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presents

State Of The Reef, 2000

byline - Craig Quirolo

This year's State Of The Reef Address was delivered by Craig Quirolo, founder and Director of Marine Projects, during the Annual Reef Relief membership meeting held in Key West on Thursday, July 27, as part of Reef Awareness Week 2000. It features over 80 images from his Coral Photo Monitoring Survey, which has been ongoing since 1993. Please be patient while loading photos . . .

photo of Craig Quirolo

Profile on Craig Quirolo:

REEF RELIEF was founded in 1986 by charter boat skipper, Craig Quirolo, the current Director of Marine Projects. REEF RELIEF is a non-profit corporation, directed by a Board of Directors, a Citizen Advisory Board and 
a Scientific Advisory Board.

 Marine Projects: Photo Monitoring Coral Survey. For the past eight years, REEF RELIEF's founder, Craig Quirolo, has documented changes in the coral communities of the Key West area with a non-intrusive photographic survey. Instead of grid systems that are fixed to the ocean floor, Craig uses only dive charts and laminated photographs of corals to locate the many sites included in the survey. A series of pictures taken over months and years monitor growth and overall health. Craig regularly photographs and videos the same coral heads at seven reefs near Key West and shares his results with the world's leading coral reef scientists. This work began several years ago through the cash prize accompanying the Robert Rodale Environmental Achievement Award , made possible by Rodale's Scuba Diving Magazine. This year's funding was provided by the Turner Foundation, the Edith and Curtis Munson Foundation, and others.

In 1993 I began the Photo Monitoring Program documenting several reefs in the Key West area. The methods used for the Program were developed with a low impact procedure that does not require transect 
tapes, pins fastened to the sea floor or the need for physical contact with the corals. The Video tape, 
Coral 2000 volume II - Coral Photo Monitoring and the Coral Nursery Project (CLICK HERE to order), explains the methods utilized in the Reef Relief Photo Monitoring Program and is available at the Reef Relief store in Key West. In the past eight years over ten thousand slide images have been recorded on the coral 
reefs in the Key West area, Thousands of images have been recorded from our International Projects in Cuba, Honduras, Bahamas, Mexico and in Jamaica.

The basis of the Photo Monitoring Program is to focus on specific coral colonies (subjects) that are 
photographed repeatedly over time. Familiarity of the coral reef is required in order to return to the same 
site and to the same coral subjects . This program was inspired by the fact that I had witnessed a decline 
in the health of the corals which was contrary to many people in the dive industry who did not want hear 'bad news'.

There is nothing more that I would like to do than to document a healthy vibrant reef and be able to record 
growth rates and increased coral coverage. What I have experienced over the past six years is an effort to 
kill the messenger and to ignore the message.

Photos and video images speak for themselves. The Reef Relief Photo Monitoring Program has a tremendous track record and has proven that dedicated divers who are non scientists can make substantial contributions to coral reef research. Through our low impact monitoring program the coral disease Yellow Band and White Pox were first discovered. The White Plague Type II coral disease was documented for the first time in the lower Keys and the presence of the sea fan disease 
Aspergillosis was observed in the Key West area and brought to the attention of researchers studying this disease.

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These slides show unhealthy corals.

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In a collaborative effort with Reef Relief dozens of coral reef scientists have been escorted to the reef gaining valuable insight from our observations. Dozens of our images have been printed in newspapers, magazines, as well as in scientific papers and journals. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of the Reef Relief members and supporters for contributing to the success of The Photo Monitoring Program.

Clean, clear, and nutrient free. When Reef Relief was founded in l986 we were told by scientists and 
coral reef managers that corals, beyond a shadow of a doubt, needed clean, clear and nutrient free water 
in which to live. Corals are stationary animals and can only be as healthy as the water that passes over 
them (quote from Dr. Brian Lapointe).

Clean water in Abacos Bahams

Healthy coral continues to grow in the clear water of the Bahamas.

To a person unfamiliar with coral reefs clean and clear water, as a prerequisite for coral health, is not hard to comprehend. Clean virtually speaks for itself and we all like to swim , snorkel and dive in clear water. So why should the fish, corals and plants be any different?

The nutrient free part was unusual, especially when the experts said corals thrive in the 'deserts' of the oceans (meaning nutrient free water). Producers of petro-chemical products, (the financial backbone the Federal Government ) have us believing that through chemical and fertilizer use, life is much better on the planet. It appears that I'd been a little bit brain washed over the years, because my first reaction was everything needs fertilizer, including corals.

Clean water in Abacos Bahams

Clean, clear, nutrient free water. Abacos, Bahamas.
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The concept of 'nutrient free' began to make sense when a brilliant scientist friend of mine (Dr. Brian Lapointe) explained to me that the ocean is just like a a golf course if you want it to be to be lush and green, fertilize it!

Sand Key, Florida. 9/06/94

Sand Key, Florida. 9/06/94

Decreased visibility in the water that passes over a coral reef puts the entire ecosystem under stress and increases the chances for disease and bleaching to set in.

and Key, Florida. 7/11/00

Sand Key, Florida. 7/11/00

Corals require clear water so that sunlight will penetrate down upon them.
There are important algae called Zooxanthellae living within the coral that the coral cannot live without. 
Like all plants this algae requires sunlight to carry out the process of photosynthesis. The Zooxanthellae  
recycle the corals waste products and also produce the necessary oxygen for the coral to live. In turn coral 
plays host to the algae by allowing them to live within the polyp and produces the carbon dioxide required to 
keep the algae alive. The relationship between plant and animal is quite unique because one cannot live 
without the other. When the water passing over a coral reef is not clear problems begin to emerge.

Moon Jelly

The closest relatives of the coral are the sea jellies.

Montastrea cavernosa.

Montastrea cavernosa, Jamaica 1987.

Montastrea annularis/ Mountain Star Coral

Montastrea annularis/ Mountain Star Coral.
The closest relatives of the coral are the sea jellies and just like jellies, living coral tissue is soft, clear and gelatinous. The transparent nature of the corals tissue allows the color of the algae to reflect through giving 
the corals their color. There is another form of algae that coral reefs cannot live without and that is a species algae known as calcareous algae. This particular type of algae is not always visible, its rather hard and 
actually keeps the reef glued together. It grows between the fissures and crannies in the reef bonding what 
would be loose fragments of coral, greatly improving the stability of the coral reef.

Continued in next section. (Click graphic button below.)
 Photos Provided by Craig Quirolo
Reef Relief ©2001

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