The importance of reefs [9]

Intrinsic value:

For many coastal societies around the world, coral reefs and their inhabitants are intricately woven into cultural tradtions.

For these people - as well as for those who have floated with a mask and snorkel, immersed themselves in the three dimensional wonderland of a scuba dive, or experienced these habitats through media and books - a world without coral reefs would be an infinitely poorer place.


References: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/blue_planet/coasts/coral_reefs/coral_importance/index.cfm

The importance of reefs [8]

Source of medical advances:

We can also expect coral reef species to contribute to future medical advances.

Already coral reef organisms are being used in treatments for diseases like cancer and HIV.

Just as with tropical forests, we may continue to find the answers to medical problems in the coral reefs - so long as we can keep them healthy.


References: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/blue_planet/coasts/coral_reefs/coral_importance/index.cfm

The importance of reefs [7]

Coastal protection:

Coral reefs break the power of the waves during storms, hurricanes, typhoons, and even tsumanis.

By helping to prevent coastal erosion, flooding, and loss of property on the shore, the reefs save billions of dollars each year in terms of reduced insurance and reconstruction costs and reduced need to build costly coastal defences - not to mention the reduced human cost of destruction and displacement.

So, why is no one doing anything to save the reefs?


References: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/blue_planet/coasts/coral_reefs/coral_importance/index.cfm

The importance of reefs [6]

Also, there is...

Tourism: Tourism revenues generated by coral reefs are also significant. For example, according to a report by the Key West chamber of commerce, tourists visiting the Florida Keys in the US generate at least US$3 billion dollars in annual income, while Australia’s Great Barrier Reef generates well over US$1 billion per year.

Sustainably manged coral reef-based tourism can also provide significant alternative or additional sources of income to poorer coastal communities in developing countries.

Despite that, coral reefs are still depleting quickly. So, do your part to save the coral reefs today!


References: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/blue_planet/coasts/coral_reefs/coral_importance/index.cfm

The importance of reefs [5]

Latest estimates suggest coral reefs provide close to US$30 billion each year in goods and services, including:


Fisheries: Coral reefs are vital to the world’s fisheries.

They form the nurseries for about a quarter of the ocean's fish, and thus provide revenue for local communities as well as national and international fishing fleets.

An estimated one billion people have some dependence on coral reefs for food and income from fishing.

If properly managed, reefs can yield around 15 tonnes of fish and other seafood per square kilometre each year.


References: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/blue_planet/coasts/coral_reefs/coral_importance/index.cfm

The importance of reefs [4]

Coral reefs are the most valuable marine habitats for over 100 countries around the world. Coral reefs are the most beautiful of all aquatic ecosystems.

Coral reefs contain the largest variety of species of marine life in a very tiny area, and produce more living biomass than any other marine ecosystem.

Coral reefs provide many free economic and environmental services, including fisheries, tourism, generation of sand for beaches, and protection of the shore from waves, which make them the most valuable of all marine ecosystems in most countries where they occur (and probably more valuable per unit area than any on land as well).

The value of these services typically is several tens of million US dollars per kilometer of shoreline. We receive these services for free as long as the reef is healthy, but once it deteriorates these services severely decline or vanish, and then we must pay vast sums of money to import fish, dredge and move sand, build seawalls, etc.

Most countries are now slowly killing their reefs in order to gain short term financial profit from them in the form of tourism revenues, fish, sand, and jobs, but are doing so at the long term cost of slowly wiping out the free services and converting reefs from financial resources into economic losses.

Although virtually all long term divers in reefs share our concerns about reef deterioration, this deterioration has been often denied by those with inadequate experience and by those who are making money from reef tourism, fisheries, and consulting for developers.

Such denial by those who are benefiting economically from reefs only acts to speed up their demise, and makes sites like this one documenting worldwide reef problems essential.



References: http://www.globalcoral.org/imprtnce.html

The importance of reefs [3]

Coral reefs are important for many reasons. Most importantly, they provide protection and shelter for many different species of fish. Without coral reefs, these fish are left homeless with nowhere to live and no where to have their babies.

Not only do these fish increase the diversity of our world, but also reef fish and mollusks feed between 30 and 40 million people every year. They also make beautiful pets and the money made by catching and selling these animals provides many people with an income so that they can feed their families.

And coral are very important in controlling how much carbon dioxide is in the ocean water. Without coral, the amount of carbon dioxide in the water would rise dramatically and that would affect all living things on Earth.

