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Why are Coral Reefs Dying?
Threats to Coral Reefs, Signs, Causes,
Solutions
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Coral reefs face many threats. Some are natural stresses, such
as hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons, earthquakes, or plagues of
coral-eating predators like the crown of thorns starfish, about
which we can do little. These stresses usually are very episodic
or irregular in both space and time, and really healthy reefs will
recover from them over time. In a completely different category are the human
caused stresses to reefs. These stresses are persistent and constantly
intensifying.
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Coral reefs cannot recover
from such ever-present, worsening stresses. The end result of this
human-impacted stress is that reefs now have trouble recovering from natural
stresses (such as hurricanes) which they otherwise would be able to bounce
back from. The causes, effects, and solutions to human-caused stresses are
all well understood.
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- Major threats to reefs are summarized
below, with the steps needed to reverse them.
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Signs
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Causes
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Solutions
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Corals damaged
by anchors |
Fishing,
diving, and cargo boats |
Install
moorings |
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Over fishing |
Poverty,
inappropriate fishing techniques |
Establish fish
reserves, halt spear,, dynamite and poison fishing, develop mariculture |
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Corals
smothered by sediments |
Erosion of
soils, dredging |
Reforestation
of coastal watersheds, no-till agriculture, terracing, contour plowing, silt
curtains |
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Corals
overgrown by seaweeds |
Over-fertilization of the coastal zone by nutrients from sewage and
agriculture |
Tertiary
treatment of all sewage to remove nutrients, more efficient use of
fertilizers |
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Corals turning
white, "bleaching" |
Excessively
high temperatures |
Global
agreements to halt global warming and greenhouse gas buildup in atmosphere |
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Progressive
tissue death |
Infectious
diseases, possibly affected by pollution and climate change
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Still too
little known to identify solutions |
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