ASHLAND, Ore. — The most important rule for any criminal investigator: Preserve the crime scene. Strict records must be kept of who goes in, who comes out, what they touch and what they collect as evidence, from carpet fiber or bullet casings to human remains.
This is old news to "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" viewers or anyone who followed the O.J. Simpson case. Evidence that is not collected properly can be excluded at trial.
But what do you do if the crime scene is a coral reef?
"Perimeter tape won't work, and water flows in and out. Everything is a constant state of change," says Ken Goddard, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Forensics Laboratory.
You can't even take notes in pen, which as Goddard says, is fundamental for any detective. "You can't use ink in the water; it just doesn't work."
Goddard has been working for the last six months to figure out what will work. His goal is to use forensic methods to investigate damage to coral reefs and hold people responsible for actions that harm them.
Goddard's work is part of the International Coral Reef Initiative, or ICRI, a partnership of government and international organizations dedicated to preserving coral reefs.
No one questions that there has been a crime committed against the reefs. According to the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, 70% of the world's reefs are threatened or harmed, and 20% of those are damaged beyond repair. Last year, in the waters surrounding the U.S. Virgin Islands, as much as 40% of the coral died.
But no one knows exactly why. Factors cited often include overfishing, climate change, pollution and too much coastal development.
In June, President Bush created the world's largest marine conservation area, setting aside 140,000 square miles around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, "in order to permanently protect the area's pristine coral reefs and unique marine species."
David Gulko, a coral reef ecologist with Hawaii's land and natural resources department, is the leader of the partnership's project. He says it grew out of a discussion at a conference last year in Australia.
"The people who have the training to do the work underwater on the reef are scientists and approach the problem as scientists. The people who have the investigative training don't have the training to work underwater," Gulko says. He put together a group of scientists and law enforcement professionals to come up with a solution.
