NOAA: mass die-off at marine sanctuary off Louisiana, Texas
Source: Associated Press
NOAA: mass die-off at marine sanctuary off Louisiana, Texas
Jul 30, 5:37 PM EDT
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Federal scientists say a massive die-off is taking place on a coral reef of a national marine sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico.
Steve Gittings, chief scientist with the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, reported this week that federal scientists are studying a large-scale mortality event of unknown cause taking place at the East Flower Garden Bank in Gulf of Mexico. The reef is part of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, about 100 miles off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas.
Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management are reporting unprecedented numbers of dying corals, sponges, sea urchins, brittle stars, clams and other invertebrates, Gittings said.
He said sport divers discovered dead animals Monday, along with hazy water and patches of white mats coating corals and sponges. The divers alerted nearby federal scientists who were doing annual monitoring work on the same reef.
Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CORAL_REEF_DIE_OFF?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-30-16-51-05
[center]
Get off my lawn. [/center]
Google images of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary:
https://www.google.com/search?q=flower+garden+banks+national+marine+sanctuary&hl=en&biw=1215&bih=568&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQnsi2o5zOAhUD8mMKHY00AmUQ_AUICigD&dpr=1.05
= new reply since forum marked as read
[center]
[/center]
to become obvious.
Stunned US scientists probe sudden 'unprecedented' death of coral in Gulf of Mexico marine sanctuary
Dead and dying coral covered with strange white growth absolutely 'sickening' says researcher.
By Mary Papenfuss
August 2, 2016 05:53 BST
Tissue sloughs off a recently dead brain coral in a mysterious large-scale mortality event at the East Flower Garden Bank Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico.(Photo courtesy of FGBNMS/G.P. Schmahl)
Devastated American scientists are probing a sudden, cataclysmic loss of up to half the coral in a section of a Gulf of Mexico marine sanctuary.
"To say I'm shocked would be an understatement. I've studied this area for 19 years and I've never seen anything like this," said Emma Hickerson, research coordinator for the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
"It's absolutely sickening. These corals have been there for hundreds and hundreds of years," she told the IBT Times.
Hickerson and sanctuary administrators learned of the death of the coral — along with hundreds of other sea creatures from sponges to urchins, brittle stars and clams in the same area — just days ago.
More:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/stunned-us-scientists-probe-sudden-unprecedented-death-coral-gulf-mexico-marine-sanctuary-1573729
