Guys- it's all well and good to ask Mr. Borneman to speak. But I just hope you all won't be too disappointed if all he posts is that he can't discuss the details, won't share any additional documents, and claims that the site is just "another in a seemingly undending series of tragic attempts to discredit [his] work."
Hello everyone, contacted the attorney in the family today: Eric Borneman has decided he would exercise his copyright for the emails he has sent me since he is the original creator. However, since RAG has been an educational/news site from it's inception I can use parts of his email under the Fair Use doctrine for copyrights.
Now I will not be posting any of his original email as I told him I would not, and I am a man of my word. However his second email has a snippit in it that I would like to post. So without further explanation:
Email Received: Fri 4/13/2007 12:35 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric Borneman
I have to go chair a session at an International Congress on Coral Husbandry in the Netherlands tomorrow so any post I make, if I decide to do so, will be upon my return.
Also here is Mr. Borneman's public email address that is available through various postings, boards, MASNA, etc etc. eborneman@uh.edu Please if you like, send him an email and ask that his does infact post. I have offered him the following assurance
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick
I offered you a solution, if you choose to post and answer questions, then my moderators will keep it under control just as we have edited out 2 pages of flames and inflammatory remarks to date. The offer stands, do you step up to the plate?
Speaking of threats of litigation, I have a funny story...
Recently, Mr. Borneman went to the UH *campus* police complaining to them that I was "harassing" him on forums and with my website. Apparently, he was politely told that comments of this nature on public web forums and websites do not constitute harassment and so they wouldn't be filing any charges. But since he apparently made such a fuss about it (and since there was that one PM I probably shouldn't have sent him where I may have teased him a little about his 6th authorship of his first peer-reviewed publication ever), the police officer said she'd ask both of us not to contact each other personally. As if I'd made any substantial effort to contact the man since July of last year... Well, at least the effect worked both ways. Maybe this is why I've been spared the kind of emails Patrick has received.
Of course, I'm not sure anyone explained to Officer Light that I was a bit "provoked" when Mr. Borneman posted on the MARSH forum that I had no experience in science research and failed to recant the comment even after concrete evidence to the contrary was provided. Or, earlier than that, a bit provoked by a disturbing phone call from his sister-in-law apparently in response to some joke I must have made in the Cage over at RM. Not that "provocation" ever excuses the utter lack of tack I've admittedly displayed (on occasion)... but I would think it could at least reduce my charge to "merely human."
And it gets better...
I then get an email from Brian Plankis that since the DIBs website has high school students as members, and in light of this "complaint" made to the UH campus police, he had no choice but to ban me from the DIBs forum. And just to add insult to injury, he told me that if I were ever to mention any of this to anyone, he may have to consider publicizing the complaint. Such class from such a young man, no?
So, now I know what you're all thinking... does this prove that I'm just out for vengeance? Do I really just hate Mr. Borneman? ...is that what this site is really about? And the answer is, yet again and emphatically; NO. This is about a leader of our hobby taking hundreds of pounds of protected Florida corals to a commercial facility, then having them come into jeopardy on his watch. That upsets me more than anything Mr. Borneman could have ever possibly done to me personally. Though honestly, all the above mentioned grief doesn't exactly warm my heart...
Anyway... I didn't really want to bring any of this up, but I figured if I didn't, someone else probably would eventually anyway.
Well I would expect them to drag you through the mud also. What comes around goes around.
Well, they can try... but there's really not a whole lot I have to hide. Whatever of my personal business that's interesting at all has pretty much already been put out there (either subtly or not so much).
Anyway... before this thread dies, let's see if we can't get real discussion of the actual issues going here. I just posted this on RM, let's see what come if I post it here too:
Ok, let's put together some possible scenarios...
Scenario 1: (best case)
Suppose that everyone involved only had the absolute best of intentions. Mr. Borneman took the corals honestly and didn't in any way intend to deceive anyone. Say he thought this would be a great project, etc. etc. And let's say RS also participated in the project as an act of charity and with the best of intentions.
Questions: when the corals started to decline, why wasn't FKNMS immediately contacted (as was required)? Supposing that the decline was unforeseen and was not due to any fault by RS or Mr. Borneman, the FKNMS could have stepped in to help them had they been contacted as soon as the corals became in jeopardy. Furthermore, why was there no follow-up article to RK explaining what happened?
