Barrier Reef coral bleaching now!

Hi everyone,

saw this news article this morning and was, well, dismayed.

news.google.com.au.../0-2&fp=43e4875f114a6e42&ei=4JHkQ9yNLYuOwQHXtvAJ&url=http%3A//www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/ 0%2C5936%2C18017454%25255E421%2C00.html&cid=1103907605

Firstly, one of the natural wonders of the world is in danger and already being damaged/stressed by climactic conditions.

Secondly, I cannot believe the attitude of some of the people with a vested interest in tourism in this wonderful area. Surely if the poor coral is stressed enough to expell it's sybiotic partners then the last thing it needs are tourists/divers stressing it even further? The only course of action that would be in the interests of the coral itself is that ALL watersport activities should be banned in affected areas IMMEDIATELY. ( Use of capitals is for emphasis, not shouting ) I know that this will maybe lead to a short term drop in income, or non-optimum operating procedures, i.e the dive boats would maybe have to travel further, pleasure boats may have further to go, or the unnaffected areas permissible may not be as attractive for some reason, but things could carry on and at least give the reef time to maybe survive. If the algae are retaken up by the coral within 4-6 weeks, or a different algae which is more heat tolerant can be taken up, then the coral will survive. This is surely in the long term all that matters? Should the reef suffer the sort of bleaching that affected the Indian Ocean corals in 1998, then the tourists will go elsewhere and income would then seriously drop. Tourism is a fact of life. Whilst there are lovely places in the world, people will want to see them, but this must be tempered by the need to preserve such places for future generations to enjoy - when they are gone, they won't come back for a very long time. We are, in a way, the stewards of the earth - we should all start to act that way.

Originally posted by maldives01

The only course of action that would be in the interests of the coral itself is that ALL watersport activities should be banned in affected areas IMMEDIATELY. ( Use of capitals is for emphasis, not shouting

) I know that this will maybe lead to a short term drop in income, or non-optimum operating procedures, i.e the dive boats would maybe have to travel further, pleasure boats may have further to go, or the unnaffected areas permissible may not be as attractive for some reason, but things could carry on and at least give the reef time to maybe survive. If the algae are retaken up by the coral within 4-6 weeks, or a different algae which is more heat tolerant can be taken up, then the coral will survive. This is surely in the long term all that matters?

Unfortunately, as far as many, many people are concerned, it's only the short term thayt matters....

Hope the above link works - its the link to the site from Google Au as I can't seem to get back to the story - maybe their server is down? May work later. For those who might like to get an overview of the situation then here are a couple of good links full of info, and general info about coral and the Barrier Reef in particular -

www.uq.edu.au...

www.gbrmpa.gov.au...

Anyone else having trouble getting .Au websites to load at the moment? Hang on, it's about 1 in the morning there I think, so they must all be back from the pub and on the internet Probably wrong about the time, but it's just a joke anyway!

There's an article on the subject in The Times

(I think the original story may have moved when the Au website updated it's news stories? )

Thanks for link Essan, but need the original really for the thread to make sense - basically it was about people in the area saying that tourists need to be attracted to see the ghostly white bleaching! More as well, but that's the general gist. Still trying to track down the original - post it as soon as I can.

Nope, can't seem to get through to any of the news websites in Aus - hope it's just traffic related and you guys are all ok down there! Will try again later as there are numerous links to this story, but can't get through to any of them. If anyone else wants to try then type in " - hang on, got one - try this

www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au...

Was beginning to think the story was sydicated and had been pulled!

[edit on 4-2-2006 by maldives01]

Tourism's half (or less) of the problem. The real killer is the runoff of nutrients from farms. In a sort of obscene way, tourism is good for the reef, as it raises awareness of the problem. Out of sight, out of mind ya know? Meanwhile, the runoff from industrial farming practices goes on practically unabated.

I saw a doco a year ago about a guy rebuilding coral reefs in Indonesia. He was building formwork with the steel mesh normally used in concreting, submerging it and electrifying it. This would cause limestone to build up around the framework, which the coral (that were attached) could feed off/attach to. Maybe some kind of excercise like that is what's called for? I always thought of coral as the lungs of the ocean.

Yeah, the runoff doesn't help either. Another point is that there is an opinion that long term exposure to suncream harms the reef as well - think of all those well-basted tourists, some of who have no experience at all of snorkelling oozing chemicals all over the lovely reef that they are banging with their fins etc. Let's face it, mankind per se is doing no good at all to this lovely blue planet and one day it'll shake us off like fleas on a dogs' back. ( Think I heard that phrase once somewhere, or I may have made it up, whatever, it fits!)

Here's the link to the original story - can't seem to edit the original post.

www.themercury.news.com.au...

Just to let you guys out there know, the reat Barrier Reef has now been declared a Marine Sanctuary ( Park ). No fishing is allowed there, just diving.

Supposedly the coral is beaing bleached by "global warming", but I don't believe in global warming. I'm more inclined to go along with the theory about the runoff from the farms into the creeks & rivers & then out in to the ocean. All the pesticides & chemicals might be responsible for the bleaching of the coral......................maybe................

i think coral bleaching is wrong. i am11 and i am studying coral bleaching at the moment and i think you should ban coral bleaching beacause the effects are big