Dan Vergano, USA Today 7 Jul 08;
Half of all U.S. coral reefs, the center of marine life in the Pacific and Caribbean oceans, are either in poor or fair condition, a federal agency warns today.
The report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration places much of the blame on human activities and warns of further oceanwide decline.
Reefs closer to cities were found to suffer poorer health, damaged by trash, overfishing and pollution.
"Human impacts are making the big difference," says NOAA's Timothy Keeney, co-chair of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force. "Humans are the most invasive species of all."
Released today at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, the report looks at the 15 federally administered shallow-water reef preserves in the Pacific and Caribbean. Among the findings:
• Caribbean reefs were blasted in 2005 by hurricanes, disease and bleaching that killed 90% of all corals in some locations. Bleaching is a loss of color often attributed in part to global warming.
• Seafood species numbers are in poor condition at both Caribbean and Pacific reefs.
"Coral reefs are beautiful, but they are also tremendous economic resources," says NOAA marine biologist Jenny Waddell. Healthy reefs benefit tourism, fisheries and serve as coastal storm breaks, she says.
Coral reefs are living creatures made from the hardened shells of tiny polyps. They cover only 1% of the world's surface but play an outsize role in the oceans, serving as nurseries for young fish, centers of diversity for species and the underpinnings of some islands. Two once-common Caribbean species, elkhorn and staghorn coral, are now threatened.
The report is based on survey responses from reef managers, as well as reports from 270 scientists, Waddell says.
"We may be reaching a tipping point for coral reefs from changes in climate and overfishing, says NOAA's Mark Monaco. "But that doesn't mean we can give up."
NOAA report: US coral reefs in severe decline
Biran Skoloff, Associated Press Yahoo News 7 Jul 08;
Almost half the coral reef ecosystems in United States territory are in poor or fair condition, mostly because of rising ocean temperatures, according to a government report released Monday.
The reefs discussed in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report serve as breeding grounds for many of the world's seafood species and act as indicators of overall ocean health.
"They are a major indicator of something that could go wrong with the environment," said Timothy Keeney, NOAA's deputy assistant secretary for oceans and atmosphere.
Keeney said 25 percent of all marine species need coral reefs to live and grow, while 40 percent of the fish caught commercially use reefs to breed.
"If we lose the reefs, you lose a very significant and important habitat," Keeney said.
Since NOAA's last report in 2005, the Caribbean region has lost at least 50 percent of its corals, largely because sea temperatures have risen, Keeney said.
Elkhorn and staghorn corals have also been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the first corals ever to receive such protections based on rapid declines.
The 569-page report took 18 months to complete with input from 270 federal, state and university scientists. It documented 15 ecosystems in U.S. states and territories, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Florida, Hawaii, American Samoa and Guam. It was released at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale.
The report's authors noted it was the first detailed NOAA study to go beyond anecdotal evidence and patchy science to provide conclusive data that the nation's coral reefs are in trouble.
"We can actually document these declines now," said Jenny Waddell, coeditor of the study and a NOAA marine biologist.
The report found that coral bleaching caused largely by rising sea temperatures is a major factor. Carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels is absorbed by the oceans, making the waters more acidic and corrosive on corals.
Land-based pollution, such as sewage, beach erosion, coastal development and overfishing also are to blame.
The study does not make recommendations, but simply serves as what its authors deem a "call to action" for state governments and Caribbean countries.
Keeney sees corals as "a sentinel species of the planet," and calls them "the rain forests of the sea." Beyond their importance as breeding grounds for fish, reefs could hold cures for diseases.
He said there are also positive signs that people are beginning to understand "the value of coral reefs to our economy."
Kenney argues the report adds another layer of scientific certainty that man-made climate change is stressing the nation's oceans and could ultimately have huge economic and social impacts if its effects are not reversed.
"There's no question that ... man-made actions are the major cause for these losses and stresses on the reefs," Keeney said.
Dave Allison, a senior campaign director for the advocacy group Oceana, said the entire world's coral reefs "border on disaster."
"All the world's coral reefs are being stressed by both short-term and long-term human impacts," Allison said. "We've known about the human impact on corals for decades. It's just that the combination of problems confronting the corals have never come together in such a perfect storm."
NOAA report: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080707_coral.html
Caribbean coral reefs only 25 percent healthy: report
Juan Castro Olivera, Yahoo News 8 Jul 08;
Global warming and pollution are decimating coral reefs around the world, with only 25 percent in good health in the Caribbean Sea, US experts warned Tuesday.
In other areas of the world such as the Pacific basin, nearly 70 percent of the coral reefs are either thriving or in good condition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a report.
NOAA told the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that nearly half of coral reef ecosystems in the United States are in poor or barely passable condition.
"This is absolutely a call to action," said NOAA Coral Program director Kacky Andrews.
To reverse the deterioration and lessen the threat to coral reefs, she strongly suggested curbing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and the use of fertilizer, prevent damage from anchors and stop the sale of coral for jewelry.
"In the Caribbean, parts of Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Mexico that have been strongly impacted by hurricanes in the past few years, large communities of coral have been lost," Diego Lirman, a University of Miami Rosentiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science expert, told AFP.
He said the Caribbean region, which sustains only 60 or 70 species of coral compared to more than 500 in the Pacific, "has lost a large part of its most ancient corals, which ... can be more than 500 years old and make up the reef's basic structure."
While reports indicate a worldwide reduction in coral reef covering, in the Caribbean the problem is compounded by the reefs' increasingly slow rate of recovery, Lirman said.
"In some places protected zones have been set aside, but the fact is many countries lack the means to monitor them -- there are no patrols in the area and no real measure of control," the expert said.
Nonetheless, he said the University of Miami has a coral reef recovery program.
"We extract some corals, help them to grow and get stronger and return them to their communities in better condition so they can reproduce, or we take them to places where (coral reefs) have died off."
Development and overfishing also pose a threat to coral reefs, said Chantal Collier, with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
"In Florida, which has the third longest reef system in the world, coastal population has grown by 64 percent in the past two decades, putting pressure on the reefs from development," Collier said.
"Fishing is an activity of major concern in Florida, which is known as the fishing capital of the world," he added, noting that fish keep coral reefs healthy by cleaning them of algae that can overgrow and choke off nutrition.
The five-day Coral Reef Symposium ending Friday brings together some 2,500 scientists, conservationists and government officials from 114 countries. It is held every four years.
