Part 1

What is Coral Reef Destruction?

Coral reef destruction is a big problem all over the world. 27% of coral reefs have been lost so far and 32% are at danger of being lost. Coral reef destruction happens mostly through the process of coral bleaching. This is when coral gets stressed out and ejects its food source, zooxanthellae algae, from the surface of the coral. This is happening more since ocean temperatures are rising and coral does not like the extra heat.

Coral destruction became most noticeable in the 1980’s when coral bleaching was recognized. Since then, coral destruction rates stayed mostly the same until a large spike in 2016 when a mass wave of coral bleaching occurred. This happened because El Niño, a series of warm weather patterns, mixed with already destructive weather such as hurricanes and caused large amounts of bleaching and breakage on reefs.

Bleaching isn’t the only cause of coral destruction though. Other than climate change humans have other effects on reefs. Humans destroy reefs through things like coastal development, careless fishing, and pollution. Overfishing plays a big role in reef destruction. Many fish in the reef ecosystems are important to the survival of the coral. There are fish like the parrotfish who prey on algae. Their job is to keep the zoothanthellae algae that make up the coral from overpopulating and to keep other algae from invading the zoothanthellae’s territory. 

Pollution does more than just harm marine animals, it also greatly impacts the coral itself. Studies have shown that pollution in the water, specifically plastic, leads to much higher disease levels in coral. Sediment and microplastics that end up in oceans cloud the water and block sunlight from getting into the water. Without the sunlight, zoothanthellae algae and many other producers do not have the means to photosynthesize which disrupts the whole food chain.

 It’s not just what you’d expect, climate change and pollution, harming reefs either, things as innocent as tourism, scuba diving, and boating are killing coral. Tourists have been known to break off pieces of coral for souvenirs. Even if they don’t, there’s still lots of purposely broken off coral for sale in gift shops all around. Coral sales are actually pretty common. People sell and buy them for their aquariums, gifts, or just for decoration. Sometimes coral isn’t purposely broken off by hand but is instead broken when humans boat over a reef and the hull scrapes off the tips of coral formations, damaging the entire coral structure.

We cause the problem and a lot of people think that it’s not going to impact us, but it is. Coral reefs do a lot for us. They buffer hurricanes before they get to land, taking in most of the damage themselves before they reach us. They provide resources for us:  fish/food and new medicines that have been discovered are used for a variety of purposes such as anti-inflammatory purposes. They’re also very important economically, coral reefs are worth billions of dollars and benefit many communities by creating jobs in tourism and sightseeing.

Not to mention the impact coral destruction has on marine life. An estimated 25% of all marine organisms depend on reefs at some point in their life, so if coral reefs disappeared so would a lot of fish in the sea including many types of exotic fish, sharks, sea snails, crustaceans, anemones, sea sponges, eels, and most importantly, the coral itself – the tiny zooxanthellae algae that makes up a lot of the coral. Coral occurs all over the world so if it went extinct the whole world would be greatly affected.

Part 2

What’s being done to fix Coral Reef Destruction

Teams of scientists have discovered a particular coral reef in the warm lagoons of Palau that are more heat resistant and are reacting better to warming oceans. They have theorized that this is because ocean temperatures there are more than one degree Celsius warmer than the waters surrounding the lagoons, and so they are more used to the heat. Now these scientists are working to breed coral found there with coral found in other places to produce a more general heat resistant coral better adapted for ocean warming to give us more time to figure this out.

There are some problems to this though. Coral takes a long time to grow so breeding it is a long term solution that will take a while to take effect. It also is an expensive endeavor: materials, research, and salaries are a large limitation for how successful this will be.

Eventually, if we were successful, we would work to close off and protect more reefs to be sanctuaries and nurseries for coral and start restoring broken reefs. In the meantime, we would work with volunteer organizations such as Team Oceans, Coral Restoration Foundation, and the Coral Reef Alliance to clean up trash from coral reefs and just as much of the ocean as we could. Those volunteer organizations could help us raise money so that price will not be as much of a concern. This really is the best solution at the moment because it gives us a chance to not just slow down coral reef destruction, but to start reversing it as well.

Part 3

What can you do to help?

 It’s important for professionals to try their hand but it’s also important for us to do what we can here. Now I know what you’re thinking, “What am supposed to do? I don’t even live by the ocean.”

You can help by properly disposing and recycling waste, supporting volunteer organizations working to help reefs, and most importantly spreading awareness to people around you. If we all sit by and do nothing it will be too late and reefs will be gone. They’ll take away 25% of marine life with them, millions of people will be decimated by tropical storms, and many communities’ economies will be ruined and left scrambling. We have to protect the reefs while we still have the chance.

Works Cited

Cho, Renee. “State of the Planet.” State of the Planet, 18 June 2018, blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/06/13/losing-our-coral-reefs/.

Coral Reef Alliance. “Coral Reef Biodiversity  | Coral Reef Alliance.” Coral.org, 2013, coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/coral-reef-biodiversity/.

“Direct Threats  | Coral Reef Alliance.” Coral.org, 2013, coral.org/coral-reefs-101/reef-threats/direct/.

Gibbens, Sarah. “Scientists Are Trying to Save Coral Reefs. Here’s What’s Working.” Science, 4 June 2020, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/06/scientists-work-to-save-coral-reefs-climate-change-marine-parks/.

“Where Are Coral Reefs? | Coral Reef Alliance.” Coral.org, 2020, coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/geography/#:~:text=Coral%20reefs%20are%20found%20in.