It's Not Too Late For Corals

 

There's something about the ocean that has always struck me as magical.  As a certified scuba diver, one of my favorite things to do during a dive is to take a moment to focus solely on the fact that I am in another world that most people will never get to see.  It's something so serene and beautiful, and when I first took interest in the ocean I thought "finally, something so far from humans that we can't possibly manage to destroy it."  And boy, was I wrong.

There is currently a massive coral bleaching event sweeping across the world's oceans and you'll never believe whose fault is it. (HINT: it's humans).  It is estimated that by the end of 2015, 38% of the world's coral will be impacted by the event.  So- you might ask- what even is coral bleaching? When corals are stressed, they release an algae called zooxanthellae that lives in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white and die.  When corals die, the organisms that live and thrive in coral reefs either die off or are forced to migrate to other areas.   
 

The current massive coral bleaching event is caused in part by El Niño, which is unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific (heat is a huge stressor for corals).  Another big reason for the massive bleaching of corals is global warming.  Oceans absorb 93% of the increase in Earth's heat from climate change, which causes a significant amount of damage to the ocean's ecosystems.  Despite the attempts of scientists and politicians to raise awareness for and begin the battle against global warming, only 9% of Americans see global warming as a serious issue.  With a majority of American people failing to see the greater effects of climate change, the ocean and all of it's inhabitants are in grave danger.  The rising temperature of the ocean is the main cause of coral bleaching, and is an issue that needs to be halted.      

Fortunately, it's not too late for corals. Some ways you can help to slow the bleaching of corals are to recycle, support reef-friendly businesses, learn more about coral reefs and the organisms that they support, never buy coral jewelry, and support conservation organizations.

If you are visiting somewhere with beautiful coral reefs and are planning to dive or snorkel, do not do anything that can stress out the corals.  I repeat, DO NOT stress out the corals.  I know they're really pretty and cool, but touching them can and will cause bleaching to occur.  Also, try to stay off of the ocean floor because stirred-up sediment can be a stressor for corals.  One of my favorite songs/videos on the internet talks about the dangers of touching coral and can be found here.  It's really fun and informative, so I suggest you check it out.

Last summer, I had the incredible opportunity to work with Coral Restoration Foundation Bonaire, an organization based in Bonaire.  There, I learned all about corals, coral bleaching, and the process of coral restoration.  I also got to participate in the three stages of coral restoration, working specifically with staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis).   Here's a picture of me working on the first stage; cleaning the trees.

The first part of coral restoration is learning how to clean the manmade trees on which corals are being regrown and the strings which attach the corals to the trees.  The corals hanging from the trees were tips of healthy corals and were removed in order to be safely grown for 6-9 months and then be relocated.  It is important to clean the trees because the algae that grows on the trees not only competes for nutrients with the corals, but it also weighs down the tree, causing it to sink towards the ocean floor.

The second part of learning coral restoration is learning how to attach little corals to strings and then onto the tree.  (I know, the steps seem slightly out of order; I'm pretty sure it's because they don't trust first-time coral restorers to handle the corals) Both steps are fairly simple but are made difficult by the abundance of fire coral growing on the trees.  If you make it through the rest of this blog post, I promise to show you a picture of me right after being stung by fire coral.

The third and final step of coral restoration is relocation of the larger corals.  The larger corals are removed from the trees and are brought to a nearby area to be added to a new colony.  The corals are secured in a new colony and are allowed to grow and thrive into a colony which can support marine life.  This step was interesting because while we were securing the corals, several fish began to take interest in the new colony, showing us some immediate results of the project.

  

Coral restoration is extremely important because it gives us the opportunity to help corals adapt to a rapidly changing environment and hasten their recovery from disastrous events.  Restoration allows for assistance to be given in areas not only affected by bleaching, but also areas that have been affected by disease, development, watershed-based pollution, overfishing, destructive fishing or damage from ships.

  

If there's one thing that I could leave you with, it's just how cool corals are.  There are over 2,500 species of corals; half of which are hard corals and the rest of which are soft corals.  Coral reefs support about 4,000 species of fish, 800 species of hard corals and hundreds of other species.  Getting to see organisms interact in coral reefs is one of the most magical things I have ever witnessed, and I hope that my descendants will never have to know a coral-free world.

Aaaand as promised, here is a picture of me seconds after being stung by fire coral (which, by the way, isn't even a real coral; it's more closely related to Hydra).  Fire corals have the evolutionary advantage of  having stinging cells that inflict burn-like stings on human skin, which is a useful form of protection.

I hope you can take this information and use it to make a difference in the wonderful world below sea level :)