Save The Coral Reefs

Our thoughts

2008-09-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

All in all, we think that saving the reefs is essential and is the whole of human races' mission.
The corals make our world beautiful, even with just the fishes, plants, beaches, ocean, our world is not complete without corals.

So start saving the corals today. Every second counts!

Yet another poem...written front the bottom of our hearts

2008-09-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

Maybe we think we have been trying too hard
Just maybe we think that we have done our best
Only just maybe we think that our oceans are fine
BUT THE REEFS ARE STILL STRIVING TO STAY ALIVE

Do you think that it is enough
Because now the reefs need our help
Admiring the beautiful view slowly vanish
Or do our part and help SAVE THE REEFS?

The reefs need our help
Now embark on a new mission
Go underwater
And SAVE OUR REEFS!!!

Our Poem...About Reefs

2008-09-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Save Our Reefs

Our reefs are precious
Our corals are precious

They are precious
Just like our lifes

So treasure it
And cherish it

Save it
Just like how you love your lifes

What we do to the coral reefs.( Cont.)

2008-09-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

Here are the other stuff we do to the coral reefs:

Oil and industrial pollution: Petrochemicals and heavy metals are a great threat to all marine life in coral reef zones, especially near urban areas and in the seas of the Middle East.

Sedimentation: When people clearcut forests or bulldoze new housing tracts and parking lots, tons of loose dirt is washed downstream and into near-shore reef areas, where it buries corals under a layer of silt and smothers them.

Tourism: Clumsy or just not aware of, tourists crush, scrape, gouge, and break off fragile corals with their hands, their scuba fins, and their ship anchors. Resort development destroys coastal mangroves, creates new sewage sources, and stirs up more silt that smothers reefs.

Disease: Abuse adds up, and reefs that aren't killed directly by people, it may be getting sick from the accumulated stresses. Recent years have seen epidemics of many coral diseases and the discovery of several new ones previously unknown to science. Coral bleaching, a deadly ailment on the rise, is associated with higher water temperatures—but even that can be attributed to humankind if global warming models are correct. And the diseases seem to be getting meaner: In April, scientists reported in the journal Nature that a new species of coral-bleaching and -killing bacteria was wiping out reefs in two or three days, rather than the weeks or months it took previously.

Climate disruption: Coral bleaching aside, global warming will cause some obvious problems for corals, like decreased ocean salinity and rising mean ocean depth. Then there are the less obvious problems: Australian scientists warned in March 1998 that increasing carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere was raising the acidity of surface water in the world's oceans, making it harder for corals to form the (basic) limestone skeletons that make up the reefs.
Coral mining: People excavate coral reefs for their limestone and sand, for use in building materials, resort hotel beaches, tourist souvenirs, even snake-oil medicines: A Swedish company, Ericssons Preventive Medical Group, claims its Alka-Mine Coral Calcium will "naturally detox the body by neutralizing the acidity with which we are all...too apt to pollute our systems." Sweden, of course, has no coral reefs; the product's mineral-rich coral sand is mined off Okinawa.
Mangrove destruction: The familiar tree of swamps from Mississippi to Mozambique, the mangrove provides a crucial service to coral reefs: It filters silt and even pollution out of terrestrial runoff before it can taint the clear water of the reef zones. People chop down mangroves for firewood and clear them for coastal construction.
See? These are the stupid things we do, that not only will harm the coral reefs, but also us, in future.

Source: Action Atlas

What we do to the coral reefs.

2008-09-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Coral reefs give us benefits and we take them for granted. What do we do to them? Let's see...

