424
Destruction and Recovery of Reef Systems, Reef and Man
activities on the entire territory of the GBR. Areas with limited access are
carefully protected. Special permission is needed also for research. A large
part of the territory of the Marine Park is closed to fishermen and tourists.
All collections are prohibited. The administration of the Park has organized
the monitoring of reefs. Counting of Acanthaster, and of some species of fish
and turtles, was carried out. The tetritory of the Park (237000 km 2 ) is
periodically photographed from planes and satellites. Some parameters
which characterize its current ecological state have been established, such as
the distribution of phytoplankton and the areas of its "blooms". Using aerial
microwave and infrared probes, pictures of temperature distribution,
salinity, the water masses and oil pollution are periodically obtained for
monitoring purposes (Jupp 1983). The Authority of the GBR Marine Park,
presided by the well-known scientists, G. Kelleher and D. Kinzie,
outstanding specialists in ecology and excellent managers, supports a wide
program of scientific research destined to solve problems concerning the
influence of tourism upon the reef ecosystem and to find ways how to
accelerate the recovery of damaged reefs. It also promotes active
educational work among tourists and local people, and has access to central
television of Australia, edits various booklets, and organizes lectures and
films (Kelleher 1983). In all places accessible to tourists stands have been
posted with booklets which tell about the nature of reefs and about the
necessary behavior of man on reefs to avoid damaging them.
The Marine Parks of Florida function with about the same efficiency: the
Biscayan Park, the George Pennecamp Park, the Low Cay and the Dry
Tortugas Parks, and the Marine Reserve Cay Largo. Their main goal is the
conservation of the nature of coral reefs in the region, taking into account
that the ecosystems of these high-latitude reefs, which exist under utmost
physical stress, being situated in the zone of hurricanes and large seasonal
fluctuations of water temperature, are extremely sensitive to additional
(anthropogenic) stress. Within these Parks zones completely closed to
tourists are marked. The Parks Authorities are carefully supervising and
controlling movements of ships and boats as well as any kinds of activity and
potential sources of pollution on their territories. Nevertheless, even such
strict measures could not prevent the trend to reef degradation in the
region. It was caused, most probably, by the overall pollution of the western
Atlantic and overheating during the 1982-1983 El Nino (Jaap 1985).
Attempts to increase production of food on reefs tend now in the
direction of development of aquaculture, introduction of new species, and
the construction of artificial reefs. According to M. Doty (1981), there are
now potential possibilities and also practical experience regarding the
introduction of aquaculture on reefs. An objects, the algae agarophytes,
Euchemia, Gracillaria and Sargassum have been tested. They were grown
on ropes, stretched over the reef. The area of such a marine plantation
should be fenced all around with a metallic net to keep out herbivorous fish
(Lip and Porse 1981; Chiang 1981). The algae thus produced could be used
Destruction and Recovery of Reef Systems, Reef and Man
activities on the entire territory of the GBR. Areas with limited access are
carefully protected. Special permission is needed also for research. A large
part of the territory of the Marine Park is closed to fishermen and tourists.
All collections are prohibited. The administration of the Park has organized
the monitoring of reefs. Counting of Acanthaster, and of some species of fish
and turtles, was carried out. The tetritory of the Park (237000 km 2 ) is
periodically photographed from planes and satellites. Some parameters
which characterize its current ecological state have been established, such as
the distribution of phytoplankton and the areas of its "blooms". Using aerial
microwave and infrared probes, pictures of temperature distribution,
salinity, the water masses and oil pollution are periodically obtained for
monitoring purposes (Jupp 1983). The Authority of the GBR Marine Park,
presided by the well-known scientists, G. Kelleher and D. Kinzie,
outstanding specialists in ecology and excellent managers, supports a wide
program of scientific research destined to solve problems concerning the
influence of tourism upon the reef ecosystem and to find ways how to
accelerate the recovery of damaged reefs. It also promotes active
educational work among tourists and local people, and has access to central
television of Australia, edits various booklets, and organizes lectures and
films (Kelleher 1983). In all places accessible to tourists stands have been
posted with booklets which tell about the nature of reefs and about the
necessary behavior of man on reefs to avoid damaging them.
The Marine Parks of Florida function with about the same efficiency: the
Biscayan Park, the George Pennecamp Park, the Low Cay and the Dry
Tortugas Parks, and the Marine Reserve Cay Largo. Their main goal is the
conservation of the nature of coral reefs in the region, taking into account
that the ecosystems of these high-latitude reefs, which exist under utmost
physical stress, being situated in the zone of hurricanes and large seasonal
fluctuations of water temperature, are extremely sensitive to additional
(anthropogenic) stress. Within these Parks zones completely closed to
tourists are marked. The Parks Authorities are carefully supervising and
controlling movements of ships and boats as well as any kinds of activity and
potential sources of pollution on their territories. Nevertheless, even such
strict measures could not prevent the trend to reef degradation in the
region. It was caused, most probably, by the overall pollution of the western
Atlantic and overheating during the 1982-1983 El Nino (Jaap 1985).
Attempts to increase production of food on reefs tend now in the
direction of development of aquaculture, introduction of new species, and
the construction of artificial reefs. According to M. Doty (1981), there are
now potential possibilities and also practical experience regarding the
introduction of aquaculture on reefs. An objects, the algae agarophytes,
Euchemia, Gracillaria and Sargassum have been tested. They were grown
on ropes, stretched over the reef. The area of such a marine plantation
should be fenced all around with a metallic net to keep out herbivorous fish
(Lip and Porse 1981; Chiang 1981). The algae thus produced could be used