Since the world started to realise the damage being done to the planet, this question has been around. How long will we have all the coral reefs over the world and what’s causing them to vanish? There are some reasons that everybody knows as to why the coral reefs are dying and some that aren’t so obvious.
Interestingly the Caribbean contains just over 20% of the world’s coral reef and there is a huge amount of damage being done to it. In Honduras they grow several plantains; pineapple, sugar cane and bananas, they use large amounts of fertilizer. The nutrients released by this fertilizer damage coral and can kill fish in the ocean. The farms in this area leak pesticides and fertilizer into the ocean, this damages the coral reef sometimes beyond repair. But the main thing we don’t really realise is that fish are massively important to the coral reefs. The fish in the sea like to eat the bacteria that live an the coral and keep it trim to help promote growth, they also consume the seaweed that is floating around to stop the oxygen being depleted.
Apparently fish have dropped in population rates by around 70-95%, a massive fall. When we remove fish from the sea in massive amounts, we are removing a vital part of the corals survival.
Another problem is an obvious one, Global Warming. This is the “Biggy”, global warming rises acid levels in the sea and reduces the levels of Aragonite in the ocean. This is a carbonate mineral that coral requires to stay alive and even begin growth. The acid levels in the sea are rising so fast that in about 40 years they will be so high the coral wont be able to survive.
However there are few things that we can do to try and help. We can take part in some activities abroad, that allow us to get stuck in with the cleaning of the coral and enjoy ourselves as well. If you do go on luxury holidays or Caribbean holidays you could have the option to go and volunteer for a coral clean up operation, where you can help clean coral underwater or on the shore. This isn’t just rewarding, you can have a good time while you do it too.
Also if you go fishing around coral, try not to drop anchor, you will tear the coral apart and damage anything living around it
So if your thinking about going abroad or maybe somewhere tropical, maybe some of you want to have weddings abroad, it might be a good idea to get there as soon as you can. If you want you could chip in with the divers and help the coral survive, you never know how much longer it will be around.