Overfishing: In areas blessed with an abundant human population, the collapse of the world's fisheries is a familiar story, and tropical regions are just another chapter. Coral reef fisheries are hitting bottom in many regions, especially in South and East Asia, where many overexploited reefs have been scoured of nearly all edible life.
Blast fishing: In depleted fisheries, people resort to desperate tactics to catch the fish that remain—one of those is dynamite. The explosions send dead fish to the surface and destroy living reefs; they can be heard from the Philippines to Kenya to the Caribbean. That's worser.
Cyanide fishing: Restaurants and markets, especially those in East Asia, like to buy live fish; fishermen oblige them by stunning big fish with cyanide sprayed into the water. The fish are caught live, the market momentarily sated, the coral reefs killed-which is not fair to them.
Sewage: Organic wastes from human cities flood to the sea, bringing an overload of nutrients; algae take over the reefs, blotting out the sunlight corals need to live. It's called eutrophication and it's a major problem, especially in the Caribbean and Central America, where just 10 percent of sewage is properly treated before it's dumped in the sea.
Farm runoff: More eutrophication. Carried to the sea by rivers and streams, chemical fertilizers act much like sewage, overloading reef areas with nutrients for algae, choking the corals. Herbicides and pesticides are a toxic bonus. Florida is a prime example, great example.

There are more in the next post.

Source: Action Atlas

What are coral reefs good for?

2008-09-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

Who cares if the corals go the way of the dodo? You should. Science has progressed to the point where we can understand this fact: We can't live without those tiny animals and their coral reefs—at least not all of us. People need the coral reefs. Here are what coral reefs are useful for:

Food. Coral reef zones are home to one quarter of all marine plants and animals: Nearly a million species of fish, crabs, eels, mollusks, sponges, worms, grasses, algae, and other marine animals live on reefs or use them as nurseries to protect their young. Corals also provide natural filtration of seawater for their neighbours. These reef ecosystems support vast fisheries that people, especially in coastal nations, depend upon for much of their protein. Collapse could mean famine. No coral reefs- No food.

Shelter. Natural harbors that take a long time to build, coral reefs provide people with living sea walls against tides, storm surges, and hurricanes. They also act as giant sand factories, creating limestone from dissolved minerals in seawater and leaving it behind as sand to keep shorelines from eroding. They also help provide clownfishes shelter from its predators.

Medicine and other resources. Like the tropical rainforests, coral reefs are a center of extreme biodiversity, a great reservoir of intriguing DNA we've hardly begun to explore and natural compounds we don't yet understand. Australian scientists in Queensland have developed a sunscreen from substances that corals use to protect themselves from ultraviolet light. It has an SPF of 50+. In Menlo Park, Calif., Neurex Corp. has developed an extraordinarily potent pain-killing drug from the poison of reef-dwelling sea snails. The paralytic agent, used by snails of the species Conus magus to render their prey helpless, is hundreds of times more potent than morphine. It is injected directly into a patient's spinal fluid, providing relief for those suffering from cancer and other agonizing conditions. Look how great coral reefs are.

Fun and profit. Coral reefs are one big underwater amusement park for snorkelers and divers, a searingly colorful undersea world of Cousteauian delights—which drives a tourist industry worth tens of billions of dollars, in many cases propping up the economies of entire nations. It makes the Earth beautiful.

Now you know what coral reefs are good for. For many things. But we continue ignoring the fact that coral reefs are facing extinction. And we continue harming them.

Source: Action Atlas

Other places where coral reefs are in GREAT DANGER.

2008-09-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

There are other places where the coral reefs are facing great danger. Well, as I have already posted earlier, The Indian Ocean, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Somalia. But thereare more. Here's like what I can find- the places where coral reefs are facing great danger- and here they are.
Places: Indian Ocean, Madgascar, Somalia, Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, Tanzanina, Seychelles, Republic of Maldives, Reunion (Fr.), Chagos Archipelago (UK), Mozambique, Comoros, Mauritius.
That's what I could find.
Will be posting more.
Source: Action Atlas

Somalia/ Coral Reefs

2008-09-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

Because of a seasonal cool-water upwelling, Somalia has only a few well-developed coral reefs, along its southern coast and the adjacent Bajuni Islands, and a few patch reefs off Mogadishu. These cora reefs are threatened, like all East African reefs, with sedimentation from erosion and agricultural runoff, overfishing, blast fishing, and depletion of the coastal mangrove trees vital to reef health. It's like almost the same thing that happens to them. Everywhere. Not only in Somalia! World wide!

