Whats Damaging The Coral Reefs And How We Can Minimise The Damage

Coral reefs are often considered as rocks, stones or plants in the seabed

, but are actually composed of coral limestone skeletons of small animals, coral polyps, when a coral dies, it leaves behind its limestone skeleton of coral, young coral are then attached to the skeleton of the old and the cycle begins again. Coral reefs are generally found in shallow tropical waters near the Ecuador, the shallow water is ideal for corals to survive because they need sunlight.

Today, coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate, it is estimated that 25% of reefs have disappeared from our seas, and studies have shown that 88% of coral reefs in Southeast Asia, known as the richest the world are at risk too. There are several reasons for the deterioration of coral reefs by pollution, disease, overfishing, dynamite fishing, sedimentation and bleaching.

The pollution causes damage to coral reefs due to toxins and heavy metals. Pollution enters the oceans by different ways such as oil spills, waste, acid rain, pollution and exhaust fumes from boats and jet skis for example. When gases and toxins have entered through the polyps, coral polyps die, resulting in no new coral polyps growth, which destroys the remaining coral.

Disease can also affect the vulnerable corals, diseases come about after biotic and abiotic stresses. Biotic stresses include fungi, bacteria's and various other viruses, Abiotic stresses occur when physical and chemical changes have taken place such as sea-surface temperatures and ultraviolet radiation. These diseases will weaken the corals structure and make them more vulnerable to colonization.

Overfishing and dynamite fishing is also a major problem for the survival of corals, overfishing destroying their sustainability, and dynamite or cyanide fishing destroys coral and flattens their structure, unwary fishermen also use sticks to scare the fish into a net, they do this by hitting the seabed and corals with great force that seriously damages corals.

Sedimentation can affect the coral if the state of the sediments changes significantly, because if the amount of sediment in the water prevents the right amount of light reaching the coral, it kills the algae and eventually the reef. The coral bleaching is a stress response is usually induced by the temperature of the sea, if the temperature drops too much or increase, the conditions are not ideal for corals, therefore coral bleaching and damage occurs.

We can do a few things to counteract these problems, a few suggestions are conserving water, reduce your carbon emissions, by walking instead of driving for example, dispose of waste correctly, Be responsible when diving or on a boat, try not to touch coral when diving, or do not anchor where coral is present. You could also volunteer on coral clean up operations or other marine projects around the world that are focusing on saving the coral reefs.

by: L Hartles Lee.

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