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Above Sea Coral vs. Marine Coral

Thousands of years ago this coral was a
thriving coral reef. Geologically, this coral was pushed up above sea
level, free from the ocean pollution of the industrial era.
This harvesting process
involves removal of the protective layer of soil that accumulated over the
eons and collecting the ancient coral. The environmental consequences are
similar to any small land based mining operation.
After
the coral is collected it is ground into a 2 to 10 micron size powder
(smaller than a red blood cell). After grinding the coral is purified in a
vacuum ozone chamber and then packaged for distribution.
Above sea harvesting respects the fragile state of the coral reefs and
ocean environment. Unfortunately, other companies do take dead coral
rubble from the ocean.
Dredging the ocean floor devastates the ocean ecology and is detrimental
to the living reefs. Coral larvae propagate in the dead coral debris and
any disturbance directly affects the life of the living reef The turbidity from a dredging
ship will settle on the reef and kill it.
The turbidity from a dredging
ship will settle on the reef and kill it.
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What
Scientists say about the collecting of "dead" coral from
the ocean's floor
"Clearing
large areas of coral rubble would certainly impact reef
ecosystems, not only because coral larvae settle on rubble (which
is well-documented), but also because there are countless
organisms that inhabit spaces within corals and rubble.
Removing coral rubble from areas where the underlying sediment is
unsuitable for larval settlement would certainly inhibit new
corals from attaching and growing. I can't conceive that
this practice would not negatively affect the long-term
integrity of most coral reef ecosystems. There are other
complexities such as the removal of coral rubble that would change
micro-flow patterns near the underlying substrate, in turn
affecting the settling ability of coral larvae." - Dr.
Michael Dowgiallo, Ph.D., Coral Reef Program Coordinator,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
"I
would have an extremely hard time believing anyone who suggests
that this activity would be benign. Dead corals
may act as a substrate for new colonizers, so vacuuming up even
dead corals or coral fragments might hinder the ability of refs to
recover in the future. Even if dredging/vacuuming is
occurring where there are no (or few) corals, there are certainly
other organisms being directly effected, such as sea whips and
anemones, many of which also provide structure to benthic habitats
and thus provide essential ecosystem functions (such as hiding
places for juvenile fish and substrate for various life stages of
benthic invertebrates." - John Clark Field, PHD Candidate,
School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, University of Washington
"This
activity can hard the corals and the organisms that live in and on
them in two ways. First, the dredging and vacuuming activity
loosens and stirs up large amounts of sediment in the water. This
sediment smothers and kills corals and other organisms in the
ecosystem. An additional adverse effect of stirring up
the sediment with the dredging and vacuuming activities is that
the turbidity of the water prevents light from reaching the
corals, and the corals need light in order to survive and
grow. Secondly, reefs are formed (and grow) by a process of
bioaccretion (cementing together) of carbonate particles that have
been removed from the living coral by bioerosion. If all the
sediment that has accumulated around a reef (especially that which
has already begun to solidify and hence does not risk smothering
the reef) is scraped away, the reef loses its capability to grow
and keep up with sea-level rise. Failure to grow and keep
pace with sea-level rise would mean the demise of the reef because
the corals need light and thus must be near the surface in order
to live. - Dr. Marjorie L. Reaka-Kudia, PhD, Professor,
Department of Biology, The University of Maryland
"Bottom
trawling, or dragging nets along the ocean floor to catch fish, is
so devastating to the marine environment that the practice should
be banned from fragile areas, according to a U.S. National Academy
of Sciences report released yesterday. The report, which was
requested by the National Marine Fisheries Service, recommended
protecting areas along the Pacific Coast, the North Atlantic, the
Gulf Coast, and the Alaskan Coast, reducing trawling elsewhere,
and requiring modifications to equipment to minimize damage.
The recommendations were welcomed by environmentalists, some of
whom compare bottom trawling to clear-cutting. A bipartisan
group of Congress members plans to introduce legislation today to
restrict bottom trawling." National Academy of Sciences
reporting on Trawling, Los Angeles Times, Kenneth R. Weiss
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