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SUMMER 2012
FROM THE SAFETY STOP
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L E T T E R S F R O M M E M B E R S
Do Not FeeD the ANimAls
The culling of lionfish by divers,
if done with care, is a good thing
and one of the only methods of
population control we have. But the
practice of feeding dead or wounded
lionfish to predators to “teach” them
to prey on healthy lionfish has no
basis for credibility and significant
downsides. These predators are
associating divers with free handouts
and becoming increasingly aggressive.
On the 4th annual REEF Lionfish
Expedition to Belize this year, one
of our participants was bitten by a
barracuda that swooped in as he was
removing a lionfish from his spear.
Later, a large Nassau grouper did the
same to me. This had never happened
on previous trips. And divers aren’t
the only ones at risk: Handing out
lionfish may cause normally shy
predators to grow accustomed to
divers’ presence, making them easy
prey for poachers. In my view, neither
divers nor reef fish are served by this
misguided practice.
— Peter A. Hughes, president,
DivEncounters Inc.
eutrophicAtioN solutioN
The article on eutrophication (Spring
2012) misses the only solution that
will work to get rid of weedy algae
smothering coral reefs, namely
recycling all human-caused nutrient
inputs on land where they can feed
the plants and keeping them out of the
ocean where they over-fertilize algae.
When reefs on one particular Pacific
island were smothered with algae, they
“solved” the problem by building longer
sewage outfalls. The algae died back, and
corals slowly recovered over many years.
But now they are being smothered again
because they can’t control the nonpoint
nutrients from road runoff and lawn
fertilizers that don’t go down sewers.
There is only one place in the
world I know of where the problem
has been permanently solved. I got
all the nutrient inputs in a bay in
Jamaica recycled on land instead of
dumped into the sea. Within weeks the
algae started to die back, and in two
months they were gone. More than 15
years later the bay is still free of weeds,
and elkhorn coral is growing back.
The only way to get rid of weedy
algae is to starve them of nitrogen
and phosphorus; it works very fast,
but it must be sustained. Weeding
them is a fool’s errand, because as
long as nutrients are excessive they
grow right back.
To learn more about weedy-
algae control, read a recent review
at http://www.globalcoral.org/
sustainability-02-02919[1].pdf.
— Thomas J. Goreau, Ph.D.,
president, Global Coral Reef Alliance
lemoN shArk suNset
Like many others I have been in awe
of the modern rebirth of Alert Diver.
Each new issue seems to outdo itself,
and Spring 2012 was no exception.
But there was one image that blew
me away. It was that utterly stunning
split-level shot of the shark at sunset.
As an underwater photographer of
the 1960s and ’70s I’ve been fortunate
enough to be published on the cover
of Skin Diver and elsewhere, so I have
long maintained a critical eye for
photographic excellence. After being
complimented on a particular shot
by famed Black Star photojournalist
Flip Schulke, I asked him what, in his
opinion, represented a great shot. He
replied, “One I wish I had taken.” So
kudos to Deano Cook, I wish I had
taken your “Lemon Shark Sunset”!
—Dick Clarke, Columbia, S.C.
Letters
D E A NO COO K