to enhance public awareness and sensibilities so that
these
> 20 corals may one day be added to the auspicious list of recovering plant
> and animal species .
> Regards,
> Steve
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