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ARTICLES
Brian Tissot, Hawai`i Coral Reef Network
(General to Advanced Audience)
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Coral reef decline predates global warming
Conservation & Environment,
The New Zealand Herald,
APN Holdings NZ Ltd.
(General Audience)
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Coral Reef Destruction Threatens Caribbean Countries
Peter Denton, WRI Features
World Resources Institute (WRI)
(General Audience)
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Coral Reefs
Tourism, Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics
(DTIE), United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP),
United Nations (UN)
(General Audience)
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Coral reef stratigraphy and sea level change
Figure 2.2, Tectonic Geomorphology,
Douglas Burbank & Robert Anderson,
Blackwell Publishing
(Advanced Audience)
(Adobe PDF file)
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Coral Reefs are Threatened
International Coral Reef Information Network,
The Coral Reef Alliance
(General Audience)
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Health of coral reefs detected from orbit
ESA News, European Space Agency (ESA)
(General Audience)
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Long-Term Decline of Coral Reef Ecosystems Reported
Press Release, Public Affairs,
Institutional Advancement,
University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
(General Audience)
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The Ocean’s Top 10 Coral Reef Hotspots Identified For First Time
Charity Wire, Conservation International Foundation
(General Audience)
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Reefs at risk
Teresa Zubi, Ecology, Reef, Starfish
(General Audience)
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RESEARCHERS RELATE CARBON DIOXIDE, REEF DESTRUCTION
Office of University Relations, The University of Kansas (KU)
(General Audience)
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SCIENTISTS USE TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE CORAL REEF MONITORING
Anita Santos, USIA Staff Writer, U.S. Embassy Canberra
(General Audience)
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DESTRUCTIVE FISHING PRACTICES
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CROWN-OF-THORNS STARFISH (COTS)
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Crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef
Associate Professor Vicki Harriott, Dr. Louise Goggin &
Dr. Hugh Sweatman,
published by CRC Reef Research Centre Ltd.
[ November 2003 ]
(General Audience)
(Adobe PDF file)
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Giant triton strikes back
Kellie Lobb, AIMS Research,
Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS),
Australian Government [ 17 January 2003 ]
(General Audience)
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Crown-of-thorns starfish Questions & Answers
Dr. Peter Moran, On-line Reference Series,
Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS),
Australian Government [ 12 December 1997 ]
(General Audience)
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Crown-of-thorns starfish and coral surveys
using the manta tow and scuba search
techniques
D.K. Bass & I.R. Miller, AIMS Research,
Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS),
Australian Government [ 1996 ]
(General to Advanced Audience)
(Adobe PDF file)
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Tropical Ocean
Coral Bleaching Indices
Information Processing Division,
Office of Satellite Data Processing & Distribution (OSDPD),
National Environmental Satellite, Data,
and
Information Service (NESDIS),
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA)
(Advanced Audience)
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The world today has become one in which
technology, riding on the back of scientific advance, appears to lead
societal evolution. Unfortunately, technology plays the leading
role, with societal recognition and social responsibility for actions
taken often slow to catch up. Technology used inappropriately is
frequently far more destructive in its effect than beneficial in what it
has been called upon to achieve. Clear-cutting of timber, strip mining
and hydraulic mining are all cases in point. These methods of
harvesting trees and of extracting coal and mineral-bearing ores have
proven devastating to local habitats and downstream environments in
regions where they have been indiscriminately employed.
We are now, in effect, clear-cutting and strip mining portions of our oceans, with effects
that may prove even more disasterous than land-based counterparts
but whose consequences we are not yet fully able to assess or comprehend.
Bottom trawling and blast fishing are two techniques by which this
is being done that are especially hazardous to marine life and, in
particular, to the coral reef ecosystem.
FISHING CAN RESULT IN CORAL
REEF DESTRUCTION
Blast
fishing, although generally considered illegal, is practiced in
over 30 countries worldwide. Fishermen using this technique detonate
explosive charges beneath the ocean surface near schools of fish. This
stuns the fish, making them easier to catch. Sadly, this method of
fishing is often employed near coral reefs, since reefs serve as
focal points where fish congregate. Following repeated blasting,
destruction of the coral reef is often absolute, reducing entire
reef structures to beds of rubble. Since these rubble beds provide no
protection, remaining fish leave the area and algae takes over, making it
difficult for coral polyps or other marine life to reestablish a foothold.
Such areas become, for all practical purposes, undersea
deserts, devoid of the plentiful marine life that once flourished
there.
Bottom trawling, less destructive than blast fishing in its method yet much
more hazardous overall due to widespread use, poses a major threat to
undersea ecosystems and coral reef habitats. Bottom trawling, which
employs nets dragged along the ocean floor to ensnare fish (and anything
else that gets in their way), was not utilized in the past near coral
reefs because the nets would become snagged and torn on coral branches.
Technology has resulted in the design of nets employing rockhopper
gear that can now be used on rocky sea bottoms and deep water coral
reefs with relative impunity. New net designs utilizing shearing
plate gear enable some control over degree of bottom contact by
varying the way in which the plates are rigged. It is the author’s
conjecture that, using current technology, it might be possible to design
“intelligent” bottom trawl nets with dive planes and sensors
mounted at the perimeter that would provide total control, enabling the
nets to “fly” just above the sea bottom, thereby nearly
eliminating damage to the seabed and to coral reef structures.
POLLUTION AS A SOURCE OF
CORAL REEF DESTRUCTION
GLOBAL WARMING, OCEAN
TEMPERATURES AND CORAL BLEACHING
IMPACT OF TOURISM AND DIVING
ON CORAL REEFS
The direct effects of tourism and diving on coral reefs are certainly less
dramatic than those of fishing, pollution and coral bleaching. Indirect
effects of tourism are far more pronounced.
THE CROWN-OF-THORNS STARFISH
AS AN UNCONTROLLED NATURAL PREDATOR
The crown-of-thorns starfish is a major predator of warm water corals. Like
so many other predators in a balanced ecosystem, this predator is not at
the topmost rung of the food chain; there are predators which prey
upon the crown-of-thorns, although the list is fairly short. High on the
list is the
giant triton shell (Charonia tritonis).
This mollusk is endangered in many areas of its range because it is highly
prized by collectors. The effectiveness of the triton or any other
predator in reducing populations of crown-of-thorns starfish is unknown.
SUMMARY
Each major advance in technology brings with it a new set of challenges.
Coral reef destruction presents us with a challenge which, if not
promptly and effectively addressed, will leave us with a crippled ocean
ecosystem, mass extinction of ocean species, and a critical depletion of
marine food supplies so heavily depended upon for sustenance by humanity
worldwide.
Authored by Kenneth L. Anderson.
Original article published 5 September 2005, updated 6 September
2005.
Follow links to the right to learn more about coral reef assessments, coral reef destruction and what can
be done to mitigate this potentially disasterous environmental challenge.
At the left margin, Related Links address topics of interest
pertaining to environmental issues and earth changes. View the
Technology & Science SiteMap
for a complete list of technology and science-related topics.
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