Are the conservation efforts of the coral reefs enough?
Today the world is filled with pollution and global warming that in part is due to human activities. These activities have been going on around the world for decades at a time, however, as of lately it would seem that the toxic ways are showing up now. Through this pollution, global warming and human activities some of the world’s most beautiful places are being killed off; of these beautiful places coral reefs is one of them. Some may say that coral reefs aren’t important to the wellbeing of mankind and that they are “just part of the ocean” when in reality, coral reefs bring in a lot of revenue for countries near the coral reefs through tourism, fishing, and other events relating to coral reefs. It is said that on annual 1 km of a coral reef can bring up to 1.7 million dollars in revenue through the resources that inhabit the coral reefs. They are also one of natures most diverse and possess some of the secrets of science itself. With the decline in coral reefs over the recent years it would pose a threat that if these coral reefs were to die mankind, may lose one of the greatest nature reservoirs. Therefore, are coral reef conservation efforts enough?
Before going into the conservational efforts of coral reefs one must first figure out what exactly coral reefs are and how they are important to creatures of the sea and also man-kind. Basically corals are tiny animals that secrete tentacles called polyps to feed, these polyps secrete a hard carbonate skeleton that serves as the base or substrate of the colony (more than one coral). Also corals have a symbiotic relationship (having an interdependent relationship) with zooxantheallae, a type of algae. The zooxantheallae is a single-celled algae that lives within the polyp. “In the coral algae symbiotic relationship the zooxanthellae fix large amounts of carbon through photosynthesis and pass on the carbon to the coral in the form of glycerol or glucose. These chemicals provide the coral with the energy and building blocks it needs to function. Scientists estimate that, depending on the species, corals receive 50% to 95% of their energy from this photosynthetic process” (NOAA). The zooxanthelalle also enhance the ability to synthesize calcium carbonate. In return corals provide the zooxanthellae with a place to live and protection. This is how corals get their color and some of its food and usually different types of colonies of corals form in the general area where they can survive. These areas must be perfect for coral growth with the correct intensity of light, current, salinity and other factors. If one of these factors is off then the equilibrium of the coral homeostasis will be thrown off and thus cause the corals to eventually die. Usually these coral reefs are located near the shores because the shallow waters allow light to shine through easier than if the coral reefs were in deep waters, the current is just right with waves coming through at the right time, etc.
With the location of coral reefs being within a couple miles off the shore and the coral reefs holding the most beautiful scenes in the ocean, coral reefs easily attract tourism from all parts of the world. With the added tourism the amount of revenue that the country that has the coral reefs would thus make more money than if there were no coral reefs surrounding the country. Some people travel to certain countries just in order to snorkel around the coral reef that inhibits this country, for example Australia. With these tourist traveling to view the coral reef, they would bring in money in oodles of ways, from paying for the ticket of snorkeling to food and accommodations. Therefore, just this statistic alone would prove that coral reefs bring in revenue, not only through the coral reefs itself but by attracting tourists and making them spend their money in other ways. Not only are coral reefs important to mankind, coral reefs also make up about 25 percent of homes for over “4,000 species of fish and 800 types of coral, reefs offer an amazing panorama of underwater life” (Burke, Laurette). Coral reefs also provide many countries with fish that the coral reefs provide also allow the country to get these fish because of the food that the coral reefs provide the fish. Another aspect of how coral reefs are important is that the coral reefs also break down waves during hurricanes and tsunamis, this may kill the corals but it still breaks down the waves so that the shores accompanying the coral reefs and thus cause less damage to them. Therefore, it can be said that coral reefs are very important to the revenue of the country, marine life, and for protection of shores.
With the importance of coral reefs it would seem like these regions of the ocean would be protected and people would be doing everything they can in order to keep these reefs alive and thriving so that they can keep providing for the country and marine life. However, there are many factors that are slowly killing off the coral reefs of today. Of these problems, pollution is one of the biggest. This pollution usually comes from humans, “Nearly 80 percent of marine pollution comes from land based activity” (Marine Problems: Pollution). These events come in forms of oil spills, fertilizers (from land runoff), toxic chemicals, sewage disposal, and seas of garbage. This pollution has become a problem lately because there has been a discovery of, “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” This Garbage patch is “like a galaxy of garbage, populated by billions of smaller trash islands that may be hidden underwater or spread out over many miles” (NOAA). The way this trash island has formed is the oceans currents move the plastic bottles, trash bags, cans, etc to a specific spot where no current is and thus a build up of this trash causes The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. As one can see it would suggest that this island is the cause of human development because trash is made by humans, collectively, and is now ending up in the ocean large amounts at a time. All these human events are causing the oceans equilibrium, compared to when it is purely untouched to change. The littlest factor whether it be the pH of the water changing by .2 or less could end up killing the coral reefs. It may seem like the ocean is a huge place and it would seem insignificant for a few bags of garbage to be thrown into the ocean, however, the years of not caring and ignorance of the fact that garbage can kill the oceans has caused the oceans chemistry to change. This change in chemistry is one of the reasons why coral reefs are dying.
