We Should All Pay Attention to the Planet's Ocean Coral Reefs
Every last ocean coral reef is faced with some threat of extinction ... which doesn't bode well for us, either. On Earth Day, we must think about the essential steps to save them.
Aurora Ellingboe | a Learn4Life CLMI fellow
You most likely didn’t know it yet, but coral reefs are the Earth’s biodiversity hot-spots. They provide homes for around 25 percent of the ocean’s fish, and they rely on microscopic algae for their vibrant colors to survive. According to The National History Museum, part of the journey home for our ocean’s fish is following coral reef sounds. In the search for a protective home, fish seek out healthy-sounding corals that actively produce inviting sounds and, on the journey, they avoid unhealthy-sounding, typically dying corals nearing silence.
And now, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more than 25 corals are officially considered endangered or threatened. With the ever-growing deaths of coral reefs across our oceans, more corals disappear as homes to our ocean’s fish. So: What happens when the hot-spots disappear?
The thought of that is dangerous. Coral reefs provide humans with a secure home, too, as much as we don’t know or appreciate it. Millions of humans rely on coral reefs as a source of food, jobs, and protection from floods because corals act as a barrier to block storm surges from passing coastlines. Bleached corals lose the ability to continually grow, stripping them of their resilience to waves, storms, and animal consumption, making them more vulnerable to dying according to a 2021 study. If coral bleaching dissolves most of the world’s coral reefs, a large portion of the world’s people would experience starvation, job loss, and extreme weather events resulting in major flooding, injuries and fatalities.
Coral Bleaching is a Thing - and a Big Problem
With the current 1 degree Celsius (or nearly 34 degree Fahrenheit) increase in climate since the 1800s, the earth is much closer to the climate tipping point between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius where mass death of corals occurs. A significant amount of damage inflicted on coral reefs comes from ongoing bleaching done to them over several years.
In a 2017 article, The Washington Post reported on the Nature Conservancy’s warning on heat waves that bleached half of Hawaii’s coral reefs in 2014 and 2015. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials revealed that the heat wave bleached 56 percent of the Big Island’s corals, 44 percent of West Maui’s corals, and 32 percent of Oahu’s corals. In 2022, NPR discussed the fourth mass bleaching that stripped Australia's Great Barrier Reef of their color, turning them a pale white. That event alone didn’t necessarily kill them; however, we have begun seeing bleached corals that “cooked” those reefs to death, says National Geographic. The back-to-back bleaching shortens the period which corals have to recover from heat stress - meaning that without enough time to recover, most of our corals could disappear entirely as National Geographic documented.
With 91 percent of the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem suffering high levels of coral mortality from ongoing climate crisis, corals require critical care to prevent further damage caused by global warming-induced heat waves.
Scientists searched the globe to analyze corals that adapted to or better-managed heat. We regularly see ghostly pale corals, an indication of heat wave-induced coral bleaching. During coral bleaching, algae living on corals disperse toxins and the corals, under heat stress, expel the toxin-producing algae, losing one of their valuable nutrient sources. The hope is to find algae that tolerate heat better as global warming persists and worsens, and while scientists found such evidence, the information is discouraging. According to NPR, even with the newfound and more heat-resistant algae, corals cannot switch from less heat-resistant algae to more heat-resistant algae, ultimately meaning these circumstances are likely to remain unchanged.
It gets worse. Corals with more heat-resistant algae are not invincible to heat waves. Since scientists expect temperatures to continue rising, thereby worsening marine heat waves. All it takes are harsher heat waves to kill stronger corals.
Government Funding as a Start
One example where coral reef protection yields huge benefit is public investment. We’ve seen a lot of that in Australia. Five years ago, the Australian government invested $500 million Australian dollars (or nearly $340 million U.S. dollars) into safeguarding the Great Barrier Reef in response to increasing storm damage, coral-consuming animals, and coral bleaching. The Great Barrier Reef Foundation, which received a great number of funds, invested in reducing pollution, restoration practices, dealing with coral-consuming animals, and continuously monitoring the ecosystem. Around 11 percent of the money went to federal and park agencies to improve environmental management and compliance policies. The fund sent to the nonprofit Great Barrier Reef Foundation for coral reef restoration became the biggest fund for coral ecosystems in Australia’s history.
This level of investment shows how much the Australian government values the Great Barrier Reef as an economic treasure by restoring it. The funding is a large step in the right direction towards improving conditions surrounding corals that worsen coral mortality after coral bleaching has taken place. However, allocating funds to reduce or altogether eliminate the source of the problem, fossil fuel emissions and human-triggered climate crisis, would ultimately help us prevent more damage happening with the increasing years in the first place.
Government Control of Fisheries
Marine scientist Enric Sala hoped to ‘time travel’ to the past before human exploitation, pollution, and killing of coral reefs, and with the help of the National Geographic Society, Sala's expedition to our ancient corals became possible in 2009 when they traveled to a corner of the South Pacific Ocean. The ablazed corals there held the answers to how scientists could restore dying corals’ health .. that was, unfortunately, until 2015 and 2016 when half of the pastel orange and beige corals suffered immense heat damage from warming conditions.
