5 ms·
"With a bomb dropped once every 62 minutes, the equivalent of three football fields of reef are destroyed each year, according to Williams." That doesn't sound
by pingou 1mo ago
"With a bomb dropped once every 62 minutes, the equivalent of three football fields of reef are destroyed each year, according to Williams."
That doesn't sound right.
- deadbunny 1mo agoI'd assume the deployment isn't always over reefs?
- cannonpr 1mo agoYou’d be surprised how vulnerable aquatic organisms are, and how far energy travels in water after an explosion…
- chinathrow 1mo agoI would assume the area was larger than reported. I mean that's 24*365 bombs per year.
- franciscop 1mo agoI think the point is the opposite, I also expected a lot more damage from a bomb every hour
- AlwaysRock 1mo agoI'd suspect that the goal isn't to destroy coral reefs and the damage is "accidental." And/or the reefs are already largely fucked, so additional damage is "minimal."
- throwaway2037 1mo agoTo be clear, coral reefs are essentially collectors/attractors/homes for a huge number of fish species. If you go away from a coral reef (even 50 meters), there is large drop-off in the amount of fish in the water column -- almost none. They are absolutely bomb fishing within coral reefs because there are lots of fish.
- kulahan 1mo agoYeah, but the reefs aren't the goal. They're probably mostly not blowing up reef, but occasionally do it it - hence why so many bombs clears so little reef. If it was massively reducing reef coverage, you'd expect to see the method die off once too much reef is gone. Fishers, I would guess, are aware of fish wanting to be near reefs.
- ryandrake 1mo agoI love the American measurement units. How many bald eagles of explosives are needed to destroy three football fields worth of reef?
- throwaway2037 1mo agoWhat a low value comment. In this case, a European football (soccer) field/pitch is reasonably close in size to an American football field. If the article had used square feet or acres, your comment might be more relevant. Google tells me that FIFA football pitch size is 105 meters long by 68 meters wide (7140 sq m). American football field size is 110 meters long by 53 meters wide (5830 sq m).
- ctenb 1mo agoSoccer has no fixed pitch size, only upper and lower bounds on the width and height where the size must fall into
- BoxOfRain 1mo agoThis isn't a uniquely American thing to be fair, in the UK it's not unusual to discuss area in terms of football pitches or for very large areas, Wales.
- shevy-java 1mo agoThe rest of the world has moved on to the metric system. Even NASA did. UK should not hold us back with their shenanigans.
- lenerdenator 1mo agoThe UK is arguably worse than the US in this regard. The US has mainly stayed with a system that sticks to one measurement across use cases. If I burn fuel at a rate of x miles per y gallons, I purchase it at the pump in gallons. If Tommy Atkins burns fuel at a rate of x miles per y gallon, he purchases it at the pump in liters; there's an extra step for conversion.