South Florida Aquaculture Personal Statement

It took nearly 40 years to win the fight to protect these ancient and pristine coral reefs islands. By the 1950s, Florida tourism was booming, and property values were skyrocketing. They had a different plan for the area: a national park that would preserve and protect the islands, the bay to the west and the reefs to the east.Herbert W. Hoover, Jr., the vacuum cleaner magnate, famously gave Washington legislators blimp rides around the area, in hopes that once people saw how beautiful the area was, they too would want to preserve it. Biscayne Bay National Monument was finally established in 1968. The area wouldn’t become a national park until

Consisting of less than 1% of the world oceans, the coral reefs are ancient animals comprising of thin calcium carbonate deposits within the photic layer. Aside from its biologically diverse ecosystems, coral reefs are major source of food for millions and provides habitats and nursery areas for many marine organisms. Coral reefs also act as a physical buffer to protect the coastlines from tropical storms and erosion. In addition, many local communities rely on coral reefs to generate an income through activities such as fishing and diving. However, 75% of the coral reefs are under threat from induced impacts of humans and climate change (Burke, et al., 2011). This essay looks at the human impacts constantly being inflicted on coral reefs.

Throughout the world, coral reefs have died off due to a chemical process known as bleaching. NOAA states in “What is coral bleaching?”, bleaching is the by-product of corals getting too warm; when corals get too warm they expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues, which causes them to turn completely white. Today, the remaining coral reefs are being stressed by the human inhabitants who exist upon the land masses from which these reefs neighbor; which, in turn, has caused these remaining reefs to approach extinction. Moreover, coral reefs are underwater barrier islands, and if they become extinct, Florida and any other landmass protected by a reef shall face the full brunt of every storm that comes their way. However, at the

For this assignment, we were asked to choose of our past presentation topics and write and essay to elaborate more on whichever topic we pick. The topic I decided to elaborate more on is the Great Coral Reef of Florida. There are many important aspects to look at other than facts about the Great Coral Reef, but also the effects it is facing as well as how it plays a role in the economy, as in terms of bringing in money for the communities. Each topic that I am going to talk about mainly comes from information found by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The Florida Reef provides many benefits to our world. The coral living in it are part of the phylum Cnidaria which a group of invertebrates. Though it may provide many benefits to us, we provide many dangers to it. Our debris and overfishing can damage the Florida reef along with many other coral reefs. Not only that, due to over excessive tourists and their recklessness, we are endangering the Florida Reef even more. So how can human action improve the ocean ecosystem that is the home to the many species of the Florida reef? One is by polluting less. We can also fish more carefully and help reduce runoff. We can help the Florida Reef and it can continue to benefit us.

When you think of the Gulf of Mexico the first thing you don’t think of is coral reefs. You don’t even think of it as place to go surfing. If you ask a surfer what a reef is, they would probably say something that gets in my way while surfing. Reefs being either large or small, have grown for over thousands of years. The build-up of limestone or calcite have given way to magnificent structures that many marine animals call home (Science). Reefs are communities in the ocean where more than hundreds of different ocean species live (Moran). These reefs in the ocean become a community that live alongside each other which allows them to grow. Whether the reef is a place to live, find shelter or a place eat, the reefs of the Gulf of Mexico

Only 100 miles off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, there is a marine ecosystem teeming with life. This ecosystem is called the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). FGBNMS is a coral reef that monitored and preserved by NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA sees the FGBNMS as a valuable natural resource that we need to protect. The intent of this memo is to identify the resources that FGBNMS provides, what policies are in place to protect those resources, what effect these policies have had, and what actions to take from this point forward. Fortunately, the policies regarding this natural resource are accomplishing the goal of protecting this reef, so I do not recommend to many changes to the existing policies, except for a few slight changes.

In the United States, Florida is the only state that has coral reefs that form near the coast. It runs along the east coast from Stuart, located in Martin County, to the Dry Tortugas which are located in the Gulf of Mexico. Along the chain of the Florida Keys is where most of the living coral reefs are also located in the Everglades. “ Coral reef development occurs only in areas with specific environmental characteristics: a solid structure for attachment, relatively warm water temperatures, clear waters low in phosphate and moderate wave action to disperse wastes and bring oxygen and brings oxygen and plankton to the reef.” (www.dep.state.fl.us)

Have you ever seen the dolphin from Dolphin Tale? Have you ever had an bounce house at your birthday? What was your first roller coaster? Have you ever had a awesome birthday present? What’s your favorite baseball team? These are some of my top 5 memories, what are yours!?

Chelsey D. Hillyer in her article, “Is aquaponics the agriculture of the future?” exhibits her knowledge on how aquaponics would be used in a mass production type of way. She describes how if local farmers were to try to get into the aquaculture is too difficult to get into. She claims that, “China and Taiwan dominate the U.S. import market for fish, accounting for almost 100% of all shipments of whole fish in 2006.” With this sort of statistic, local farmers would have a very little to no chance in branching into the market of fish using aquaponic

As an ordinary consumer in the United States walks through the grocery store and observes the piles of food, they probably do not think twice about it. However, the process of globalization is fueling consumerism, which causes the overabundance of food present in environments such as grocery stores. One of the often-overlooked items that has a large impact is the high demand for fish, which causes overfishing that disrupts fish populations and by extension coastal communities that depend on fishing as part of their subsistence strategy. Consumerism also increases pollution, climate change, and plastic waste, all of which also devastate marine and freshwater organisms. The consumer industry that is growing along with globalization has a severe negative impact on both aquatic ecosystems and local cultures and economies.

Coral reefs are one our greatest protections in Florida. They provide a huge protections against storm surges from the ocean. Coral reefs are huge host for fish and sea life. In order to help sustain this life and our shores we need to be taking care of our reefs. We could benefit our coral reefs by simply putting less pollution into the ocean. It would also be a great idea to reduce how much we fish coral reefs and instead try to spread out the fishing across other areas. Managing our water cleanliness is the largest point that needs to be acted upon. This is due to us living in Florida and we have a huge affect on what is put into the water, because we are so close to it. Instead of letting all the toxic waste we let soak into the

Tourism has a large impact on the reef system at Lady Musgrave Island with the millions of people who have and will visit the island at one point in their life. These results did not give an accurate picture as there were many other parts of the reef that weren’t included in these results. Due to this, there could have been more coral impacts or more animals surrounding the reef in other areas that were not included in these results collected. Therefore, the reef ecosystem creates many positive effects for humans and animals alike. However, it can be ruined easily with a simple touch or by leaving waste behind that could damage the reef or hurt the animals living in that

The most beautiful ecosystem, coral reefs, are dying. Fortunately, there are policies in place to protect our reefs like the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. However, these polices alone aren’t enough to protect and restore our reef ecosystems. I propose that to preserve the reefs, we increase our protection by growing the amount of National Marine Sanctuaries (NMS), encouraging and funding scientific research, improving partnerships, and enhancing the public education and involvement. This can be accomplished in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) through continuation and improvement of established programs within the United States Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

2001). Hawaii is home to more than 410 thousand acres of exquisite, living coral reef in the main Hawaiian Islands and when combined with the northwestern islands, Hawaii hosts more than 80% of all such ecosystems under United States jurisdiction (Davidson et al. 2003). We want to help expand and maintain healthy coral reef ecosystems in Hawaii by increasing knowledge and appreciation of the coral reef ecosystems to residents and tourists, increasing compliance with fishing and diving regulations, and to quantify, distinguish, and prioritize land-based sources and their corresponding impact. The conservation of coral reef ecosystems is vital to preserving biodiversity and supporting the millions of people that depend on these natural resources for their