Source: Action Atlas

Sri Lanka/ Coral reefs

2008-09-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka faces much the same dilemmas as India : Tourism, coral collection, coral mining, and industrial and population growth all threaten its reefs, and since the country's population is increasing and gets about 65 percent of its animal protein from the ocean, reefs here are particularly prone to overfishing—meaning that if reefs are not managed better, famine could result from a fisheries collapse.
The government has been unable to halt traditional coral mining, and while it has established two marine reserves, Bar Reef and Hikkaduwa, it did not seem to work. Meanwhile, Hikkaduwa is being touristed to death, smothered in sand and sewage from beachfront hotel development; two-thirds of its coral cover is already gone.

See?

Source: Action Atlas

Madagascar/ Coral Reefs

2008-09-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

Madagascar is best known for its unique and endangered fauna on land, and this huge island nation is also edged by extensive coral reefs of all types, which unfortunately suffer from extensive mining of coral and coral sand. Luckily, the government, however, is increasingly conservation-minded: In October 1997 Madagascar created the 840-square-mile Masoala National Park, which encompasses an extensive coral reef and whale breeding ground, among other features.
Good thing they did that, or else, coral reefs in Madagascar, goodbye.

Source: Action Atlas

Indian Ocean/ Coral Reefs

2008-09-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

The Indian Ocean is large and biologically diverse, but the corals there face great dangers. They also face enormous overall pressure from population increases and illegal fishing methods like dynamite blast fishing and cyanide fishing. And, sediment runoff from agriculture has been a problem region-wide, smothering corals offshore. The United Nations Environment Program estimated that 20 percent of the region's coral reefs had already been destroyed—and that was in 1984. So if we keep doing what we're doing right now, more coral reef's will be destroyed.
A Reefwatch diver surveyed corals in the Seychelles, where reefs suffer the characteristic Indian Ocean impacts of mining and farm runoff.
It's all because of US.
Source: Action Atlas

The Plight of Coral Reefs now.

2008-09-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

Hello. Okay. Here's more information on the coral reefs. Well, it's kind of like the plight they are now.

You see, biologists have already done their research and you know, living coral reefs are the foundation of marine life, and thus a crucial support for human life, yet all over the world they are dead or dying because people are destroying them—killing them—at a catastrophic rate. Already 10 percent are lost, and scientists say 70 percent of all corals on the planet will be destroyed in 20 to 40 years unless people stop doing what they're doing—pollution, sewage, erosion, cyanide fishing, clumsy tourism—and get serious about saving the coral reefs now. There's hope yet: Reefs are resilient and they bounce back quickly when protected.

But the problem is, the world don't think it's important. Yup, if only people gets a taste of their medicine. They'll see that they should have stopped doing bad stuff. They'll regret. But right now, we'll living happily, peacefully, and are leading a luxurious life. But we never spare a thought for the animals, plants , CORAL REEFS.

It's protection that's the real trick—and it's ordinary people who are making it happen. Government efforts in much of the world have been frankly pathetic: late, weak, underfunded, unenforced. Persian Gulf oil states pass toothless pollution laws then ignore them. Indian Ocean poachers outwit and outnumber British Royal Navy patrols. Ecuador stalls for decades while tourism explodes in the delicate Galapagos, only to enact a plan that makes it worse. The status quo scarcely wavers: relentless destruction of coral reefs. In those bright spots where people are changing the way they treat the reefs, you'll find fishermen, students, divers, biologists, concerned citizens of all stripes transformed into activists and volunteers, taking matters into their own hands to protect the coral reefs that are dear to them and vital to us all. The others? They don't even care.
So it's up to us, ordinary people, to protect the coral reefs, and pass down the message to protect them! Act NOW.
More coming up!
Adapted from: Action Atlas

