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  Yahoo News 28 Oct 06
Damage to coral reefs threatens tourism
By Mat Probasco, Associated Press Writer

Underwatertimes 25 Oct 06
Researchers: Half the World's Coral Reefs Could Die in 25 Years
'The Global Bunsen Burner is Cranking Up'
by Underwatertimes.com News Service

Yahoo News 25 Oct 06
Acidity, heat hindering coral growth
By Mat Probasco, Associated Press Writer

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands - Rapid increases in ocean acidity may keep coral from growing outside its traditional habitat in the tropics, and hot water in the tropics is endangering the fragile undersea life, researchers said Wednesday.

Carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels will make the oceans dramatically more acidic in the next 50 years, which could hinder the development of new coral colonies, said Mark Eakin, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch, at an international coral meeting in St. Thomas.

He said that rising ocean temperatures mean the fragile undersea life could grow in newly warm waters outside the tropics. But acids there would break down the calcium carbonate it needs to develop skeletons, and which aquatic animals use to make shells.

"This doesn't mean (existing) corals are all going to die," Eakin told nearly 200 researchers from the Caribbean, Florida and U.S. Pacific islands who gathered for NOAA's U.S. Coral Reef Task Force biannual meeting.

"But it does affect their reef-building ability." The coral can grow more slowly, become more brittle or divert energy from injury recovery and reproduction, he said. That threatens reefs, because the coral may be unable to build them as fast as they are eroded.

Coral within the tropics has already been devastated by warmer waters and disease.

Last summer, nearly half of the coral in parts of the U.S. Virgin Islands died from disease outbreaks after months of hot seas. Similar conditions killed 5 percent of coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef in 1998 and in 2002.

Researchers have predicted that up to 60 percent of the world's coral could die by 2030 if ocean temperatures and pollution levels continue to rise. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses contribute to rising sea temperatures, Eakin said.

The reefs, the ocean's largest concentration of plant and animal life, fuel a multibillion dollar tourism industry globally.

Researchers estimated that between 1800 and 1994 the world's oceans absorbed 118 billion metric tons of carbon, reducing the natural alkalinity of seawater. Oceans are normally slightly more alkaline than acidic.

Underwatertimes 25 Oct 06
Researchers: Half the World's Coral Reefs Could Die in 25 Years
'The Global Bunsen Burner is Cranking Up'
by Underwatertimes.com News Service

Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands (Oct 25, 2006 18:16 EST) Researchers fear more than half the world's coral reefs could die in less than 25 years and say global warming may at least partly to blame.

Sea temperatures are rising, weakening the reefs' resistance to increased pollutants, such as runoff from construction sites and toxins from boat paints. The fragile reefs are hosts to countless marine plants and animals.

"Think of it as a high school chemistry class," said Billy Causey, the Caribbean and Gulf Mexico director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"You mix some chemicals together and nothing happens. You crank up the Bunsen burner and all of a sudden things start bubbling around. That's what's happening. That global Bunsen burner is cranking up."

Causey was one of some 200 private and government researchers from the Caribbean, Florida and U.S. Pacific islands who gathered in St. Thomas for a meeting of the NOAA's U.S. Coral Reef Task Force.

Last year's coral loss in the Caribbean waters supports predictions that 60 percent of the world's coral could die within a quarter century, said Tyler Smith of the University of the Virgin Islands.

"Given current rates of degradation of reef habitats, this is a plausible prediction," Smith said.

More than 47 percent of the coral in underwater study sites covering 31 acres around the U.S. Virgin Islands died after sea temperatures exceeded the norm for three months in 2005, said Jeff Miller, a scientist with the Virgin Islands National Park.

The unusual warm water can stress coral, causing it to lose its pigment and making it more vulnerable to disease.

This year, Caribbean coral narrowly avoided another widespread episode of bleaching when sea temperatures briefly surpassed levels considered healthy for reefs.

Up to 30 percent of the world's coral reefs have died in the last 50 years, and another 30 percent are severely damaged, said Smith, who studies coral health in the U.S. Virgin Islands and collaborates with researchers globally.

"U.S. Virgin Islands coral today is likely at its lowest levels in recorded history," Smith said.

The researchers said global warming was a potential cause of the abnormally high sea temperatures but was not the only suspect in the reefs' demise.

What causes disease in coral can be hard to pinpoint and could be a combination of things. Other threats include silt runoff from construction sites, which prevents the coral from getting enough sunlight, and a record increase in fleshy, green algae, which competes with coral for sunlight.

"Climate change is an important factor that is influencing coral reefs worldwide," said Mark Eakin, director of NOAA's Coral Reef Watch. "It adds to the other problems that we are having."

Yahoo News 28 Oct 06
Damage to coral reefs threatens tourism
By Mat Probasco, Associated Press Writer

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands - A rapid decline in the world's coral reefs could damage economies that rely on underwater sea life for tourism revenue, researchers said Friday.

Tourists spend billions of dollars each year on hotels and tours to experience the marine habitats in areas including the Caribbean, Australia and the Pacific islands. But that money could dry up, as record amounts of coral have died off in the Caribbean and Pacific from pollution, overfishing and rising sea temperatures since the late 1990s, according to scientists at the biannual meeting of the multinational Coral Reef Task Force.

"You cannot separate the environment and the economy. They are one," said Billy Causey, a regional director of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's marine sanctuaries.

Studies show greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels are increasing the ocean's acidity, making it harder for coral to grow and reproduce.

Nearly 500 million people depend on coral reefs for tourism income and coastal protection, and about 30 million of those rely on coral reefs for their food, according to a 2004 report on the status of coral reefs worldwide commissioned by the Australian government.

"The people who wash the bed linens in the hotels are starting to realize their life depends on the health of the coral reefs," said Andrew Skeat, executive director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Tourism is the fastest growing major industry in the world, and ecotourism accounts for 20 percent of the worldwide market, according to the Australian report.

In the Florida Keys, millions of tourists spend $1.2 billion annually to see or catch fish and other undersea life, Causey said at the meeting in St. Thomas, where nearly 200 researchers from the Caribbean, Florida and U.S. Pacific islands gathered.

"Some of our reefs receive more dives than anywhere in the world," he said. "In South Florida, the environment and the economy are inextricably linked. You cannot separate the two." Causey encouraged officials in Florida to ban fishing in broad swaths of water, a move he said would help coral grow.

Australia's government has banned fishing along a third of the Great Barrier Reef, which generates $3.9 billion in annual tourism revenue. The measure has helped the world's largest reef bounce back from abnormally warm seas in 1998 and 2002, when more then half the reef was damaged and 5 percent died, Skeat said.
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