Open Letter to the Mayor Of Palm Beach, Florida:

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CLICK HERE to send an Email the Town of Palm Beach and ask them to withdraw their objection to the Critical Habitat Designation. When you click on the link  you will get a preformatted email screen, which contains some suggested language. Customize the text if you can. Individually written letters carry more weight with decision makers. Don’t forget to sign it and please refrain from using offensive language.
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Dear Mayor of Palm Beach,

As you may be aware, a little miracle is happening right now in the shore waters of your city, Palm Beach, Florida. A colony of staghorn coral has decided to settle down right off the famous dive and snorkel site of Breakers Reef, despite the inhospitable environment that challenge its ability to thrive. In fact, you seem to be surrounded by people that prefer to ignore this remarkable biological event, considered by coral reef conservationists and scuba divers worldwide to be a hopeful phenomenon.

What you need to know is that staghorn coral has become incredibly rare in Caribbean waters - let alone off the coasts of sunny Florida! In fact, this tiny coral reef colony-building animal is so rare that it has been protected by the US Federal Endangered Species Act since 2006. 97% of this once flourishing coral species has already disappeared over the past 25 years.

Despite of all of this, the town of Palm Beach seems to think that beach development projects (projects that pose a definite and incalculable risk of coral destroyed by construction, smothered by sand and drowned by lethal runoff) are more important than an endangered species attempting to thrive in Florida waters - admittedly without having received an official construction permit.

It is important to know that staghorn coral contributes significantly to coral reef biodiversity as it provides food and habitat to a wide array of coral reef creatures. Without the protection provided by the branches of this and other types of coral, numerous little coral reef creatures simply cannot survive.

Let’s take the Threespot damselfish for example: These little creatures are often found living among the branches of staghorn coral where they can defend their territory vigorously against intruders many times their size. The male does so to demonstrate to nearby females that he is capable of defending her eggs better than anyone else - and if convinced, the female damselfish swims over to mate and together they produce offspring! See a Threespot damselfish in action, taking cover in the branches of coral and defending its little world against our underwater videographer, Mark (You Tube video)!

Life large and small merits preservation, especially when threatened with extinction. I therefore urge the Town of Palm Beach to reconsider its position on coral habitat protection. Protecting threatened coral reefs and maintaining the town’s shoreline do not need to be at odds with one another. Please be a responsible steward of the fragile resources your town has the obligation to protect. Withdraw your objection to the critical habitat designation and tell the National Marine Fisheries Service to establish the northern boundary at the Palm Beach Inlet.

Respectfully,

Stephan Becker
Founder and CEO
Beautiful Oceans
(514) 907-1935

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Here is what you can do to support the protection of the staghorn coral colony at Palm Beach Breakers Reef:

1) CLICK HERE to send an Email the Town of Palm Beach and ask them to withdraw their objection to the Critical Habitat Designation. When you click on the link  you will get a preformatted email screen, which contains some suggested language. Customize the text if you can. Individually written letters carry more weight with decision makers. Don’t forget to sign it and please refrain from using offensive language.
2)    Vote with your dollars - consider boycotting Palm Beach hotels and restaurants if you are an occasional visitor to the area
3)    Bookmark this page, subscribe to this blog and make sure to follow up. We will post updates on the situation whenever they occur.

Join myself, the PBC Environmental Resource Mgmt., the national and local Sierra Clubs and the Florida Coalition for Preservation in our efforts to preserve recently discovered staghorn coral at Breaker Point dive & snorkel site, Palm Beach Florida.

Background info from Palm Beach County Reef Rescue Blog
Imperiled coral enjoys renaissance - but Palm Beach, activists spar over protections
A little threespot damselfish defending his territory - YouTube video
See Sept. 26, 2009 Palm Beach staghorn video
The threespot damselfish - a link to more information on the Beautiful Oceans website