Coral Reefs in Singapore

2008-09-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

Coral Reefs in Singapore.
The coral reefs in Singapore are found in the south islands of Singapore.These comprise fringing and patch reefs. The islands where coral reefs can be found are:
Sentosa, St. John's island, The Sisters, Jurong Island, Raffles Lighthouse and more.
So, if you're in Singapore, go to these places to see coral reefs. By the way, I only know where the coral reefs are located, not exactly which area/spot, so if you're there, you might want to ask someone who knows a lot about the place.
If you want to see more of the places that coral reefs can be found, you can log on to this url: http://coralreef.nus.edu.sg/
Okay. Will be posting more soon.

Source: Coral Reefs in Singapore ( NUS )
http://coralreef.nus.edu.sg/

Why are coral reefs important to us?

2008-09-04T06:57:00.001-07:00

Why are Coral reefs important to us?
Here's the reason why:
Coral reefs are important for many different reasons:
1.the coral reef is "biologically diverse" that means there are many different kinds of animals and plants that live theree This is important, because just like the tropical rainforests, Coral reefs may be the source of medicines, chemicals or other resources that haven't even been discovered yet, and unless we save these environments, we'll never get the chance to discover these resources that we need;
2.Coral reefs are also"biologically productive" , which means there are lots of each thing that grows here. Many of the creatures that live here, like lobsters and fish, which we depend on for food , and all around the world!
3.Coral reefs are beautiful places, and provide income from tourists to many otherwise poor countries around the world.
4.Reefs are very stable, and provide a protective barrier around many islands and coasts. Without the reefs these islands and coasts will erode away into the ocean.
5.It is important to protect the reefs we have today, because they can't be replaced. Reefs are formed very slowly by tiny animals called "coral". Each animal is tinier than your smallest nail, and grows very slowly, only about 1 centimeter a year. The reefs we have today were formed over 100 of thousands of years, and it would take just as long to grow back, if they can grow back. Oil drilling and erosion from developing coasts near reefs are big problems.
And that's the reason why... we should protect the coral reefs!
Source: Ask a Scientist

The Great Barrier Reef

2008-09-04T06:23:00.000-07:00

What is the Great Barrier Reef? You may ask. It's full of reefs. And it's beautiful. Wait. That's just what I think. Here's the right explanation.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres .The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia.
The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space (wow.) and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. The Great Barrier Reef supports a wide diversity of life, and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN has labelled it 1 of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The Queensland National Trust has even named it a state icon of Queensland.
A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as overfishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures to the reef and its ecosystem include water quality from runoff, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish.
Adapted from: Wikipedia (search:Great Barrier Reef)

Soft corals are melting away because of Global Warming.

2008-09-04T05:45:00.000-07:00

Researchers say that the soft corals are melting away because of Global Warming. You might say, we're not the ones that are destroying the corals, it's global warming. If you could only see what we always do in daily life. Think again. Global warming is caused by us! Our actions that leads to global warming and global warming- makes soft corals melt away.
Environmental stress, says Benayahu, is damaging the symbiotic relationship between soft corals and the microscopic symbiotic algae living in their tissues. There is no doubt that global warming is to blame, warns the marine biologist, explaining that this symbiotic relationship is key for the survival of most soft corals.
What are soft corals? Why are they important?
Soft corals help maintain the health and balance of reef ecosystems and provide protection to numerous animals such as “Nemo”, the famous clown fish from the Walt Disney movie. They are also a rich and promising source of life-saving drugs against cancer and deadly infectious diseases.
It;s way too late now. There is a huge gap in our knowledge of soft corals in the reef environment, and with the rate of extinction, we have lost certain species forever.
If soft corals are gone, animals such as the clown fish will not be able to escape from its predators and the species ( clown fish) will also be nearing the deadline - extinction- and if they're gone, lots more will follow.
We may never recover certain therapeutic drugs, and humans could not live with a wide-spread extinction of marine life, he points out. Life as we know it would not be able to exist if the marine environment, an important producer of oxygen, continues to follow this course.
Unlike their harder brethren, soft corals have no stony calcified outer skeleton to protect them. When they die, they are gone for good, leaving no trace of their existence. Where soft corals were once found in about 50-60 percent of Prof. Benayahu’s study sites around the globe, a few years later, he found out that only about 5 percent remain.
People. All these starts with us. Our actions caused this. We started this. And it will also only begin with our actions to prevent corals from going into extinction.
Source: Science daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071112105938.htm