Scenario 2:
Suppose that Mr. Borneman only had the absolute best of intentions, but RS (while having good intentions) was under the impression that they would get financial compensation for their efforts. And supposed that when they realized they weren't being compensated for caring for the corals, they stopped caring for them properly and that's why they started to decline.
Questions: why wasn't funding arranged for before the corals were taken? And again, why wasn't the FKNMS alerted immediately to the problem? If Mr. Borneman was unable to come up with enough funding to support RS in their efforts to care for the corals, why didn't he contact FKNMS for help?
Scenario 3:
Suppose that Mr. Borneman and RS, while at the same time believing they were working towards a noble cause, also expected to gain financially from the project. When the corals started to decline, Mr. Borneman didn't contact FKNMS because he thought he had everything under control and didn't want the FKNMS to suspect otherwise.
Questions: If Mr. Borneman knew he had FKNMS's complete, well-informed support, why would he hesitate to contact them when things started to go bad? why was Mr. Borneman locked out of RS only after he was aware of the jeopardy the corals were in? Why was it Mr. Watson who had to contact FKNMS?
Scenario 4 (worst case):
Suppose Mr. Borneman took more corals than he was allowed, expected to gain financially from the endeavor and didn't alert FKNMS because he knew he was doing something shady and didn't want to call attention to the sitatuon.
Questions: Why didn't FKNMS pursue prosecution? Why is he still working with NOAA and SECORE?
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Now, here are the problems I find arising with ALL of these scenarios:
1. The corals suffered: No matter what the intentions of Mr. Borneman were (good or "bad"), why were the corals allowed to decline for so long?
2. We were not updated: When you take hundreds of pounds of protected Florida corals and talk openly and enthusiastically about it at hobby conferences and in hobby publications, I believe there's an obligation to update the hobby on the status of those corals and the project (no matter the outcome-good or bad).
3. Possible funding issues: When you take hundreds of pounds of protected Florida corals (for whatever reason), it's imperative that you have the proper means and funding to care for them (if not from grants, then from your own pocket). If the reason for the corals decline had anything to do with lack of funds (even if realized after-the-fact) FKNMS should have been contacted *immediately.*
4. Contamination: Why wasn't the contamination issue properly dealt with? Why weren't the Florida corals in a separate room (with separate air circulation) from the Indo-pacific corals? Given the potentially devastating effect introduction of contamination can sometimes have, why wasn't this a bigger concern?
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The bottom line (at least for me) is that these corals were taken under Mr. Borneman's research permit and were thus solely his responsibility. No matter what his reasons for taking them, or his intentions with them, they still suffered on his watch. And to me, that's a major concern. Not to mention that no matter what happened or why, given how much coral was involved and how broadly and openly he discussed this project with the hobby, we should have been updated as to what happened. The hobby should not have had to learn of the fate of this project from my website. We should have been informed of its fate from someone involved in the project.
When someone, anyone, takes truck loads of protected corals to a commercial distributer, one should certainly expect to raise a few eyebrows (no matter what the reasons are) and should be well prepared to answer a lot of questions. And at least in my opinion, Mr. Borneman is no exception.
The bottom line is not all the parties involved really cared enough about a bunch of corals that were doomed from the start!
There was a best intention attempt at some rescue,which failed!
It really didnt matter enough to the Gov't to pursue the matter.The whole issue stinks,just as many other gov't related issues.
Hurricane Katrina relief for one!
I'd still like to know where 12 billion of our tax dollars wen't to in Iraq.
I am concerned about the fate of our reefs and our planet, but let's not rip each other to shreds here.
As others have stated, there are alot of assumptions,conjecture,misrepresentation,rumors,ba shing, and character assasination going on over an issue that should have been ended a long time ago.
The bottom line is not all the parties involved really cared enough about a bunch of corals that were doomed from the start!
Why do you think these corals were doomed? They were marked for restoration. And even if they hadn't gone towards restoration, they might have gone to other researchers who could have cared for them better. In any case, I'm not at all convinced these corals were doomed at the time they were taken.
Well, at least the effect worked both ways. Maybe this is why I've been spared the kind of emails Patrick has received. 
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