Another reason for the declining of coral reefs and is based on human events is the effects of aquaculture and blast fishing. Aquaculture is the farming of fish, shellfish, and shrimp in hopes to take off the pressures of relying on taking out wild fishes in their natural habitat. However, sometimes when the fish get out and released into the ocean it actually hinders that affect and actually causes more competition for space, pollution, diseases, and conflict with predators. These affects may influence coral reefs by ending up spreading disease to these delicate animals and might even cause a difference in the food chain, thus causing some if not all of the coral reefs to die. For example, if an organism were to be added to the environment that feed on the same microscopic organisms that corals feed on, however do it better than corals; then it would cause the corals to die off. However, this affect may not have the most impact on coral reefs as blast fishing would though. Blast fishing is the process of throwing dynamite into the waters in order to catch fish faster and more effectively. Sometimes the dynamite gets too close to the coral reefs and then cause some of the coral reef to be blown up. If the reefs weren’t blown up and simply moved it would also suggest trouble for the reefs because if a coral were to be moved to another location, that said location may not be as suitable for the corals as the other spot and thus cause the corals to have trouble and maybe die.
An article that discusses blast fishing is “Recovery from Blast Fishing on Coral Reefs: A Tale of Two Scales.” In this article the authors discusses the lasting damages that a natural or man-made disturbance in an aquatic reef can cause. While hurricanes and tsunamis damage coral reefs in ways we cannot help, coral mining, trampling, and damage from ships create damages that could have been avoided. Damages to coral reefs caused by natural disasters can take anywhere from ten to seventy years to recover, that is, if all coral remains intact. Aside from the already listed damage causes, one still remains that is possibly the most damaging, yet avoidable, to coral reef. Dynamite fishing (also known as blast fishing) is the act of stunning or killing schools of fish for easy collection. Damage caused by blast fishing is estimated to take 100-160 years for recovery but these numbers could be even larger depending on the location and other factors regarding the reef. They type of “blast” used varies based on resources and money that the blaster has. For example, in Indonesia a fisherman used a combination of kerosene fertilizer mix and homemade fuses. When it comes to the amount of damage, scientists have concluded that rather than the location of the blasts, the type, whether it be a single blast or chronic blast, has more of an influence. The article then points out the many different ways of calculating the amount of damage in single blasts according to location, blast size, and visual observation. The article then goes into the history of blast fishing dating back to the 1950’s. It then gives the ways of calculating damages caused by larger blasts. The conclusion was that even the smallest blast caused great amounts of damage to the coral reef. It was determined that 70 percent of the live coral was killed in what is to be considered a small blast (Helen E. Fox). In time the coral reef damage did naturally recover better than expected. However in a larger blast, coral was killed and over a six year time span, the amount of coral decreased. This is thought to be caused by recruitment limitations. Thus one can see that blast fishing and aquaculture are directly related to factors affecting coral reefs.
There are two more causes of the decline of coral reefs that are based on natural causes. Of these two causes one of them is the impact of hurricanes on coral reefs. Basically when a hurricane hits it produces waves and with the coral reefs being so close to the shore of countries it would seem that as a hurricane hits the shores the waves have to go through the coral reefs to get the shores. This is bad for the coral reefs because the impact of the waves on the coral reefs would cause the coral to be freed from their structure and moved to somewhere else. When the corals are moved, the conditions for the corals to grow and thrive might be different then where they previously were and cause them to die.
There is an article, “Hurricanes and Caribbean Coral Reefs: Impacts, Recovery Patterns, and Role in Long-Term Decline”, that talks about the hurricanes and why people should be worried about coral reefs because about 57 percent of the coral reefs found on Earth are considered threatened and 11 percent of original coral reefs have been lost (Toby A. Gardner). The author of the passage then goes on to say that the reason why most coral reefs are being threatened and lost is based on natural occurrences and anthropogenic factors (sedimentation, pollution and overfishing). However, right from the beginning of the article one could tell that this article would focus on the natural occurrences and the damage of coral reefs. Then the article goes into detail about how coral reefs development and structure can be affected by hurricane intensity. The author goes through various sites through the Caribbean and use meta-analysis (a statistical technique in which the results of two or more studies are mathematically combined in order to improve the reliability of the results) to come to a conclusion on if coral reefs can recover from hurricanes. The author went through data of 286 coral reef sites in the Caribbean ocean through a significant length of time between 1980 and 2001 and gathered their data through that period of time. Of these 286 coral reef sites 177 sites had experienced hurricane impact during their period of impact and the remaining 109 sites didn’t have any hurricane impact. Through some of their research they found that coral reefs could recover after a hurricane if they there was successful attachment of broken coral reef parts and fell in various spaces in which the corals could thrive. However, there were also studies that didn’t support this data and coral reef cover percentage decreased sufficiently from 8 years before a hurricane to 8 years after a hurricane, this data was based off results and a graph in the article. To conclude the article the author stated that hurricanes do have a correlation to the spread of coral reef development and structure and contributed to the decline of coral reefs during the time of the studies. Therefore one can see that hurricanes can have an effect on coral reefs.
