Is this valid evidence that the Med is dying?

[steve_cronin]

Quite simply, it occurred to me last week that there just isn't as much marine growth on rocks, concrete quays and underwater untreated timbers in Greece as there is on the south coasts of the UK. Also antifouling lasts nearly two full seasons when you'd expect, in warmer waters with much more light intensity that the reverse would be true.

There is a boat that I am told has not moved for two years in our marina. It's bottom is quite clean as are the drooping mooring lines which have, I assume, also been in the water all that time.

Does anyone have any other explanation?

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[tcm]

No, i don't think so. In other parts of the med barnacles leap onto your boat in a few weeks. There are massive local variations. Perhaps barnacles only gather in more exciting parts of the med and it is so sodding dull in greece that even simple lifeforms prefer it elsewhere. Maybe

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[Jacket]

Is it anything to do with tha Med being less salty? Don't know why this would have an effect, but fouling appears to be less in the Baltic which is also less salty than the channel, while a friend who keeps a boat on a river never antifouls, just scrubs once a year.

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[Neraida]

On the contrary I think the Med is much saltier. The Aegean/Ionian do have a different sea climate/different sea life tho (specially the Aegean) to the rest of the Med, or so I have always been led to believe.

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[Metabarca]

Yep, it's saltier. Here in the northern Adriatic, the barnacles and co are alive and well and cosily ensconced on various parts of my hull.

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[Gordonmc]

That was my impression too. I have been diving off Cyprus over a ten year period and have noticed a fall off in fish life. The local fishermen claimed it was nothing to do with them and blamed the increasing salinity over the years on the Aswan dam which has greatly decreased the amount of fresh water entering the Eastern Med. from the Nile. This is borne out by the failure of fish farming in Cyprus while it flourishes in Malta.

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[Jacket]

I knew my school Goegraphy teacher wasn't much good. Obviously I need a holiday to the med. Purely for educational reasons of course.

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[longjohnsilver]

Tcm has been singlehandedly responsible for killing off more sealife than you could shake a very big mast at, all that boat removing elixir he poured down the plugole ;-)

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[Mirelle]

Salt levels are probably irrelevant

until you get up towards Dead Sea type concentrations.

Warm water contains less dissolved oxygen - the amount of oxygen in cold Polar sea water helps to explain the abundance of marine life towards the Poles.

But I think I remember boats fouling faster than that.

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[Metabarca]

One thing's for sure: there's been overfishing here just like in colder waters. We used to get Tuna coming up the Adriatic in shoals and there used to be village outings to catch them (a little as they still do in Sicily for the 'matanza'). Ain't none now.

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[Neraida]

Yes, the Aegean/Ionian have been extensively over fished for years. You'd be lucky to get fish in a taverna that was local, unfortunately, apart from certain species. However there is still plenty of it in markets around the country.

I have never seen barnacles in abundance in Greece, they exist but just don't compare to here. The entire marine eco-system is different. You can find fish off the coast and islands of Greece (and other bordering countries to the same waters) that you won't find anywhere else in the Med, maybe of the same species/family but nevertheless, not the same as in other waters.

Maybe the fact that there is no constant flow of oxygen from tides plus exposure of surfaces so they can flourish but the sea is different. I have been diving in most of the Med and it changes from place to place.


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[Jacket]

Re: Salt levels are probably irrelevant

Salt concentrations were the best reason anyone could come up with for the reduced levels of fouling in the baltic. A single coat of antifouling lasted me three seasons up there, with nothing worse than a handful of barnacles on the keel. Several other people I met didn't even bother to antofoul- just went for a swim and wiped off the slime every now and then.

Not suer why oxygen levels matter- surely weeds need carbon dioxide rather than oxygen, or is less CO2 dissolved in warm water as well? Normally increasing temperature allows more gas to be disolved doesn't it?

What really surprised me in the baltic was that algae really thrived, yet weed didn't.

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[Mirelle]

Re: Salt levels are probably irrelevant

Wish I could rememebr my school science lessons better! Oxygen is wanted by animal type fouling like barnacles and sponges, whilst CO2 is wanted by vegetable type fouling, such as weeds. Can someone remember which category the slimes and algae go into?

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[Jacket]

Re: Salt levels are probably irrelevant

Algae's vegetable, and I'd always assumed that the slime was some sort of algae related plant type thing, if only because I seem to get more on the sunny side of my boat.

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