In situ eutrophication caused by fish farms in the northern Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba) is beneficial for its coral reefs: a critique

Abstract

In their recent paper, Bongiorni et al. (2003a) claimthat nutrients released from fish farms (Fig. 1A) at Eilat(Red Sea) ‘may not necessarily lead to the demise ofcoral reefs as is commonly presumed’ (p. 137). Theirstudy, aimed at assessing the ‘impacts of a commercialfish farm near Eilat, Israel, on some life-history para-meters of selected coral species’ (p. 138), showed that7 mo after experimentally suspending branches of