Read this post.

2008-09-04T05:19:00.000-07:00

Did you know that one-third of reef-building corals around the world are facing extinction now? Yup. Right now. It will still be in danger of getting into extinction and definitely not just athird but more if we do nothing about it. People, stop harming. Start saving! I researched on this and got some information from Science Daily.
Leading coral experts joined forces with the Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA) -- a joint initiative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Conservation International (CI) -- to apply the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria to this important group of marine species.
For the very first time, corals actually appeared in the list. It is said to be very disconcerting by Kent Carpenter,lead author of the Science article, GMSA Director, IUCN Species Programme. When corals die off, so do the other plants and animals that depend on coral reefs for food and shelter, and this can lead to the collapse of entire ecosystems. That's definitely bad. When the whole ecosystem goes down, the earth, will never look this beautiful, ever again. Even if something on Earth looks good, the beauty of the Earth is not complete.
Built over millions of years, coral reefs are home to more than 25 percent of marine species, making them the most biologically diverse of marine ecosystems. Corals produce reefs in shallow tropical and sub-tropical seas and have been shown to be highly sensitive to changes in their environment.It will really be bad if these coral reefs, which suffered and faced challenges against the tides becomes extinct after so much the coral reefs went through.
Researchers identified the main threats to corals as climate change and localized stresses resulting from destructive fishing, declining water quality from pollution, and the degradation of coastal habitats. Climate change causes rising water temperatures and more intense solar radiation, which lead to coral bleaching and disease often resulting in mass coral mortality.
That's only one. There are much more.
Shallow water corals have a symbiotic relationship with algae called zooxanthellae, which live in their soft tissues and provide the coral with essential nutrients and energy from photosynthesis and are the reason why corals have such beautiful colors. Coral bleaching is the result of a stress response, such as increased water temperatures, whereby the algae are expelled from the tissues, hence the term "bleaching." Corals that have been bleached are weaker and more prone to attack from disease. Scientists believe that increased coral disease also is linked to higher sea temperatures and an increase in run-off pollution and sediments from the land.
Researchers predict that ocean acidification will be another serious threat facing coral reefs. As oceans absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, water acidity increases and pH decreases, severely impacting corals' ability to build their skeletons that form the foundation of reefs.
And how did all those carbon dioxide come from? From the things we do that harm the earth. See, not only the land is affected. Even the ocean is.
The 39 scientists who co-authored this study agree that if rising sea surface temperatures continue to cause increased frequency of bleaching and disease events, many corals may not have enough time to replenish themselves and this could lead to extinctions.
Those results show that as a group, reef-building corals are more at risk of extinction than all terrestrial groups, apart from amphibians, and are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, Roger McManus, CI's vice president for marine programs,said that. "The loss of the corals will have profound implications for millions of people who depend on coral reefs for their livelihoods."
Coral experts participated in three workshops to analyze data on 845 reef-building coral species, including population range and size, life history traits, susceptibility to threats, and estimates of regional coral cover loss.
The reef-building corals assessment is one group of a number of strategic global assessments of marine species the GMSA has been conducting since 2006 at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Other assessments are being conducted on seagrasses and mangroves that are also important habitat-forming species, all marine fishes, and other important keystone invertebrates. By 2012, the GMSA plans to complete its comprehensive first stage assessment of the threat of extinction for over 20,000 marine plants and animals, providing an essential baseline for conservation plans around the world, and tracking the extinction risk of marine species.
The results of the coral species assessment will be placed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in October 2008. If you want to take a look at the assestments, log on to http://www.sci.odu.edu/gmsa/about/corals.shtml.
(currently.)
Hope that you see the dangers the coral reefs are facing now.
Start now. Start saving the coral reefs.
Thanks.
Source: Science daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080710142935.htm

