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Hotel construction site |
Coral Reefs under Threat
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Trampled coral reef
in
New Caledonia |
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“In the past I did not say that heaven
will fall down. I changed my mind. Nowadays I cry while swimming in an
coral reef in Panama.”
Jeremy Jackson, Coral Reef Scientist
at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institut, Panama (1996) |
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Overpopulation, Poverty
and Destruction of Coral Reefs
The state of many coral reefs is alarming.
Especially in Southeast Asia, Eastern Africa and the Caribbean. The reason:
fast growing and impoverished populations in the coastal zone. Terrestrial
and coastal ecosystems are overexploited – damaging coral reefs:
- Deforestation. Subsequently soil is washed
away by the next rain. The sediment load of creeks and rivers ends up in
the coastal waters and covers the reefs.
- Sewage discharge in coastal waters
- Fishery in coral reefs provides food for
millions of people e.g. in Kenya, Indonesia or Jamaica. To survive even
destructive fishing methods such as blast fishing or poison are used! |
Poor catch of Philippino fishermen |
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Rush hour in the reef |
Mass tourism and recreational
diving
Maldives:
1972: two beach hotels
1992: more than 60
Egypt:
1994: 8.670 tourist beds
in the year 2000: more than 100.000
Consequences:
- Beach hotels are build up close to coral
reefs. Sewage is discharged directly into the sea
- Careless recreational divers break corals
or trample the reef
- Dive boats destroy 4 to 6 m2
reef with their anchor |
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Sell-out of Coral Reefs
Global trade of shells and ornamental fish
threatens coral reefs
- Triton trumpet snails are collected and
decimated. Subsequently their prey, the coral-eating crown-of-thorns-starfish,
can propagate - large reefs areas are eaten by the starfish.
- Ornamental fish is caught by cyanide.
The poison kills corals and other animals; more than 80 % of the ornamental
fishes die on their way to the customer in Europe or northern America |
Dead coral colony, eaten by the Crown-of-Thorns-Starfish |
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Dead coral colony, overgrown by algae |
Coral reefs in the greenhouse
Corals are adapted to high temperatures,
but if it gets to hot they are stressed.
Their allied unicellular algae leave their
host - the coral bleaches. As long as it stays too hot, the corals can
not get back their symbionts and after a while they die.
Due to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect
we run the risk of a severe global coral bleaching and death of the world’s
coral reefs. |
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© Marc Kochzius |
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