The new coral disease was discovered in 2014 in Florida, and spread to St. Thomas. This discovery was found by the University of the Virgin Islands researchers. A team of marine protected area managers and scientists meet weekly to discuss the disease in the Caribbean and they developed localized treatments. The fastest treatment is putting an antibiotic paste directly on the corals. Formal gear de-contamination guidelines are being developed.
http://www.alertdiver.com/stony-coral-tissue-loss-disease
The worlds corals have declined about 50% in the last three decades. Something has to be done to slow down the decline and eventually stop it completely. Mary and her team have designed a way to collect the corals sperm and eggs to reproduce them.
https://apple.news/AEsnorEioQACbCif209gpXA
Earth Justice protects our oceans ecosystems by safeguarding marine species, promoting sustainable fisheries and healthy ecosystems and building a resilience to climate change. Coral reefs are the heart of warmer ecosystems and they are declining at a rapid pace in the last hundred years. This is due to overfishing, habitat fragmentation. pollution, and the ocean warming and acidifying.
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__twitter.com_earthjustice_status_1112384056258256904-3Fs-3D12&d=DwMFaQ&c=heEcP2AsrLOv4XP8e7I9NA&r=kz5pEMguWhacPtBw6XuituaV84j9P3aSGcgla6A9K3Q&m=hY9zymhZ9AdeprahKmr3tTqWZb5KE_-ed9A8p8vWeBA&s=Ye7NJW42BW3hNoDz0WBFzI_Nakm3_KcClD-cdAJWIfI&e=
The ecology field trip course of 2017 led by Dr. Bridgeman and Dr. Turner in Marsh Harbor, Bahamas. The students learned how to identify and document certain corals and reef-building species. around the shores of Great Abaco Island. Coral reefs are a critically important life-support system for our planet and are also particularly good locations for the study of such foundational ecological principles such as competition for space, predation, and symbiosis.
https://tubino.smugmug.com/Bahamas-2017/Videos-long/i-KDVTqR8
https://www.coralreef.gov/
Lemon sharks relay on mangroves for a major of reasons, first they lives in mangroves for the first 13 years of their life and second they return to the mangrove they were born in and give birth to their young. A threat to these sharks are the removal of the mangroves for hotels, resorts, etc., and the sharks will return to the same mangrove to give birth whether or not the mangrove is there. This leaves the baby sharks with no protection and survival rates are decreasing.
Below is a video-link that describes a relatively new and very aggressive disease named stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), and a special response team in Florida named Force Blue. The disease was confirmed near St Thomas by UVI scientists and has not been observed elsewhere in the USVI.
Monitoring Coral Reef Habitat