Quotes about coral reefs

2008-09-04T05:09:00.000-07:00

Hello:D

I have found some quotes about coral reefs, I'm not so sure if it is true. I came across these on the Internet.

" There has long been a belief that the sea, at least, was inviolate, beyond man's ability to change and to despoil. But this belief, unfortunately, has proved to be naive. "-Rachel Carson

" Pollution, overfishing, and overuse have put many of our unique reefs at risk. Their disappearance would destroy the habitat of countless species. It would unravel the web of marine life that holds the potential for new chemicals, new medicines, unlocking new mysteries. It would have a devastating effect on the coastal communities from Cairns to Key West, Florida -- communities whose livelihood depends upon the reefs. "--President Bill Clinton.

I understand both. And here's one that is not so easy to understand. Actually, I have no idea whay he's talking about.

" Cradle to Myriads of Species Millennia to Create Moments to Destroy "--Jim Morris

Okay. Maybe I'm getting the idea.
Anyway, hope you find these quotes useful and maybe, it might help you understand why we should protect the coral reefs.

Bye.
will be posting more.

Corals

2008-09-04T05:02:00.000-07:00

Corals are organisms living underwater from the class Antozoa and exist as small sea anemones–like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals. The group includes the important reef builders that are found in tropical oceans, which secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.
A coral "head", commonly perceived to be a single organism, is formed from thousands of individual but genetically identical polyps, each polyp only a few millimeters in diameter. Over thousands of generations, the polyps lay down a skeleton that is characteristic of their type. A head of coral grows by asexual reproduction of the individual polyps.
Although corals can catch planktons using the stinging cells on their tentacles, these animals obtain most of their nutrients from symbiotic unicellular algae called zooxanthellae. Consequently, most corals depend on sunlight and grow in clear and shallow water, typically at depths shallower than 60m. These corals can be major contributors to the physical structure of the coral reefs hat develop in tropical and subtropical waters, such as the enormous Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Other corals do not have associated algae and can live in much deeper water, such as in the Atlantic, with the cold-water genus Lophelia surviving as deep as 3000 m. Examples of these corals can be found living on the Darwin Mounds located north-west of Cape Wrath, Scotland. Corals have also been found off the coast of Washington State and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
Adapted from: Wikipedia (search CORALS)

Coral Reefs

2008-09-04T04:55:00.000-07:00

Coral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms, found in marine waters with little to no nutrients in the water. High nutrient levels such as those found in runoff from agricultural areas can harm the reef by encouraging the growth of algae. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonates. The accumulation of skeletal material, broken and piled up by wave action and bioroders, produces a massive calcareous formation that supports the living corals and a great variety of other animal and plant life. Although corals are found both in temperate and tropical waters, shallow-water reefs are formed only in a zone extending at most from 30°N to 30°S of the equator. Tropical corals do not grow at depths of over 50 m, which is also 165 feet.Temperature has less of an effect on the distribution of tropical coral, but it is generally accepted that they do not exist in waters below 18 degree celcius. However, deep water corals can exist at greater depths and colder temperatures. Although they also form reefs, very little is known about them.
Adapted from: Wikipedia (search CORAL REEFS)

Welcome.

2008-09-04T04:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog! Please protect and save the coral reefs. They have a right to live because we have the right to live too. They are living things just like us. They live on earth just like us. Overall, we're the same. Coral reefs make our world much more beautiful. And that's what makes the world and Earth special.