Another environmental condition that is causing coral reefs to die is the effects of global warming. Global warming is when the earth’s temperature is increasing year after year due to human impact and the use of fossil fuels which took off during the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution people started emitting large amounts of greenhouse gases. Fossil fuels were burned more and more to run our cars, trucks, factories, planes and power plants, adding to the natural supply of greenhouse gases. The gases, which can stay in the atmosphere for centuries, are building up in the Earth’s atmosphere and, in effect, creating an extra-thick heat blanket around the Earth. With the increasing temperature from greenhouse gases, the oceans temperatures are also rising. With this increase in ocean temperature, the coral reefs homeostasis is being thrown out of equilibrium and causing the corals to go through coral bleaching. Coral Bleaching is the whitening of diverse invertebrate taxa, results from the loss of symbiotic zooxantheallae and/or a reduction in photosynthetic pigment concentrations in zooxanthellae residing within corals. This coral bleaching has been subjected from the cause of the Global Climate to change and thus would be the death of corals.
With the factors effecting and killing coral reefs there are conservational efforts across the country in hopes to try and save these coral reefs. A couple of these efforts are the NOAA which “conducts many research, restoration, and monitoring expeditions to coral ecosystems, some of which are funded by the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program. As often as possible, the scientists on these missions post online mission logs to document their activities” (Conservation Methods-NOAA). There are also multiple conservational efforts through nature.com and other conservational websites that are promoting coral reef conservation. A couple of the conservation efforts are the Marine Debris Program by the NOAA, the Coral Disease and Health Consortium, the International Coral Reef Agency Network, and the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. All these programs are supported by the NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Marine Debris Program, supports national and international efforts to research, prevent, and reduce the impacts of marine debris. The MDP serves as a centralized capability within NOAA, coordinating and supporting activities within NOAA and with other federal agencies, as well as using partnerships to support projects carried out by state and local agencies, tribes, non-governmental organizations, academia, and industry. This conservation effort is based off the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which was mentioned earlier. Basically trash is being piled up in the ocean and one of the Marine Debris Program does is try to prevent something like this happening again. Their slogan is “secrets, germs, trash in the sea… some things just shouldn’t be shared” (Marine Debris Program). This program shall be beneficial not only to the coral reefs but also to the ocean as a whole because most trash wont degrade fast enough into the ocean or environment and causing it to just sit there for years so that aquatic life will harm themselves by not knowing what it is. With this program being put into effect the possibilities to help save the reefs and would help preserve the oceans as a whole.
As of lately there is an article posted on the Marine Debris Program talking about a Global Plastic industries are going to launch an action for solutions on marine litter (Jennifer Killinger, American Chemistry Council). As of today approximately 100 projects have been identified, which will be carried out in 32 countries, in addition to the global activities supported by all signatories. Recognizing that solutions to marine litter will require global cooperation, the plastics industry is inviting interested stakeholders to join in this action, and also to apply their energy and creativity to developing complementary programs to prevent marine litter. One of the vice presidents of the ACC, American Chemistry Council, stated that “Committing to a global action plan that will help bring about solutions for marine litter is a great step forward for the plastics industry” (Steve Russel). He also added that, The global plastics industry is determined to do its part and to play a constructive role in building new partnerships to create solutions for marine litter and Plastics makers from around the globe agree that our products don’t belong in world’s oceans” (Steve Russels). With this global action being taken into consideration it would seem that the possibilities to help clean up the liter in the ocean would, over time, continue to decrease. It would cause the Great Pacific Trash Island to decimate and would help with the chemistry of the ocean, seeing as the amount of trash being put into the ocean now is causing the chemistry to be worse than it was when there was no trash. Therefore, the possibilities for help to conserve the coral reefs through the Marine Debris Program and the ACC with this new global importance towards the action plan for the liter in the ocean would seem very possible for the coral reefs to make a come back.
