In Reply to: Re: Hydrocoral damage at Farnsworth posted by Elaine on November 12, 2009 at 18:17:23:

I've seen the damage done by anchors - chunks of hydrocoral broken off. Even worse on a day with some swells as the chain rips along the edge of the reef. You'll see this on any dive there if you follow teh anchor all the way down.

I wouldn't say it was denuded, though, but the top of the reef is pretty barren. I wouldn't be surprised if some nets had caused damage as well or overweighted rockfish lines - those 5 pound weights hit bottom pretty nard.

A mooring system can be engineered; the displacement of the area's dive or fishing boats isn't an obstacle. Biggest problem will the the environmental obstacles - even though most of these folks have never seen the reef itself. Academics - talk with some of the commercial fishermen and you'll get an earfull of the junk science in this process.