Only a few years ago, the coral reefs off the island of Bali in Indonesia were dying out. They were bleached by escalating temperatures, blaster by dynamite fishing, and poisoned by cyanide.
Thanks to a very unlikely remedy,electricity- they are making a comeback!
These days the coral thrives on dozens of metal structures submerged in the bay and fed by cables that send low-voltage electricity,which some conservationists would say is spurring the growth. The coral restoration project in Bali illustrates the creative ways scientists are trying to fight the ill-effects of global warming. By 1998 the reefs became victims of rising temperatures and idiotically aggressive fishing methods. Which included stunning fish with cyanide poisoning and scooping them up with nets, and dynamite fishing. So as you can imagine it keeps getting progressively worse all the time. Rod Salm, coral reef specialist with the Nature Conservancy, said while the method may be useful in bringing small areas of damaged coral back to life, it has very limited application in vast areas that are in need of immediate protection. ” The extent of bleaching… is just too big,” Salm said. ” the scale is enormous and the cost is prohibitive. “> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071204-AP-bali-electrified_2.html
I also looked into Rod Salm,seeing he was very involved with this particular cause in hopes for renewing what global warming has started to destroy.> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071204-AP-bali-electrified_2.html
Rod is involved with The Nature Conservancy,> http://www.nature.org/?src=logo where scientists work together amongst themselves and other organizations to help educate, and organize acts of conservation throughout the depths of our planet’s oceans. ” We have discovered wondrous things, including new species:at least two fishes, one mantis shrimp> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp , a potential new sea cumber, and possibly new corals. “
- What other aspects of global warming have affected the oceans around you?
- How did they make underwater electrocution possible?
- Are there ways to fish without doing damage to coral reefs?
2 Responses to “Deep-Sea Electricity”
Nice post!
This is crazy! I have never heard anything like this before. Electricity in water is always something that has been given a bad reputation, but for good reason. A solution like this is most definitely creative and demonstrates the ingenuity of many of the conservation efforts to repair damage from poor fishing practices.
Though the process is resourceful in restoration of coral populations, after reading the article it doesn’t seem efficient or practical for a large scale solution to damaged coral reefs. First of all it required electricity which is a contributor to global warming in the first step. This is obviously an issue since climate change is one of the problems that caused the reefs to die in the first place. Secondly the operation is hugely expensive and high maintenance. If the reefs were to be completely restored one day and no longer needed the electrical wires, the process of removal of the wires would do more harm than good to the coral.
So while this seems to be a good short term solution to suffering reefs, it is not sustainable in the long term health of both the planet and the coral.
A question brought up by this that applies to Alaska is the reefs around the Aleutian Islands. Does the fishing around that area have an impact on the reefs?
HAHA also, wouldn’t the electricity be conducted through the surrounding water??? How does that work?