Reef Damage
(December 29)
This is to applaud all the hard work being done reattaching the hard and soft corals. On our weekly monitoring it has come to our attention that the workmanship is of a high standard. We realize that this is a massive undertaking. We fully understand the need to prioritize. However, we believe that part of the reason for this "need" is because there should be more people doing the work. The Hillsboro District Project Remediation Action Plan prepared by Broward County states: "At the licensee's direction, up righting of corals may be performed by individuals with or without coral re-attachment experience, however coral re-attachment must be performed by experienced individuals." 90% of the sponges that were cut from their bases are now dead because of where they are on the priority list. Vone and other volunteer groups are more than happy to start at the "bottom" of the priority list and work our way up. Some things cannot wait! On a recent dive to the site where the 4 ft. boulder is ripped from the reef, we saw no upside down corals and no signs of any repair work. I reviewed earlier video, of that same site, that showed overturned corals. It has come to our attention that local sport divers are overturning upside down corals in the damaged areas before they can be marked. Vone Research is planning to alert the local dive community about this issue. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done. The winter storms are coming.
Sincerely
Stephen Attis
These photos are from the boulder site