Coral Come Back
Photo courtesy of www.sciencemag.org.

Coral Come Back

In early October, Outside Magazine published an obituary for the Great Barrier Reef stating that the reef is officially dead, citing its life span from 25 million BC to 2016.

This article has sparked huge controversy in the scientific world as the reef is in fact very much alive.

Located off the northeast coast of Australia’s Queensland, the reef stretches almost 1,500 miles along the coast and is the largest living organism in the world. Home to 1,625 species of fish, 133 varieties of sharks and rays and 600 types of soft and hard corals, the reef’s biodiversity is internationally recognized as outstanding.

Bleaching due to climate change and pollution have devastated reefs all over the world, the most severe global event being the summer of 2016.

Contrary to popular belief, “when a coral bleaches, it is not dead,” as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website explains.

Reefs can exist in a narrow temperature range but due to climate change, those temperatures are swinging out of the reef’s survivable range during the summer, causing the symbiotic algae that lend their extraordinary colors to the reef to be expelled, turning it white. Although a healthy reef can bounce back from these bleaching events, if the damage is too severe, the reef will die.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority reported that 22 percent of the reef has perished because of “record-breaking surface sea temperatures—reflecting the underlying trend of global ocean warming caused by climate change combined with a strong El Niño.”

This is despite 93 percent of the reef being affected by bleaching per the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies located in Queensland. This means that over two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef are still alive.

The article was written as a satire to draw attention to the severity of the issue, but it was widely taken at face value by the public.

Russell Reichelt, chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, said the claims of the reef’s death are “irresponsible and untrue,” in a statement published on the authority’s website.

Scientists are worried that portraying the reef as dead will not empower conservation efforts, but rather dismiss the value of efforts to save what is left.

When asked if they think the Great Barrier Reef is worth saving, Mitchel Deady, senior natural resources management major, said, “It would be worth it for Australia. The reef is home to many fish species that we eat. Plus, with the importance of tourism, it should be saved.”

The obituary said “No one knows if a serious effort could have saved the reef, but it is clear that no such effort was made,” when in fact, the Australian and Queensland governments have already dedicated $2 billion toward improving the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef through 2050.

Climate change is not an easy phenomenon to halt, but there are other factors damaging the health of the reef that are easier to tackle. Poor water quality from land-based agricultural run-off, impacts from coastal development and illegal fishing also contribute to the deterioration.

Those other factors are addressed in the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Report by the Australian and Queensland governments.

Greta Aeby, a coral expert with the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii told Huffington Post that regarding raising awareness, the article did its job. Although it may not make much of a difference, at least it is raising the issue to the public eye.

Whether Outside’s obituary was meant to inspire controversy, it has brought the health of the reef to the forefront of the public eye, hopefully inspiring others to help it before it is gone for good.

Samantha Stein

Reporter

Sstei157@uwsp.edu

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