That dashed the hopes of scientists, but the study endured. Just two years ago in 2021, scientists witnessed the coral reef restore itself to health. On the other hand, the Kiribati government’s decision to lawfully protect the waters in that area supported a quicker restoration of the reefs. They describe the amount of fish eating the algae off of dying corals to be off the charts. This kind of relationship between the fish, algae, and corals allowed the dying corals to receive good health. That resulted from the Kiribati government deciding to protect the water from too many fish. Government control of the fisheries in that corner of the South Pacific Ocean supported the oceanic regeneration. Corals support biodiversity, but it is important to remember that biodiversity also must support them.
Chilling silence accompanies unhealthy coral reefs, but the sound of clownfish, cod, parrotfish, sea urchins, and shrimp fills the reefs of healthy corals. After marine biologist Tim Gordon lured fish to unhealthy coral reefs using the sound of healthy corals with loudspeakers in the northern Great Barrier Reef, that alone attracted 50 percent more fish to the once silent location. The return of fish to the area after 40 days gives the dying corals a second chance at life by starting a natural recovery of the ecosystem. While Gordon described the technique as a tool for restoration and not a silver bullet, he encourages solving the initial stressor: fossil fuel-instigated climate crisis. Any restoration without preventing a rise in temperatures is fruitless.
Government Bans on Sunscreen Ingredients
In a series of laboratory experiments, a group of international scientists discovered life-threatening sunscreen ingredients in high concentrations within Hawaii’s and the Caribbean's most popular coral reefs. The scientists’ research revealed that the UV-filtering chemical oxybenzone kills corals, harms adults’ DNA, and produces deformations in corals in the larval stage, preventing healthy, regular development.
After treating coral larvae and adult corals with oxybenzone in laboratory experiments, the research group found that the exposure to oxybenzone resulted in a deformation that trapped the corals in their skeleton, removing their ability to float with currents and diffuse. The research team found a correlation between the popular oxybenzone ingredient and coral bleaching, a result of the loss of algae growing within them, causing a decrease in valuable nutrients. Seven different species of coral suffered similar ailments, three of which can be found in the Endangered Species Act. Coral recovery appears harder under the discovery that oxybenzone damages younger corals more than it does adult corals, meaning more efforts must be directed to the protection of younger corals.
The international scientists’ publication proved to be transformative. In 2018, Hawaii became the first state to pass a bill forbidding the sale of over-the-counter sunscreens containing reef-toxic chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate used in over 3,500 of the globe’s most popular sunscreen products. The United States island city of Key West in Florida set a ban on oxybenzone and octinoxate, found in 78 percent of US sunscreen markets, that went into effect January 01, 2021.
The publication’s transformative nature did not end there. Nation Palau, containing greater than 500 islands with a population of around 21,000 people, became the first nation to ban reef-toxic sunscreens possessing any one of 10 chemicals including oxybenzone and octinoxate. President Thomas E. Remengasau Jr.’s spokesman Olkeriil Kazuo explained that Palau would stop importing reef-toxic sunscreens. Retailers who do not abide by the new law that went into effect in 2020 face a fine of $1,000. While few regions banned the sale of sunscreen products containing reef-toxic chemicals, if more regions did the same, we could expect better recovery for our corals as they restore themselves from coral bleaching.
Dolphin Poop? Really? …
But, did you ever think dolphin poop could save the reefs? Possibly. Spinner dolphin nutrient-rich excrement containing high concentrations of nitrogen deposited over coral reef ecosystems appears to improve coral resilience and productivity, which is more thoroughly explained in a report from the Zoological Society of London. The Bertarelli Foundation is running an ongoing exploration of the effects of spinner dolphin and other species' excrements on coral reefs as a way to mitigate coral bleaching by improving coral reef resilience. More investigation of spinner dolphin and other species' excrements is warranted. But, from what we know, there is ap possibility that it could benefit our current knowledge of coral reef recovery as global warming progresses.
Noah’s Ark for Coral Restoration: A Final Attempt?
Submerged in 300-gallon water aquariums - following a precise LED lighting system set to imitate Key West’s sun and moon’s cycle - sitting somewhere in a Florida Rescue Center warehouse rest hundreds of 18 species of corals. Living in almost perfect conditions, the corals began to prosper and reproduce, with new corals spawning during the night several days following full moons. The staff at the Rescue Center work during night hours when the eggs and sperm float to the top and they collect them for fertilization and eventually settle the larvae on small tiles.
For around three years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has run Mission: Iconic Reefs, an elaborate program to restore seven reefs in the Florida Keys. The project is a huge undertaking and a time-consuming one, but the restoration progress is worth the wait and effort. If the United States were to develop a nationwide restoration effort for coral reefs, we could speed up coral reef restoration. However, to reintroduce these corals to our reefs, we would need to tackle climate crisis head-on, so that introducing these human-grown corals could make a difference. Inserting healthy corals into an unhealthy reef produces sound to return the busy ecosystem that once was, encouraging the reproduction of newer corals once fish show up. Under correct conditions, the restoration could work well. But for now, the ever-increasing global temperatures mean that we may not be able to save coral reefs at all … and if we get that far, we will be looking at our corals not in person, but from the other side of the aquarium glass.