In addition, coral reefs are very important because they protect coasts from strong currents and waves by slowing down the water before it gets to the shore. That is why they are called barrier reefs. They provide a barrier between the ocean and the shore.



References: http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/coral/coral4.htm

The importance of reefs [2]

Coral reefs are home to an indeterminable number of species of organisms. The variety and abundance of marine life on coral reefs is overwhelming.

Virtually all of the more than thirty major animal groups (phyla) are represented on coral reefs and many species no doubt have yet to be discovered and described in the scientific literature.

The collection of octocorals is by SCUBA diving in shallow water and by dredge, bottom trawl, or submersible in deeper water.

The importance of conserving coral reefs cannot be over-stressed. They are the world's most diverse marine communities representing banks of biological diversity.

They are indicators of environmental stress such as pollution, sedimentation, and sea temperature fluctuations.

They are also sources of pharmaceutically important compounds such as prostaglandins and anti-cancer agents.

So, do your part to save the coral reefs today!



References: http://research.calacademy.org/research/izg/CORAL%20REEFS.htm

All about coral reefs [4]

Historically, coral reefs have sustained rich local fisheries targeting a range of fish and invertebrate species.

Now, technology has made it easier to reach fishing grounds, to find and catch fish and to keep them in good condition until they reach the market.

In many areas the demand is exceeding the productive capacity of reef ecosystems, particularly where those ecosystems are stressed by other human impacts. In some cases the removal of the most attractive food fish, the top predators, has led to an unbalanced system and major ecological changes in reef ecology.

As fish become hard to catch, fishers in many areas have turned increasingly to destructive techniques such as poisons or explosives, which further damage reef ecosystems.

Experience suggests that most reefs can sustain some level of non-destructive/invasive fishing over very long periods. Yet recent expansion in the amount, type and purpose of fishing, driven by new technologies and new demands, better transport and aquarium technology for the home or restaurant, has built large markets for live fish and invertebrates at prices far beyond those paid in conventional fisheries.

The combination of new and old fisheries has resulted in overwhelming the capacity of reefs in many areas.

There is an urgent need to learn how to manage reefs sustainably with adequate sanctuaries, reference sites and breeding areas free from fishing, and to maintain the species diversity and ecosystem processes of the fished areas.

We have to develop means to manage the demand and trade in reef species. In areas that are not sanctuaries, we must consider increasing the sustainable productivity through aquaculture or sea farming to meet the needs of people in many parts of the tropics.

There are already examples of successful farming of reef products such as seaweeds and shellfish. Other species are likely to be farmed for food, pharmaceuticals or as aquarium specimens.

The challenge is to develop sustainable techniques that do not themselves cause further pollution or introduce disease.

The importance of reefs

Corals in one form or another have been an important structural feature of reefs in shallow tropical seas since the days of the dinosaurs, 75 million years ago.

Coral reefs of the type we see today have been around for about 25 million years. They are highly productive and biologically diverse.

They are home to members of all the phyla or major groups of the animal kingdom. Put simply, they are a key part of the natural heritage and of the stock of biological diversity of the world.

The productivity of healthy coral reefs sustains a rich interlinked network of species that has been the main source of food and resources for many tropical coastal and island people since the time of the first humans.

The biological diversity of reefs is a natural treasure which may support future activities yet undreamed of.

Already reef species are yielding powerful chemicals effective in treatment of disease. In the future reefs may add to the range of species that can be cultivated to provide food, materials and economic support for people of tropical developing countries.

Coral reefs form natural breakwaters protecting the coastal lands and human settlements of many island and continental nations from erosion by storm waves.

The beauty and diversity of coral reefs have long been a source of wonder to coastal and inland people, and mariners.

For many communities there is a deep cultural aesthetic, spiritual significance and connection to the reefs.

The development of SCUBA, underwater film and video, and new technologies which make reefs accessible to large numbers of visitors has made coral reefs a powerful attraction for tourism. Well managed, tourism provides a sustainable means of earning and generating employment opportunities for many people.

In many ways coral reefs have become the marine environments most accessible ecosystem for scientific study and popular appreciation. By using coral reefs as reference and monitoring sites, and as a result of their linkages to other marine environments by currents, they are can provide good indication of the state of shallow marine environments throughout the world.


References: http://www.icran.org/peoplereefs-tenquestions.html

More about reefs

Most of the world's coral reefs are in trouble.

Over a decade ago scientists reported that some 10% of coral reefs had already been destroyed or degraded beyond likelihood of recovery.

