Coral Reef Fact:

Drawing of a male pipe-fish (Syngnathus acus) with sub-caudal pouch (photo: wikipedia)

Pipefishes or pipe-fishes (Syngnathinae) are a subfamily of small fishes, closely related to seahorses. “Young Pipefish are born freeswimming with relatively little or no yolk sac, and begin feeding immediately. From the time they hatch they are independent of their parents, who at that time may choose to view them as food.”

Fact source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipefish

Join Reef Relief to help protect our marine environment visit reefrelief.org/act/donate

April 28, 2011

Exxon stood head and shoulders above the other big five oil companies with first-quarter profits of nearly $10.7 billion.  CAP’s Valeri Vasquez has the details.

The first anniversary of the BP fatal oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico reminded Americans of the enormous human and economic costs of our oil dependence. One year later, BP is posting first-quarter profits of nearly $5.5 billion. This 17 percent growth from 2010’s first-quarter earnings comes despite BP having distributed a mere 19 percent of the $20 billion it agreed to pay oil spill victims and their families. Read the full article

Coral Reef Fact:

Brown Pelican photo:Alan D. Wilson, www.naturespicsonline.com (original photograph)

The Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) “is distinguished from the American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) by its brown body and its habit of diving for fish from the air, as opposed to co-operative fishing from the surface.”   source: wikipedia

Join Reef Relief today and help protect our marine environment. www.reefrelief.org/act/donate

Coral Reef Fact:

“The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is not only the largest conservation area in the U.S.,” “It’s larger than all of America’s national parks combined! This vast region preserves many of Hawaii’s Northwestern Islands and is made up of 139,797 square miles of reefs, atolls, shallow waters, and deep seas.”

Fact source: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/largestnms.html

Join Reef Relief today & help protect our marine areas, go to reefrelief.org/act/donate

Coral Reef Fact:

Spotted eagle ray: notice the ringed color pattern across the dorsal surface courtesy Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

“The Spotted eagle is ovoviviparous meaning the eggs develop inside the body and hatch within the mother.” Florida  Museum of Natural History

Source: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/descript/seray/seray.html

Join Reef Relief today & help protect our marine areas, go to reefrelief.org/act/donate

Coral Reef Fact:

photo: Paige Gill - Florida Keys NMS

The National Marine Sanctuary Program was created in 1972, to protect marine & Great Lakes areas of special significance. In 1975 the first sanctuary was established in the area surrounding the sunken remains of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor now an artificial reef.

Learn more about US National Marine Sanctuaries

Fact source: http://kids.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry?id=NatlMarS

Join Reef Relief today & help protect our marine areas, go to reefrelief.org/act/donate

We all saw the success of working together get HB457 under control, we could use the same help on SB 796 which will undo group efforts made 2 years ago to close the outfalls in South Florida. Please call your Senators while they are home on break.

These Bills include some troubling provisions that could detrimentally impact the treatment and reuse of water in some of our largest counties, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

The legislation delays the requirement for compliance with a state mandate to eliminate ocean outfall, improve wastewater treatment and beneficially reuse a portion of that wastewater by five years. Unfortunately, as is too often the case during our 60-day legislative session, some troubling provisions of this legislation appear to have been overlooked.

Of key relevance is the grave concern that injecting this into the aquifer would increase nutrients in our aquifers since drinking water standards do not limit nutrients enough. The studies have shown that due to our limestone this can easily come back through upwellings onto our reefs and into our sensitive bay areas.

Our main target is the upcoming Senate Budget Committee as this is where it goes first thing next week, but all Senators need to be aware if this gets pushed through.

http://florida.surfrider.org/action-alerts

Ericka (Davanzo) Canales
Florida Regional Manager
Surfrider Foundation
Ecanales@surfrider.org
772-924-4144

Coral Reef Fact:

photo: NOAA

“despite having no external ear lobes, can hear very well. Manatees emit sounds in the human auditory range and will make sounds, such as squeaks or squeals when frightened, playing or communicating”. A “cow and calf once separated by a flood-control gate vocalized constantly for 3 hours until reunited.”

Fact source: http://www2.fiu.edu/~fuentes/manfact_F.htm

Join Reef Relief today & help protect our marine environment, go to reefrelief.org/act/donate

The Florida Legislature has released plans to cut essential funding that supports protection and conservation of Florida’s Aquatic Preserves. This program has already been cut 25% by the Legislature over the last three years. The current proposed cut of over $1 million in state funds is an additional 15% reduction that will close six Aquatic Preserve field offices, and eliminate 23 staff currently involved in restoration, education, monitoring, and stewardship of over 2 million acres within the Aquatic Preserves.

photo: NOAA

What you can do to help:

Contact your local state legislators in the Senate and House via email and letter NOW and urge them to support the Governor’s recommendation for Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas (CAMA). To locate your legislators, go to: www.flsenate.gov and www.myfloridahouse.gov.

• CAMA is responsible for managing over 4 million acres of submerged ands within 41 Aquatic Preserves, three National Estuarine Research Reserves, and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary representing Florida’s most pristine coastal and marine resources. Florida’s Aquatic Preserves protect sea grass beds, coral reefs, mangrove and marshes that serve as powerful economic engines driving local businesses such as tourism, sport fishing, boating, and commercial seafood industries that generate billions of dollars each year.
• CAMA is a non-regulatory program that uses science and education to build successful collaborative partnerships that effectively engage public and private sectors in coastal stewardship. The Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserves and its associated park lands provide a wide range of outstanding benefits and values to the people of the State of Florida, including economic benefits such as:

• The $18.4 Billion and 220,000 jobs the recreational marine-related industry generated statewide in 2005, (this includes boating and marinas, fishing, and marine science research);
• As of 2007 there were tourist oriented facilities valued at $1.4 Billion in Southwest Florida (the second highest values in the state);
• Southwest Florida region has the highest number of saltwater licenses among non-residents and the second highest number of beach attendance. In order to maintain and even grow this segment of the economy, we need to at least maintain the current level of management to ensure our waters are attractive to tourist, recreational users and commercial enterprises.