See full version: How can we save coral reefs
“Coral reefs are changing more quickly than corals can find each other and adapt naturally. It’s a time problem. So we are accelerating individuals’ ability to meet and reproduce,” she says. “It would probably happen naturally under benign conditions, but as corals die off, connections are broken, and sperm and eggs don’t meet as easily. We can watch the problem get worse, or propose something that will make a difference.”
Grottoli says findings like this could be used to site marine protected areas in zones where conditions favor resilient coral species. “I’d like to see a rethinking of how we define reefs that are worth protecting,” she says. “You need to know about how coral species behave and respond to stress to predict whether they will survive.” [links]
Coral reefs are among the most beautiful ecosystems on Earth — “a jeweled belt around the middle of the planet,” in oceanographer Sylvia Earle’s words. They also are extremely valuable. Reefs cover less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the ocean floor but support more than 800 species of coral and 4,000 species of fish. They are spawning grounds, coastal buffers against storms and lucrative tourist draws. According to some estimates, the services they provide are worth up to $30 billion yearly.
“Climate change is only half the story,” says Jeremy Jackson, former director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at California’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Jackson was lead editor of a report published in July by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network that found wide variations in reef decline rates across the Caribbean since the 1970s. While corals had declined by more than 50 percent regionwide since 1970, countries that restricted fishing, coastal development and tourism, such as Bermuda, suffered much less coral loss than those that failed to enact similar controls, such as Jamaica. And healthy reefs weathered hurricanes and bleaching episodes more easily than ones already degraded by overfishing and water pollution. more
In late August the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration took a first step toward changing that, listing 20 coral species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The listing means that other federal agencies will have to consult with NOAA before they fund or authorize actions that would affect these corals, such as energy projects, pollution discharge permits, dredging, boat traffic or military activities. And NOAA will work with states and communities to protect the corals through strategies such as reducing land-based pollution and transplanting corals grown in laboratories to repopulate degraded reefs. more
As oceans grow warmer and more acidic, scientists are developing new strategies to rescue the “rainforests of the sea.”
Credit: Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/flickr
Some scientists have said that corals likely can’t survive above an atmospheric level of 350 parts per million of CO2, a marker which we have already surged past. But more recent research has shown the picture to be more complex, nuanced and hopeful. [links]
Soldierfish on a healthy reef in French Polynesia. Photo: Michele Westmoorland.
In Barbuda, close to 80 percent of reefs are covered in algae, and less than 14 percent have living coral. Barbuda now has five no-take marine sanctuaries, covering 33 percent of its coastal area, and has banned the catching of parrotfish and sea urchins. Many hope this can be an example for the rest of the Caribbean, whose fisheries are in a “dire” state, according to one of the scientists involved in the initiative. here
Parrot fish on a reef in Bonaire in the south Caribbean. Photo: Waywuwei/Flickr. here
Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in Kiribati has some of the most pristine coral reefs in the world. Photo: Kydd Pollock.
Coral reefs are immensely important to the health of our oceans. Renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle refers to them as “a jeweled belt around the middle of the planet,” and they support a staggering amount of the ocean’s biodiversity. They host 32 of the 34 animal phyla that have been discovered, while tropical rain forests support just nine. Nonetheless it is thought that, conservatively, a third of reef-building corals are in danger of extinction.
“RETHINKING THE FUTURE FOR CORAL REEFS” SYMPOSIUM
6 Terry P. Hughes and others “Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals”, Nature, vol.543, No. 7645 (2017), pp. 373-377.
2 Biliana Cicin-Sain, "Goal 14-Conserve and Sustainably Use Oceans, Seas and Marine Resources for Sustainable Development”, UN Chronicle, vol. Ll No.4 (2014). Available from https://unchronicle.un.org/article/goal-14-conserve-and-sustainably-use-oceans-seas-and-marineresources-sustainable. [links]
In honor of the International Year of the Reef, ICRS urges its members and all others interested in or concerned about coral reefs, to take one or more of the practical steps in their day-to day living listed below, to help save coral reefs from the existential threat that they now face.
If a large number of members, colleagues and friends make this commitment together, the effort will be magnified and the achievement will have more impact. We encourage members and others to show their commitment and sign up.
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