Monitoring results from around the world in 1998 and 1999 indicated that less than 30% of coral reefs have completely healthy communities of corals, fish and other species.

Coral bleaching, (corals which are stressed can loose their zooxanthellae causing them to have a whitened or bleached appearance), in 1997 and 1998 had severe impacts.

Large parts of many reefs lost 90% of their live coral cover, including colonies as much as 1000 years old. In other areas over the past 30 years, similar damage has been caused by the coral-eating crown of thorns seastars.

Reefs grow very slowly, but are able to recover their extent and species diversity if ambient environmental conditions improve or remain constant.

The combined effect of direct human impacts, and natural threats to reefs, such as predation from Crown of Thorns seastars, outbreaks of disease and increasing frequency of coral bleaching and severe storms can however overwhelm the recovery capacity of many reef systems.

For many people this is a crisis calling for immediate action.


References: http://www.icran.org/peoplereefs-tenquestions.html

How to help reefs [2]

The most obvious concerns are about events that result in massive releases of oil or chemical into the reef environment.

There is clearly a case for managing transport and industry to minimise the human error, and improve staff training and equipment design and maintenance, which can be the source of accidents.

In many ways the chronic effects of poor management of waste disposal and the activities of industry, agriculture, cities, towns, households and gardens are a major concern.

Regular release of small amounts of chemicals and sediments through land runoff, inadequate waste disposal, poor sewage treatment and minor operational spills of fuels and lubricants from shipping can have subtle and ecologically significant effects.

For example, adult coral and fish populations may appear healthy but their reproductive physiology may be affected so that they do not produce viable young. Or the strength of coral skeletons may be reduced because they incorporate less limestone into their structure.

Areas in which apparently healthy communities suffer severe storm damage may not regenerate because settling larvae avoid areas with minute traces of contaminants.

The concern about pollution is that of managing a complex web of effects.
It is not generally possible to identify and address a case of a single cause and a single measurable effect.

Shallow seas near inhabited coasts are likely to be subject to low levels of many potentially polluting materials whose individual effects may be very low but whose combined effects may be significant.

References: http://www.icran.org/peoplereefs-tenquestions.html

How to help reefs

Well managed tourism can be an ally of coral reef protection.

Tourism operations that raise awareness of the importance of coral reefs, and enable visitors to see and appreciate the wonder and diversity of coral reefs have a powerful commercial incentive to ensure that the sites they visit and the reefs they use are not degraded.

Many of the problems of tourism have come from ill-considered coastal development with hotels and infrastructure built with little or no regard for the economic value of the goods and services provided by healthy coral reef ecosystems.

Inadequate arrangements for waste and sewage disposal in developments can be very damaging to the coastal environment, and costly to repair.

There are also examples of marine recreation operations with untrained staff and no operational guidelines, which causes further damage to the reefs through inappropriate activities, and failing to raise awareness of their guests of the critical rules of reef usage.

Tourism can be a threat but it has the long term potential for sustainable development and employment benefits to communities in tropical coastal regions. The challenge is to learn effective management so that the measures necessary to protect the environment are recognised and factored into the costs of establishing and continuing tourism operations.

References: http://www.icran.org/peoplereefs-tenquestions.html#Q10

What Coral reefs need to survive

Coral reefs need three things to survive.

They need warm water, sunlight, and clear, shallow waters.

Coral will not grow in waters that are lower than 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius). Sunlight and clear, shallow water is needed so that the zooxanthellae in their tissue can photosynthesize.

The zooxanthellae transfers some food energy directly to the coral’s polyps. If waters are too deep or too murky, the zooxanthellae will not get enough light to photosynthesize.

Photosynthesis is a process that plants go through to make their own sugars and starches.

Even though coral is not a plant, it still photosynthesizes to store the energy that it gets from the sugar and starch. This is why you usually don’t find coral below 100 meters (330 feet) deep.

References: http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/coral_reef.htm

Additional threats to reefs

Fertiliser runoff, pesticides or other chemicals may poison reefs.

• Governments can try to prevent leakage of such chemicals from farms, factories, etc.

Sometimes, shock waves from blast fishing may destroy reefs.

• I recommend that blast fishing be allowed only a long distance away from coral reef areas

References: http://www.mbgnet.net/salt/coral/threats.htm

Crosswords quiz deadline

The deadline for the crossword quiz is on the 12th of Semptember. Answers will be announced on the 13th. so, good luck everybody! If you are confused, please visit http://savethereefsupportthisblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/crosswords-quiz.html for more information. Thank you