Đối với hàng ngàn năm các rạn san hô sống sót tác động tự nhiên, chẳng hạn như cơn bão, dịch bệnh, và ăn thịt. Những gì họ không thể chịu được là sự kết hợp của những tác động tự nhiên nghiêm trọng hoặc lặp đi lặp lại thiệt hại do con người gây ra, chẳng hạn như đánh bắt quá mức, trầm tích và chất dinh dưỡng dư thừa. rạn san hô xung quanh Jamaica và San Andres đã bị tàn phá bởi sự kết hợp này, 1,2 và các rạn san hô Florida thông báo rộng rãi để từ chối. 3,4 Thật vậy, theo Wilkinson. | 2 A Thousand Cuts An Assessment of Small-Boat Grounding Damage to Shallow Corals of the Florida Keys Steven J. Lutz CONTENTS Materials and Geographic Reef Head Cluster Depth of Head Mooring Discussion and Geographic Reef Head Cluster Depth of Head Clusters .33 Mooring Buoys .34 Impacts to Individual Coral Heads .34 Trend in High User Management Conclusion .36 INTRODUCTION For thousands of years coral reefs have survived natural impacts such as storms diseases and predation. What they cannot withstand is the combination of these natural impacts with severe or repeated anthropogenic damage such as overfishing sedimentation and excess nutrients. Reefs around Jamaica and San Andres have been devastated by this combination 1 2 and Florida reefs are widely reported to 4 Indeed according to Wilkinson 1992 5 South Florida s reefs are so threatened that they may disappear in 20 to 40 years. Anthropogenic impacts to corals can be divided into direct and indirect Indirect anthropogenic impacts throughout the Florida Keys which include poor water quality and high 25 2006 by Taylor Francis Group LLC 26 Coral Reef Restoration Handbook sedimentation rates have received great attention from the scientific 7-11 However there is comparatively little information on direct anthropogenic damage such as broken or overturned corals on Florida coral reefs. Much of this research has been related to the damage and rehabilitation of larger vessel groundings which are highly visible and well In contrast little or no information on direct physical damage to corals caused by smaller vessels is available. Previous studies and reports have noted this
