Environmental issues with coral reefs
[2] Damaging activities encompass coral mining, pollution (both organic and non-organic), overfishing, blast fishing, as well as the excavation of canals and access points to islands and bays.[citation needed] Intense harvesting, especially in maritime Southeast Asia (including Indonesia and the Philippines), damages the reefs.Even in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, seafloor trawling for prawns and scallops is causing localized extinction of some coral species."[19]Reefs in close proximity to human populations are subject to poor water quality from land- and marine-based sources.Runoff brings with it sediment from erosion and land-clearing, nutrients and pesticides from agriculture, wastewater, industrial effluent and miscellaneous material such as petroleum residue and trash that storms wash away.Without appropriate precautions, development (e.g., buildings and paved roads) increases the fraction of rainfall and other water sources that enter the ocean as runoff by decreasing the land's ability to absorb it.[22] Reefs near human populations can be faced with local stresses, including poor water quality from land-based sources of pollution.[27] Dust from the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia appeared in the annular bands of the reef-building coral Montastraea annularis from the Florida Reeftract.[31][32] Nutrient pollution, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus can cause eutrophication, upsetting the balance of the reef by enhancing algal growth and crowding out corals.Excess nutrients can intensify existing disease, including potentially doubling the spread of Aspergillosis, a fungal infection that kills soft corals such as sea fans, and increasing yellow band disease, a bacterial infection that kills reef-building hard corals by fifty percent.Human-made items tend to be the most harmful such as plastics (from bags to balloons, hard hats to fishing line), glass, metal, rubber (millions of waste tires), and even entire vessels.Reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are particularly prone to the accumulation of marine debris because of their central location in the North Pacific Gyre.Continued exposure to dredging spoil has been shown to increase rates of diseases such as white syndrome, bleaching and sediment necrosis among others.[48] A study conducted in the Montebello and Barrow Islands showed that the number of coral colonies with signs of poor health more than doubled in transects with high exposure to dredging sediment plumes.[62] A 2010 report by the Institute of Physics predicts that unless the national targets set by the Copenhagen Accord are amended to eliminate loopholes, then by 2100 global temperatures could rise by 4.2 °C and result in an end to coral reefs.[65][66] Warm-water coral reef ecosystems house one-quarter of the marine biodiversity and provide services in the form of food, income and shoreline protection to coastal communities around the world.In 2012, researchers reported on their results after studying the behavior of baby clown and damselfishes for several years in water with elevated levels of dissolved carbon dioxide, in line with what may exist by the end of the century.The damaged central nervous systems affected fish behavior and diminishing their sensory capacity to a point "likely to impair their chances of survival".[84] In the Caribbean, white band disease is one of the primary causes for the death of over eighty percent of Staghorn and Elkhorn coral (Reef Resilience).This disease event is unique due to its large geographic range, extended duration, rapid progression, high rates of mortality and the number of species affected.[85] During the 20th century recreational scuba diving was considered to have generally low environmental impact, and was consequently one of the activities permitted in most marine protected areas.The increase in the popularity of diving and in tourist access to sensitive ecological systems has led to the recognition that the activity can have significant environmental consequences.[86] Experience appears to be the most important factor in explaining divers' underwater behaviour, followed by their attitude towards diving and the environment, and personality type.[89] Within the last 20 years, once-prolific seagrass meadows and mangrove forests, which absorb massive amounts of nutrients and sediment, have been destroyed.When the organisms have become exposed to these oil spills, it can lead them to suffer from skin irritation, decreased immunity and gastrointestinal damage.Coral at this site, which has been covered in crude oil chemicals and brown flocculent particles, were found dying just seven months after the Deepwater Horizon eruption.[109] Dispersants have been also utilized to clean oil spills, however, they harm early stages of coral and reduces the settlement on reef systems and have since been banned.Particular environmental pressures include surface runoff, salinity fluctuations, climate change, cyclic crown-of-thorns outbreaks, overfishing, and spills or improper ballast discharge.Many corals are affected by untreated sewage and souvenir-hunting tourists, not knowing that this practice destroys habitat and causes disease.According to a United Nations Environment Program report, the Caribbean coral reefs might face extirpation in next 20 years due to population expansion along the coast lines, overfishing, the pollution of coastal areas, global warming, and invasive species.
2 sensor ( SAMI-CO2 ), attached to a Coral Reef Early Warning System station in Discovery Bay , Jamaica, utilized in conducting ocean acidification studies near coral reef areas
fringing reefMicronesiaSoutheast Asiaendangeredclimate changeCaribbean SeaPacific OceanseaweedsbleachingallelopathicherbivorouspredatorsparrotfishDiadema antillarumsurgeonfishes, tangs and unicornfishesOverfishingEnvironmental effects of fishingcrown-of-thorns starfishstony coralcetyl palmitateenzymestarfishgiant tritonsea snailmarine aquariumPomacentridaemaritime Southeast AsiaIndonesiaPhilippinesdestructive fishing practicescyanideblast fishingsodium cyanidecyanide fishingDynamitefishinggrenadesMuro-amipolypsbeach seinestrawlingseamountsnatural resourcesMarine pollutionrunofferosionwastewatereffluentoxygeneutrophicationpathogensAspergillussea fansSerratia marcescenslife historySaharaCaribbeanFloridaTaklamakandesertsPacificHawaiian IslandsNorth Atlantic OscillationKrakatoaannularMontastraea annularisFlorida ReeftractNutrient pollutionalgae bloomremote sensingnitrogenphosphorusbloomsphytoplanktonhypoxicammoniamicromoleorthophosphateAspergillosisbacterialinfectionAir pollutioncoral reefsMarine debrisplasticsfishing linewaste tiresPlastic debrismicroplasticsghost netsplastic pollutionNorthwestern Hawaiian IslandsNorth Pacific Gyrecigarette filterse-cigaretteDredgingshipping channelscanalspermitwhite syndromenecrosisMontebelloBarrow Islandstransectsbleached coralSunscreenoxybenzoneAkumaltitanium dioxidezinc oxideMiami Beach, FloridaHawaiiCoral bleachingRising sea levels due to climate changephotosynthesisEl Niñosea surface temperatureszooxanthellaesymbioticdinoflagellateblack band diseasewhite band diseaseskeletal eroding bandinvasionInstitute of PhysicsCopenhagen Accord