I have a lot going on right now:  moving back into my apartment, preparing for the “SciFund Challenge“, preparing for a lab meeting presentation, writing an Ecology paper, meeting & training new interns, preparing receipts for fieldwork reimbursements, preparing a presentation for a science conference, adjusting to some big life changes.  Mostly all good things.  They always use the phrase “sink or swim”, but there really is no sink option here, so I’ll just be the Dory.

Today I was pretty stoked to come across a recent article about the coral reefs in Hawaii.  Based on a fairly rigorous study using stated preference (SP) methodologies [e.g.,  contingent valuation (CV)], the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) says that the American public values Hawaii’s coral reefs at over $33,000,000,000.

Yes, $33 BILLION.

Wow!  That sure makes it easy to justify studying these reefs…they’re worth billions to the American public.  Here’s the report and a vid.

Of course, those of us in my field (Coral Reef Science) already knew a corals’ worth; but it’s refreshing to hear that our society, as a whole, has made such a bold statement about their value.  Perhaps it’s time to put our money where our reef is.