The Truth about Coral Reefs

What do you think of when someone talks about coral reefs? How much do you really know about them? If I asked you what they are, what would you say? To be truthful, not many people would actually answer that question correctly. This is a problem. You, along with the rest of the world, need to be educated about coral reefs. How can someone expect people to save something they know basically nothing about? I will be doing my best to simplify and explain the structure of coral reefs, why they are so important, the dangers that they suffer under, and what you can do to help them.

To put it simply, coral reefs are endlessly diverse ecosystems, made up of hundreds of corals. Corals are hard, stony, marine invertebrates that live in large and crowded colonies of individual polyps. Corals grow and live using the energy and nutrients in the zooxanthallae, which live in symbiosis with the coral. This means that corals need large amounts of sunlight and warmth, and so are usually located in clear waters, close to the surface, and in warm seas between the tropics. Every polyp is genetically identical and has 3 main parts; the mouth, the gut and the tentacles. Most polyps eat plankton at night in a passive and slow fashion, relying on the zooxanthallae only during the daytime.

Corals are the 2nd most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, with tropical rainforests taking first place. This is astonishing since they cover less than one quarter of 1% of the marine environment, yet they home over 25% of all marine fish species known to man. Who could hear all of these outstanding statistics and not question why we are destroying them? Nearly 500 million people around the world live within 60km of coral reefs, indicating that they rely on the reefs for food and/or income. The world would not be the same without coral reefs. They define our seas, they allow our fish and mammals deep in the oceans to have food, shelter and a home.

Coral reefs are decreasing rapidly, and this is not because of the natural world. This is because of serious threats, primarily due to over-fishing. Not only is over-fishing dramatically decreasing the global population of hundreds of fish species, many illegal boats use poison or dynamite in order to catch fish, which, as you could imagine, basically kills the coral reef and any other fish or plant species nearby. The reason why fishermen use products such as cyanide to catch fish, is that the fish get poisoned and float up to the surface of the water. Clearly, this makes the fish easier to catch and actually enhances their colours, making them more appealing to traders and clients. This makes using cyanide seem beneficial and economically beneficial, however it had horrendous effects on the marine ecosystems.

Not everyone is purposely harming the corals though, you must take into account the fact that they are extremely delicate and even an accidental brush again a scuba diver can easily damage the coral polyps.

There are many changes happening in today’s natural world, such as climate change and ocean acidification, that cannot be stopped, even if they are slowed down. This means that there are never-ending pressures on coral reef systems to survive and constantly evolve and adapt to their ever-changing environment. So why are we putting extra strain on them? Why are we harming them further? Activities such as over-fishing, unregulated tourism, and destructive fishing practices are unnecessary and are the main reason to the coral reefs disappearing by the day. Even if it is not you personally doing these harmful activities, spread the word. Tell people, in person or through social media. If only one person stops what they are doing, then my blog as a whole has had a positive effect and that is my end goal. Another action that can be taken is to introduce more marine protected areas and no-fishing zones. These would be most beneficial and effective in areas of biologically diverse and large coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef and many coral reefs around Indonesia. My last suggestion is the easiest for anyone of any age to do. Reduce your carbon dioxide emissions. Easy right? To learn more about how to do this and how to live more sustainably, check out my blog post about Sustainability, where I go through ten easy and straightforward steps on how to live more sustainably.

Think about this: humans can’t live without oxygen. We need oxygen to function and carry out daily activities and tasks. Coral reefs do this same job for fish in the sea. By killing off coral reefs, it is like taking away oxygen from humans. It is immoral and will inevitably kill the fish. We should all be working to save coral reefs. Not the other way around.

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