Re: Angelfish off MASS and bleaching coral....(link to global warming series)

On 10 Aug 2005 08:56:15 -0700, gould0738@xxxxxxx wrote:

>An email this morning reads:
>
>Chuck
>
>I thought you may be interested in this detailed ocean/global warming
>piece we just sent to our members since this topic is really heating
>up.
>
>You might think an angelfish in the waters off Massachusetts is one
>confused and chilly little tropical critter, unless you know that
>scientists have watched ocean temperatures rising since 1975. Check out
>the new seven-part web feature on oceans and human-caused climate
>change, featuring our own scientists and Doug's son Chris Rader, a
>marine biologist in the Florida Keys. The feature gives you a run-down
>of solutions and science, including the basics of glaciers, ecosystems
>and the ocean's "conveyor belt." What were you doing the year that
>corals were bleaching in nearly every ocean during the warmest 12-month
>span on record? Piece -
>http://www.oceansalive.org/explore.cfm?subnav=article&contentID=4704.

I have nothing but the greatest respect for both Doug and Chris Rader
- they've done some great work in the vein of the Cousteaus.

However, they seem to consistently ignore the historical data, which
goes back at least 300 hundred years, about "grend 'y gloryus pfysh"
often seen in cycles along the New England coast. Happens every time
the Gulf Stream moves inshore you see tropical fish - often in
abundance. In fact, when the Mystic Aquarium was first established,
one of these cycles occurred and their collection was increased two
fold just by collecting the fish off Fort Wetherwell in Rhode Island.

I remember in the mid-sixties, right before I graduated, doing a dive
off Halfway Rock (off Marblehead) and seeing angel fish, trigger fish
and other interesting species normally associated with the tropics.

I'm not saying that climate change isn't a factor - I am saying that
there is historical data reaching back into an era where pollution
wasn't a factor that would seem to contradict some of the conclusions
of the article.

Later,

Tom
.

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