Destruction of the Coral Reefs

1. Destruction of the Coral Reefs By Laura Leyda and Jennifer Engler

2. Coral Reefs … • What they are • Why they are important • How they are being destroyed • How to help preserve them

3. How are Coral Reefs Made? • Corals (tiny animals, called polyps) secrete stony cup of limestone around themselves as a skeleton • The polyps divide as they grow and form coral colonies - As the coral colonies build up on top of each other, they gradually form a coral reef • Individual colonies may be up to 1000 years old & Coral reefs may be many thousands of years old Polyps

4. Reef locations • Grow mainly in warm areas between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn • Most diverse is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia - over 3000 different plants and animals

5. Types of Reefs • Fringing Reef – lie around islands & continents & are separated from the shorelines by lagoons • Barrier Reef – grow on the edge of continental shelves and also are separated from shorelines by lagoons • Atolls –a central lagoon and are circular or sub- circular. There are two types of atolls: deep sea atolls that rise from deep sea and those found on the continental shelf.

6. Types of Reefs Fringing Reef Barrier Reef Atolls

7. Why Reefs Are Important… • Biodiversity importance • As a Food Resource • Source of Economic Wealth • Medicinal Use

8. Coral reefs are often called the “Rainforests of the Sea” • About 4,000 species of fish and 800 species of reef-building coral have been identified

9. As a vital food source • Globally, one-fifth of all animal protein consumed by humans comes from marine environments • Coral reefs providefood for one billionpeople in Asia alone

10. Economic importance due to tourism ... • Florida’s reefs contribute $1.6 billion to the economy from tourism alone • Caribbean countries derive half of their GDP from tourism($8.9 billion in 1990)

11. Coral reefs can save human lives... • Treat infections, viruses, and other diseases • Prevent and treat skin cancer • Provide bone grafts

12. Coral reefs are a valuable resource Average Global Value of Ecosystem Services ($/HA/YR) "As the 'rain forests of the sea,' coral reefs provide services estimated to be worth as much as $375 billion annually, a staggering figure for an ecosystem covering less than one percent of the Earth's surface."   --U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, March 2000

13. Threats to Coral Reefs From… • Coastal development • Pollution • Marine • inland • Overfishing/ Destructive fishing • Overexploitation of Resources • Natural Disturbances

14. Dredging Construction materials Building on reefs Unregulated tourism Coastal development ...

15. Tourism/ Recreation • corals easily broken by trampling when people walk out to the reef; • snorkelers and divers may kill polyps simply by touching coral colonies

16. Oil spills Discharge of oily ballast water Large power plants change water temperatures by discharging extremely hot water into the coastal water Marine Pollution

17. Inland Pollution • Erosion from increased forest clearing & intense agriculture causes silt to wash into water, clouding it, and suffocating the coral • Sewage & agricultural fertilizer runoff increases nutrients in ocean, which produces more seaweed that hurts the coral • Lack of sunlight from eutrophication/turbidity can cause bleaching

18. Overfishing • removal of reef fish causes ecosystems to be unbalanced • allows more competitive organisms, such as algae, to become dominant

19. Destructive fishing damages reefs • Due to decreased yields, fishermen forced to change methods to catch enough fish to sustain needs: • Fishing with cyanide • Blast Fishing • Not only do these practices kill all fish in the affected areas but also severely damage the corals

20. Destructive fishing practices in Southeast Asia are widespread Areas at High Risk

21. Overexploitation • Corals popular as decorations, jewelry, and souvenirs • People collect pieces of coral themselves • buy pieces from a "curios" shop – shops receive corals from well developed colonies to make them the most money • Coral is also mined – used to build houses and make roads, or is burnt to make lime. • Use for aquariums

22. Natural disturbances • Destroyed by hurricanes and tropical storms • Diseases, such as black-band disease – spreads over colonies, progressively killing the polyps • The crown-of-thorns starfish feeds on corals, if many, can reduce a reef to a mass of dead coral skeletons quickly

23. …Coral Bleaching • greenhouse effect - may cause increases in sea temperature • Sea water that becomes too warm causes corals to turn white, or bleach, a reaction that occurs if coral polyps are stressed.

24. Overexploitation and coastal development are the greatest threats to reefs

25. The Reefs at Risk indicator Low Risk Medium Risk High Risk

26. Disturbing Results… • 58% of the world’s reefs are at risk from human activities • Reefs of Southeast Asia are the most threatened • 90% of reefs are overfished • Almost two-thirds of Caribbean reefs are threatened Coral Graveyard

27. The world’s reefs are not sufficiently protected ... • 40 countries contain no protected reef areas • Management goals of most marine protected areas (MPAs) are not met

28. Preserving Coral Reefs • “Reefs at Risk” • Project to make people aware of the status of coral reefs • Has developed series of indicators of human pressures on coral reefs

29. Treating sewage protects reefs and human health

30. Solutions to threats of Coral Reefs ... • Promote sustainable use of marine resources. • Impose environmental regulations on imports of fish that are caught using blast or cyanide fishing methods. • Increase number and size of marine protected zones. • Encourage research and testing on aquaculture that could provide a large supply of desirable seafood.

31. …Solutions Continued • Increase public education on the value of coral reef animals and plants to the entire planet • Continue monitoring coral reefs to evaluate the impacts and solutions to these impacts and to determine if management practices are working and whether endangered species are recovering.

32. Seven success stories Bermuda Apo

33. Healthy Reefs