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