The Coral Disease and Health Consortium, has taken notice that diseases and diminishing health condition among corals have dramatically increased in frequency and distribution over the last decade, leading to unprecedented decreases in live coral and altering the function and productivity of coral reef ecosystems. Responding to this threat requires improved scientific understanding and tools to: detect and assess trends in coral diseases at the necessary scales for scientific investigation and policy development determine the causes and consequences of increasing disease frequency and distribution; and evaluate possible management responses designed to mitigate the spread and affects of disease on coral reef ecosystems and their users. Their vision is “to understand and address the effects of natural and anthropogenic stressors on corals in order to contribute to the preservation and protection of coral reef ecosystems” (The Coral Disease and Health Consortium). Some of the works that the Coral Disease and Health Consortium made is a book for the disease of corals. In this book it is a primer on pathology, establishes a diagnostic criteria for etiologic diseases and uniform criteria for descriptive diseases of unknown etiology, toxicology, and methods of disease investigation, including permitting and biological control. This is another conservation program that would seem to be able to help preserve the coral reefs, however, they have only made a book on the diseases of corals and that would seem unsubstantial for the preservation of coral reefs. It may be a key to the prevention of further diseases but the other more serious problems of coral reefs, coral bleaching and poor water quality, maybe to big of a foe for the coral reefs to handle.
The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, aims to improve management and sustainable conservation of coral reefs for people by assessing the status and trends in the reefs and how people use and value the resources. In summary, the core objectives of GCRMN are: To link existing organizations and people to monitor ecological and social, cultural and economic aspects of coral reefs within interacting regional networks. To strengthen the existing capacity to examine reefs by providing a consistent monitoring program, that will identify trends in coral reefs and discriminate between natural, anthropogenic, and climatic changes. To disseminate results at local, regional, and global scales on coral reef status and trends, and to assist environmental management agencies implement sustainable use and conservation of reefs. The GCRMN hasn’t done much since June 2010 but they have scheduled a synopsis of the coral reefs in July of 2012. The GCRMN encourages monitoring teams to attend this symposium and present their latest information on the ecological and socioeconomic status of their coral reefs. There should be many options to present papers and posters either in dedicated status sessions or throughout the program. Node and Regional Coordinators will assist whereever possible (GCRMN).
Every few years the GCRMN makes a status of the Coral reefs of the world the last one was in 2008. The 2008 report is the 5th global report since the GCRMN (Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network), was formed in 1996 as an operational network of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). The catalyst for GCRMN was the inability of international agencies to report objectively on the health or otherwise of the world’s coral reefs. The US government then provided initial funding to set up a global network of coral reef workers to facilitate reporting on reef status; and has continued to be the major supporter of GCRMN and ICRI since the first strategies and action plans were developed in 1995.Therefore, it would seem that the possibilities through the GRCMN to protect and preserve the reefs would seem in a good cause, however, it seems as of now that the GCRMN still has to put some effort and is only talking about these possibilities. The united goal is to inform the global community on the status of coral reefs, the threats to them and, importantly, to list recommendations to improve coral reef conservation. There is widespread recognition that action is needed urgently, not only to conserve the enormous biodiversity on coral reefs, but also to assist local user communities to improve their livelihoods by ensuring the sustainable use of the reefs (GCRMN). Therefore, it would seem that the possibilities of the coral reefs to be preserved under the GCRMN could happen. They would still need to put more conservational efforts into effect to counter act the damage that has already been done to the coral reefs.
With these conservational efforts and the problems that persist coral reefs it may seem almost impossible for the coral reefs to become saved and it is almost inevitable that the coral reefs may be on a decline and may be an endangered species pretty soon. Some ways to lengthen the time we have with coral reefs though is by trying to keep the coral reefs untouched by human interaction and also by maybe setting up their own coral reefs in an environment in which one could control the conditions and also keep it untouched by human interaction. This process would take some time though and some effort, but this would definitely cause the coral reef population to grow and help maintain the beauty of the coral reefs themselves. However, in essence it would seem that the oceans may not return to normal conditions to where coral reefs could make it on their own and thrive in an environment. The only way these process and conservational efforts would do is lengthen the time that the coral reefs live. This conservational efforts would therefore be beneficial and would continue to be carried out. However, another factor must be taken into consideration as to if these coral reef conservational efforts will save the coral reefs and that is are the problems that face coral reefs outweigh the conservational efforts. If this statement is true then eventually the problems would win the war over trying to conserve the coral reefs. In conclusion, it would seem that the conservational efforts wouldn’t be enough to save the coral reefs but it would definitely lengthen the time that the coral reefs live.
Edit: Now note this is my basic knowledge that I have gathered in less then a year. Please feel free to correct me on what I am saying for I maybe wrong in certain aspects. Also If there is an easier way to post it to the forum let me know!
I had a similar class last semester Conservation Ecology. Fun stuff 