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Writer's pictureOm Deshmukh

Saving the Coral

Updated: Jun 30, 2019

Since 2000, global temperatures have been breaking records almost annually and reefs have been dying en masse, undergoing a process known as “coral bleaching,” when the organisms that live on coral, providing nutrients and vibrant color, get cooked alive, turning coral a bone-white.


Coral Bleaching events have accelerated in recent years and scientists predict that nearly all coral reefs could be destroyed by this phenomenon by 2050.

Coral reefs are also threatened by industrial pollution, invasive species, overfishing, plastic pollution, and ocean acidification, which is when the oceans absorb too much carbon dioxide from fossil fuel emissions and acidify.

Losing coral reefs would have a profound impact on the global environment and human society, according to UNESCO.


Reefs foster vast ecosystems, providing food, shelter, and breeding grounds for thousands of marine creatures.


They provide natural buffers for coastal communities, preventing waves from destroying shorelines. The many types of fish swimming throughout their lattices, meanwhile, offer a ready supply of food for people.


The archipelago nation of Seychelles lost up to 90% of its coral reefs after a catastrophic bleaching event in 1998. In 2016, another massive bleaching event struck and reversed the recoveries that had been made in the intervening years.


Now, the Seychelles government is in a race against time as it tries to protect its lucrative, beautiful, and ecologically essential reefs from being eliminated entirely.


Within one reef, for instance, local conservationists have recovered, nurtured, and transplanted 50,000 coral fragments to promote a longer-lasting recovery.


In Hawaii, the Kingman Reef is suffering from invasive algae species that are blotting out various forms of life and turning corals a dark green or black.


Shipwrecks damage the coral reefs. The three ships, which all sank within the past 15 years, were in the Pacific Remote Islands National Wildlife Refuge and caused miles of damage to two important coral reefs: Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef. These wildlife refuges, located in the 2,575-mile stretch between Hawaii and American Samoa, are home to 176 species of coral and 418 types of reef fish.


As the seawater absorbed iron from the ship's body, a condition called "black reef" developed. Iron attracts invasive species to the area, such as corallimorph or algae, that kill anything that can't get out of its way. The invasive species of algae smothered everything and made a blanket. So instead of seeing coral diversity, indicated with its vibrant colors, you see pools of dark green or black where there used to be many different coral species.


On January 29, 2014, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) completed a $5.5 million conservation project to remove three wrecked ships, weighing a total of one million pounds, from protected wildlife areas in the Pacific Ocean.


As the shipwrecks have been removed, the corals are now growing, but in a very slow pace. Scientists predicts that the corals will take a number of years to fully recover.

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