Coral Reefs

My work as an ecologist has taken me to a large number of fascinating habitats, from Costa Rican rain forests to Australian heathlands, from Colorado alpine meadows to Florida's Everglades. And yet I was totally unprepared for what I saw when I first entered the waters above the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. My breath was literally taken away by the sight of the magnificent coral and the thousands of colorful fish. Snorkeling over one large stag-horn coral stand was like floating over endless New England forests in autumn.

The federal government hopes to revive America's dying coral reefs, mainly by banning fishing in at least 20 percent of the country's coral areas by the end of the decade. An unprecedented national reef rescue plan, presented Thursday by a joint government task force, calls for increasing spending on coral reef conservation to $25 million a year from the current $11 million. Most of the money would be spent on mapping and monitoring endangered reefs. The key to the plan is creating more "no-take zones," where boating and diving are allowed but fishing is not. The model is a series of small, protected reefs off the Florida Keys where the practice is succeeding after just two years, said Billy Causey, superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

It's safe to say that unless you are a diver, the Maldives never crossed your mind, at least until Dec. 26, when the little nation of about 1,200 islands was smacked by the tsunami that ran over parts of southeast Asia. The Maldives? (That's MALL-deevz, although lots of people also say the second syllable like the English word dives, which makes sense, given the country's spectacular diving sites.) Where are they? They're in the Indian Ocean, to the west and south of Sri Lanka, an isolated nation of about 280,000 people.

From the Bahamas to Belize, many of the Caribbean's best-loved coral reefs have fallen victim for the first time to a mysterious, potentially deadly wave of coral bleaching. The phenomenon, unknown to science until the late 1960s, strips the electric-hued corals of their purples, reds and browns, leaving them a ghostly white and sometimes causing them to die. Though poorly understood, it has been linked to unusually high water temperatures and levels of ultraviolet radiation, prompting some to speculate that it is a sign of global warming.

Rising ocean temperatures are causing unprecedented damage to coral reefs from the western Pacific to the Caribbean, according to marine scientists monitoring the teeming, fragile underwater ecosystems. The damage from warming waters, coupled with disease and human-caused destruction, threaten the survival of much of the world's coral. At the present rate of decline, as much as 70 percent of the world's coral reefs may be killed in the next two to four decades, some scientists predict.

Torrential rain beat down on us as we stepped off the inter-island ferry from St. Martin and made a bee-line for a taxi waiting by the tiny Anguilla immigration station. "Is it going to rain all week?" I snarled as the cab sloshed toward our beach resort, the dark clouds matched by my darkening mood at this inauspicious start to my week of sun and fun. "Ah, well," the taxi driver said, smiling broadly at me in the rear-view mirror. "The tourists don't like the rain, but for us it means we can farm a little, fill our cisterns with drinking water, wash away some dust.

An estimated 50,000 species disappear each year, up to 1,000 times the natural rate of extinction .. . . Eleven percent of birds, 25 percent of mammals and 20-30 percent of all plants are estimated to be nearing extinction.. . . Species loss has a powerful negative impact on human well-being. Half of all drugs used in medicine are derived from natural sources, including 55 of the top 100 drugs prescribed in the United States. . . . In Indonesia, more than 70 percent of coral reefs are dead or dying.

The End of the Line , an eco-mentary that warns against overfishing, baits its hook with alarmist rhetoric and aversion therapy. First, filmmaker Rupert Murray treats us to undersea footage of iridescent fish frolicking in coral reefs. He intercuts this with nausea-inducing images of bluefin tuna being gutted, sliced, and greedily consumed. Then he offers the expert testimony: If fishing continues at current rates, the planet's oceans will be fished out by midcentury. The film's strident tone is established by Charles Clover, the British investigative reporter on whose work the documentary is based.

It is illegal here to fish with cyanide and dynamite. But it is done. Every morning fishermen steam out to sea in thin-beamed boats held steady by bamboo pontoons, and each evening they glide back into port with their illicit bounty. Ninety percent of the cargo carried by Philippine Air Lines north from this busy harbor town consists of fish bound for dinner tables in the capital. Live aquarium fish destined for export are also transported; they fill much of the rest of the cargo bay. But both are largely obtained illegally as fishermen here leave acres of dead and dying sea bed behind them.

When Enron cooked its books by hiding huge liabilities in elaborate shell games, the house of cards tumbled, investors were left cheated, and employees were left broke. Likewise, we're in danger of overspending what we've been given by the environment, creating the possibility of widespread suffering and loss. Consider the environment in financial terms, as a stock of "natural capital" that pays "dividends. " The environment pays many dividends in the form of essential life-support services - oxygen production, water purification, water storage, topsoil formation, waste recycling, and climate stability.

