Essay On Coral Overfishing

Corals build colonies that secrete calcium carbonate to form ocean reefs. When they're healthy, coral reefs provide shelter and food for animals all along the food chain, including the top: us. Across the planet, half a billion people rely, directly and indirectly, on corals for their living. That's why what happens to the 9,000-year-old Great Barrier Reef, as well as to other reefs worldwide, is critical. The floods in Queensland have hurt the Great Barrier Reef by funnelling into the ocean vast plumes of freshwater and agricultural runoff that could severely damage the coral. Besides the extreme rain that sparked the floods, rising ocean temperatures, changes to the ocean's chemistry and the global trade in natural resources — all symptoms of our fossil-fuel economy — are waging a multiform war on the marine

In this episode of the BBC Documentary series, “The Blue Planet: Coral Sea” examines the roles and effects of coral reefs on other marine species. Coral reefs play a major part in the marine food web since they are responsible for about one quarter of all ocean species. Coral reefs are one of the most diversified species in the marine, even though they only covered a tiny portion of the earth. This species can reproduce both asexual and sexual. In sexual reproduction, larva is developed through egg and sperm fertilization. On the other hand in asexual reproduction, they can clone themselves through budding or fragmentation. Coral reefs, however, has been threatening due to overfishing, pollution, climate change, increasing in ocean acidity

Human impact has a major influence on the coral reefs. The biggest threat is pollution and construction. As many as 2.5 billion people reside within 60 miles off of an oceans coast, and as much as 80-90% of the waste from Southeast Asia, Pacific, and Caribbean gets deposited into the ocean. Many coastal industries/development have been dumping their wastes into our oceans because it is cheaper in the short run. In addition, many construction sites have sediment runoff from rainfall where unwanted chemicals flow into our ocean waters. This causes increase levels of toxins, and spikes of the pH

The ocean is two-thirds of our planet a vast blue landscape home to many biomes which according to Boyce Thorne-Miller “(ecosystem types) corresponding to sets of environmental conditions that vary with depth, latitude, and longitude” (16). However, the ocean and its biomes is under attack from the changing environment. We can see this through coral reef biomes as they make their home near the shores. Through coral reefs we can view the effects that these changes have on the ocean through how the coral reef biome is affected. Humans are a danger to the coral reefs and the wildlife that resides in the biome. The pollution being released into the environment is poisoning the coral and causes death and malformation to the wildlife. The ocean is changing due to global warming which is causing a change in the temperature and rising water levels leading to a change in the stabile areas coral can survive. The increasing acidification of the ocean is causing the coral reefs to die. I will be looking at the effects these issues cause to coral reefs biomes and the ocean to see the similarities in how they affect both.

"Coral reefs… are fragile structures living within a narrow range of temperature, clarity, salinity and chemistry. Even a slight increase in ocean temperature, or increased CO2… can cause stresses such as bleaching… These stresses slow the rate of growth of the corrals… With some 60 percent of the world’s coral reefs now losing productivity, it’s becoming a global crisis and a scientific mystery."

Consisting of less than 1% of the world oceans, the coral reefs are ancient animals comprising of thin calcium carbonate deposits within the photic layer. Aside from its biologically diverse ecosystems, coral reefs are major source of food for millions and provides habitats and nursery areas for many marine organisms. Coral reefs also act as a physical buffer to protect the coastlines from tropical storms and erosion. In addition, many local communities rely on coral reefs to generate an income through activities such as fishing and diving. However, 75% of the coral reefs are under threat from induced impacts of humans and climate change (Burke, et al., 2011). This essay looks at the human impacts constantly being inflicted on coral reefs.

