Authors' Commentary 159 Authors'Commentary The Outstanding Coral reef apers Melissa garren Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Scripps Institution of Oceanography La jolla, CA Joseph Myers Dept of Mathematical Sciences U.S. Military Academy West Point, ny Introduction according to the Food and agriculture Organization of the United Nation quaculture is the fastest growing sector of animal-based food production for human consumption. As the global population increases, pressure on coastal ecosystems and the need to produce food also grow. More than half of the worlds population lives within 200 km(120 mi)of a coast, and many natural fisheries are already fished at or over capacity. Within this context, theinfluence of aquaculture on coastal ecosystems is a topic of social, environmental and scientific concern and the subject for this year's problemin the Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM) Coral reefs are delicate and valuable ecosystems that only thrive in shallow, tropical, nutrient-poor waters. They cover less than 1% of the ocean s floor but harbor 25% of marine biodiversity. Many people depend on these ecosystems for food, trade, tourism, shoreline protection, and new sources of medicinal compounds. The majority of coral reefs on this planet grow along inhabited tropical coastlines of developing countries. Thus, as an ever-growing number of aquaculture facilities are installed in coastal waters, the interactions between coral reef ecosystems and fish farms are of particular interest. There are many forms of aquaculture practices, but the more environmen tally compatible versions tend to be more costly to set up and operate than their The UMAP Journal 30(2)(2009)159-162. @Copyright2009by COMAP Inc. Allrightsreserved Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial vantage and that copies bear this notice, Abstracting with credit is permitted, but copyrights for components of this work owned by others than COMAP must be honored. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists requires prior permission from COMAPAuthors' Commentary 159 Authors' Commentary: The Outstanding Coral Reef Papers Melissa Garren Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA Joseph Myers Dept. of Mathematical Sciences U.S. Military Academy West Point, NY Introduction According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, aquaculture is the fastest growing sector of animal-based food production for human consumption. As the global population increases, pressure on coastal ecosystems and the need to produce food also grow. More than half of the world's population lives within 200 km (120 mi) of a coast, and many natural fisheries are already fished at or over capacity. Within this context, the influence of aquaculture on coastal ecosystems is a topic of social, environmental and scientific concern and the subject for this year's problem in the Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM)®. Coral reefs are delicate and valuable ecosystems that only thrive in shallow, tropical, nutrient-poor waters. They cover less than 1% of the ocean's floor but harbor 25% of marine biodiversity. Many people depend on these ecosystems for food, trade, tourism, shoreline protection, and new sources of medicinal compounds. The majority of coral reefs on this planet grow along inhabited tropical coastlines of developing countries. Thus, as an ever-growing number of aquaculture facilities are installed in coastal waters, the interactions between coral reef ecosystems and fish farms are of particular interest. There are many forms of aquaculture practices, but the more environmen￾tally compatible versions tend to be more costly to set up and operate than their The UMAPJournal3O (2) (2009)159-162. @Copyright2009by COMAP, Inc. Allrights reserved. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice. Abstracting with credit is permitted, but copyrights for components of this work owned by others than COMAP must be honored. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists requires prior permission from COMAR