Confession of a Coral Crusher

[Gouldian]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to share a blog by Alvah Simon who confesses on damaging corals in his was younger. In this article, he has shared some points which I think is very valid to us.

"I can't stand it anymore. I have to come clean. I am a mass murderer. There, I said it! I didn't mean it. I was young - in the wrong place at the wrong time. But none of that mattered to my thousands of innocent victims, destroyed, dead, gone forever.

It was Belize, 1976, home to the second longest barrier reef in the world. I was too anxious to see my first coral reef after reading Claire Booth Luce's description, "What fishes like flowers, what coral cathedrals that dwarf in their majesty even the grandest edifices of Man."

So I came, I saw, I crushed. It wasn't wanton destruction. I just didn't think when I let slip that anchor. Nevertheless, the effect was akin to the carpet-bombing of Dresden. If I was to return to the scene of the crime today, lo these many decades later, it would look much the same, for it can take centuries if not millennia to heal such an atrocity.

I have since spent uncountable days in the water, exploring one of Earth's most spectacular environments. I have read volumes regarding the formation of reefs, the amazing biodiversity they harbor, and the global threats they now encounter.

In the same vein as the Blues lyrics, "Mothers, tell your children, not to do what I have done.." I thought if I could share even a small amount of that marine miracle with my fellow cruisers it might give them cause for pause before they hit the down button on their windlass.

Our tropical reefs range from the equator to approximately thirty degrees north and south. Although they can grow in depths down to 300 feet, the vast majority of hard corals, soft corals and sponges do not thrive below 60 feet, coincidentally the maximum depth most boaters seek when anchoring."

Full Story: - http://www.stuff.co....a-coral-crusher