These are regularly scheduled boat rides. This list includes as many as we could confirm but may not include every ride. It does not include airboats, charters or private cruises. Miami-Dade County Island Queen Cruises, departs from Bayside Marketplace, 401 Biscayne Blvd.; 305-379-5119; www.islandqueencruises.com . The Island Queen, the Island Lady and the Miami Lady, double-decker yachts with air-conditioned lower salon and open-air upper deck hold up to 140 passengers.

MIAMI - There's a turf war going under the warm waters off the Florida Keys, a battle for no less than dominance of dying coral reef tracts. It's sponge vs. seaweed, a matchup that for obvious reasons hasn't generated much attention. With the competitors lacking charisma, claws, teeth, spines, fins, legs, or any mobility whatsoever, this struggle is slow - painfully so. But scientists running a long-term monitoring program call its outcome crucial to an array of fish, lobster, and other reef denizens.

The End of the Line , an eco-mentary that warns against overfishing, baits its hook with alarmist rhetoric and aversion therapy. First, filmmaker Rupert Murray treats us to undersea footage of iridescent fish frolicking in coral reefs. He intercuts this with nausea-inducing images of bluefin tuna being gutted, sliced, and greedily consumed. Then he offers the expert testimony: If fishing continues at current rates, the planet's oceans will be fished out by midcentury. The film's strident tone is established by Charles Clover, the British investigative reporter on whose work the documentary is based.

It's safe to say that unless you are a diver, the Maldives never crossed your mind, at least until Dec. 26, when the little nation of about 1,200 islands was smacked by the tsunami that ran over parts of southeast Asia. The Maldives? (That's MALL-deevz, although lots of people also say the second syllable like the English word dives, which makes sense, given the country's spectacular diving sites.) Where are they? They're in the Indian Ocean, to the west and south of Sri Lanka, an isolated nation of about 280,000 people.

The Inquirer recently asked readers for their "nightmare tales" of vacations gone wrong. Here's what one Philadelphia woman experienced: Saturday, Day 1: 11 p.m. Cathy and I arrive in Puerto Rico where "the sun always shines. " 11:15 p.m. Using trash bags as umbrellas, we wade through puddles to the Tres Palmas guest house. 12:15 a.m. In line at one of Puerto Rico's hottest discos. 1:30 a.m. Still in line. 3:01 a.m. Someone grabs my purse. I'm on the ground.

Sunny days. Temperatures flirting with 80. It's beach time. Get out those umbrellas. The Shore is calling. The rejuvenating power of the tide beckons 180 million people every year to play on our nation's beaches. The oceans supply much more than fun. They are a vast natural resource, offering food, water, weather, even life-giving oxygen. Coastlines provide a home to half the U.S. population and employ tens of thousands in fishing, recreation, and tourism. U.S. ports handle $700 billion in goods.

There is more to stamps than sending letters, reckons the U.S. Postal Service. The agency often uses its stamps to illustrate how other inhabitants of the Earth exist. The Postal Service's 2004 program will be launched on Jan. 2 with a souvenir sheet of 10 Pacific Coral Reef commemoratives depicting 30 undersea creatures. The agency said it hoped the stamps would illustrate the beauty and complexity of an aquatic ecosystem. Some of the 37-cent stamps include more than one marine creature, as portrayed in a panorama by artist John D. Dawson from the western Pacific near Guam.

When Enron cooked its books by hiding huge liabilities in elaborate shell games, the house of cards tumbled, investors were left cheated, and employees were left broke. Likewise, we're in danger of overspending what we've been given by the environment, creating the possibility of widespread suffering and loss. Consider the environment in financial terms, as a stock of "natural capital" that pays "dividends. " The environment pays many dividends in the form of essential life-support services - oxygen production, water purification, water storage, topsoil formation, waste recycling, and climate stability.

Once I found out that Bonaire is considered the flamingo capital of the world, I couldn't wait to get there. According to travel brochures, the pink birds outnumber the people by more than two to one. (The people population: about 14,000.) Truth be told, I've always had a flamingo fixation. I own a wide assortment of flamingo paraphernalia - coffee mugs, salt and pepper shakers, straws, pens, lawn statues, Christmas ornaments, earrings, a mirror, sunglasses with rhinestone studs, and even a toilet-brush holder.

An estimated 50,000 species disappear each year, up to 1,000 times the natural rate of extinction .. . . Eleven percent of birds, 25 percent of mammals and 20-30 percent of all plants are estimated to be nearing extinction.. . . Species loss has a powerful negative impact on human well-being. Half of all drugs used in medicine are derived from natural sources, including 55 of the top 100 drugs prescribed in the United States. . . . In Indonesia, more than 70 percent of coral reefs are dead or dying.