[Ditto]

So we're starting to see some large die-offs in warmer waters. Maybe in a few hundred years it will balance out, but that's not really too comforting if you are dependent on fish now that lives off of the coral.

I have been hearing about large scale reef destruction (pick a cause, any cause) for over 30 years now since the Frog in scuba gear started his junk science soap opera for National Geographic, yet I am not aware of any reef that has ceased to exist in that time.

Are you?

And where is the evidence that a degree or two change in water temp. will kill them off just like that?

[ditto5]

I know what you're saying - the crisis is always just over the horizon, right?

But, I think there is some pretty recent evidence of coral kills. This article was just posted on CNN a week ago, and it sure sounds pretty alarming and immediate to me.

Caribbean coral suffers record die-off:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/03/31/coral.death.ap/index.html