delqom

This has been a question for years and years. We need to find out why the coral reef is shrinking and what can be done to help? There are some reasons that everybody knows as to why the coral reefs are dying and some that arent so obvious.

Interestingly the Caribbean contains just over 20% of the worlds coral reef and there is a huge amount of damage being done to it. Honduras is a place where they grow several different plantains including bananas, these require a lot of fertilizer. The fertilizer has nutrients that prevent coral growth and are deadly to fish. Fertilizer, pesticides and erosion do the most damage to the coral reef and the surrounding inhabitants. But the main thing we dont really realise is that fish are massively important to the coral reefs. Fish provide coral with the necessary grooming that it needs, this takes off bacteria that damage the coral and keep it clean, they also eat seaweed, and seaweed suffocates coral and any other plants around it by drawing in all the oxygen.

Apparently fish have dropped in population rates by around 70-95%, a massive fall. Fishing too much isn’t just detremental to our food supply; it is decreasing the corals chance to survive.

Another problem is an obvious one, Global Warming. This is the deadliest one though, global warming helped along the way by everyone and depletes the amount or Aragonite in the ocean. This is a carbonate mineral that coral requires to stay alive and even begin growth. According to some people the acid levels in the sea will be so high in about 40 years, coral will stop growing.

However there are few things that we can do to try and help. There are some proactive schemes around that allow us to get are hands dirty and have a good time. 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. You can do your part to save the coral reef and you can enjoy yourself as well.

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. And if you want to help you could take part with some professional divers for an afternoon and clean the coral, it wont be long before its all gone.