Throughout the world, coral reefs have died off due to a chemical process known as bleaching. NOAA states in “What is coral bleaching?”, bleaching is the by-product of corals getting too warm; when corals get too warm they expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues, which causes them to turn completely white. Today, the remaining coral reefs are being stressed by the human inhabitants who exist upon the land masses from which these reefs neighbor; which, in turn, has caused these remaining reefs to approach extinction. Moreover, coral reefs are underwater barrier islands, and if they become extinct, Florida and any other landmass protected by a reef shall face the full brunt of every storm that comes their way. However, at the

The Great Barrier Reef is under threat due to many human impacts and natural impacts. These impacts lead to other consequences that may harm our society as well. For example, if the Great Barrier Reef was to be damaged by pollution, tourism levels would decrease, which can lead to a drop in the economic stance of Australia. For these reasons, it is important to keep our ecosystems safe and protected. Some of the human impacts towards the Great Barrier Reef include:

First, I am going to talk about the importance of coral reefs. Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth. They are home to 4,000 species of fish, 800 species of hard coral, and hundreds of other species. Scientists believe that there are another 1 to 8 million unidentified species (NOAA). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, new drugs are being developed from

Located in tropical ocean waters, coral reefs provide priceless resources to both human and marine life. The leading natural cause of destruction among the coral reefs is global warming. Other natural causes are earthquakes, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons. The destruction to the coral reefs from these natural disasters is minimal compared to the dangers caused by man. Man-made destruction has a much wider impact on the health of the coral reefs. This destruction includes over-fishing, damage from anchors, aquarium industry, overgrowth of seaweed, and being smothered by sediments.

Coral reef ecosystems around the globe are threatened by human interferences and climate change. This has led to many scientists conducting studies on global coral reef ecosystems to gain a better understanding of the cause and effects of coral reef damage. In both Hodgson’s (1999) and Carpenter et al.’s (2008) studies, they are aware of the continuous degradation of global coral reef ecosystems. Hodgson's study involved conducting a survey on global coral reef ecosystems to see whether human actions were affecting the health of supposed pristine Coral reefs. Carpenter et al. incorporated Hodgson’s study into a compiled study about the possible extinction of reef building corals due to climate change and anthropogenic effects. Carpenter’s

Coral reefs provide important ecosystem goods and services, such as fisheries and tourism, and have great cultural value. However, human impacts such as climate change, overfishing, pollutant run-off, coral harvesting and recreational fishing have significant effects on the regenerative processes of coral reef species and are increasing the prevalence of coral bleaching events. Human impacts can be categorised into two categories; acute, which are brief disturbances that occur suddenly, and chronic which have long-term impacts and are often difficult to stop. Due to human disturbances, the dominance of corals in the marine ecosystem is slowly drifting away to seaweed or other non-coral

Coral reefs all around the world are currently faced with a large number of both natural and man-made threats. Threats like global warming, pollution, and overfishing are commonly spoken about and are familiar to most people, but it may come as a surprise that something as popular as sunscreen makes a large contribution to the harm of coral reefs (Badger Balm). With such a large number of people using sunscreen, the environmental impact it has, especially on coral reefs, is becoming more and more apparent over the years. Research has shown that chemicals in sunscreen play a big role in the bleaching of beautiful coral reefs. Reefs that are tourist attractions or are located near popular beaches are impacted the most from the large number of

The deterioration of coral reefs is mainly linked to human activities – 88% of coral reefs are threatened through various reasons as

Despite there are more studies confirm cascading effect in coral reefs such as indirect effect on mesopredator and herbivore density( (Friedlandler and DeMartini 2002; Ruppert et al. 2013; Ritchie and Johnson 2009), algal cover sponge cover (Rasher et al 2013; Loh et al. 2015) resulting decline in coral cover and juvenile coral (Rasher et al 2013; Casey et al 2015). However, most of those research were conducted in region where confounding factors persists such as fishing pressure across many trophic levels (predator, herbivore, planktivore), pollution, and terrestrial run-off. Eventhough some research were conducted in the nearly pristine area, such as Dulvy (2004) in Lau Island Fiji with human population densities ranging between two and 42 people km-2. However, this area may not be pristine in a historical context and non exclusive predator fishing still occurs. Hence, recent unambiguous empirical evidence of trophical cascade in coral reef ecosystem with the absent of confounding factors was scarce (Ferretti et al 2010).