Coral reefs heading for fishing and climate crisis

Three-quarters of the world’s coral reefs are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, climate change and other factors, says a major new assessment.Reefs at Risk Revisited collates the work of hundreds of scientists and took three years to compile.

The biggest threat is exploitative fishing, the researchers say, though most reefs will be feeling the impact of climate change within 20 years.

But, they say, there are measures that can be taken to protect at least some.The report is compiled by a group of more than 20 research and conservation organisations, led by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington DC."This report serves as a wake-up call for policymakers, business leaders, ocean managers, and others about the urgent need for greater protection for coral reefs," said Jane Lubchenco, head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (Noaa).

"Local and global threats, including climate change, are already having significant impacts on coral reefs, putting the future of these beautiful and valuable ecosystems at risk."The report revisits some of the territory explored in the original Reefs at Risk project, published in 1998, but in much greater detail.

Over the 13 years intervening, the area at risk of destruction has increased by nearly a third.The main reason for that change has been a massive increase in damage from exploitative fishing, particularly in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Altogether, more than half of the world’s reefs are threatened by the ways in which fishermen use them.

Tackling issues such as fishing and pollution can keep reefs healthy, the report says - for now

These range from simply catching more than nature can replace to the use of extremely damaging fishing methods such as dynamiting fish to stun or kill them - which also blasts coral formations to smithereens.

Other major threats are pollution carried in rivers, coastal development, and climate change.If climate projections turn into reality, then by 2030 roughly half of the world’s reefs will experience bleaching in most years - rising to 95% during the 2050s.

Coral polyps - the tiny reef-building creatures - live in partnership with algae that provide nutrition and give corals their colour.

When the water gets too hot, the algae are expelled and the coral turns white.Although reefs can recover, the more often it happens, the more likely they are simply to die.In addition, the slow decrease in the pH of seawater as it absorbs more carbon dioxide - usually known as ocean acidification - will compromise coral’s capacity to form the hard structures it needs.

"Reefs are already being hit by global warming," said Mark Spalding, senior marine scientist with The Nature Conservancy."They are the canaries in the coal mine, super-sensitive to warm summer temperatures, such that even a small background induces bleaching.

Read full article on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12530439

Ocean conservationists and organizations seem to constantly beat the drum of the sky is falling, corals are all dying, mass coral bleaching and die-offs, crown of thorns eating whole swaths of reefs, reefs will all be gone in 20 years etc, etc.

While constant vigilance is always a good thing, it seems that conservationists' stock-in-trade is the constant doom and gloom thing.

While it is incontrovertible that species like bluefin tuna are being depleted to remarkably unhealthy levels, and there are many more examples of this, not once have I ever heard or read anything other than doom and gloom from the conservationists.

The reefs everywhere I go in the Philippines and Indonesia are in amazing condition, I have never seen any coral bleaching or die offs anywhere, and where typhoons have wreaked damage to reefs like they often do each year, it is just in the shallows, it starts to grow right back, it is part of the natural cycle in the shallows, and I might only see 1 crown of thorns a week on average.

Are the conservationists getting to the point of being the Boy Who Cried Wolf?

Maybe that is the case, but I strongly feel that more likely the situation is more dire then we want to believe or can see. I think the doom and gloom is there as a way to let people become aware of the situation. Hopefully that prompts people to make smarter choices in their lives when it comes to their impact on the environment.

Although you personally may have not noticed the things that are happening such as coral bleaching, but that surely doesn't mean it isn't happening. You KNOW that the dive operators are going to bring you to the most healthy reefs, they would not make any money bringing you to dead reefs. You are also acting on visual memories of what you have seen vs what you see today. That is a very unscientific and unreliable method. Scientists have measured areas of the reef over many years using the best methods they can, and the results are proof that the reefs are on the decline.

I strongly feel that you would see a huge visual difference if you had a way to compare the reefs of the 1400's vs today. It is very obvious we have a huge impact on the environment and at the same time we are multiplying at an exponential rate. If we don't act now, it might be too late.

I can imagine back in the 1400's the ocean life must have been phenomenal!

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Originally Posted by The Publisher

I can imagine back in the 1400's the ocean life must have been phenomenal!

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Yea your point is a good one. I felt this was really true when I was in the gulf of thailand. Most dive sites had mass coral graves! Some people were saying that this is just normal cyclical activity and happens when water temps gets too high some summers. They say the coral will be back in 5 years.