Coral Reef Conservation in U.S.A

With the rapid decrease in coral reef different organizations as well as individual have taken it upon themselves to conserve the coral reefs.

They have organized camps, as well as educating commutes living in the habitats of coral reefs on the need to conserve them. This has become a concern since most of the habitats of the coral reefs encourage tourist activities thus leading to growth of the economy of a given country.

With the decrease of coral reef, tourist activities have decreased in some areas endangering the economy of these countries. In addition coral reefs are sources of food and shelter to fish species which in turn are used as food by human beings as well as a source of economical empowerment.

Among other issues affecting the coral reefs includes pollution and climate change.

Coral reef, Shark Island, French Frigate Shoals (Photo credit: USFWS Pacific)

Among such organizations that have tried to save the situation is the United States of American Coral Reef Task Force.

This task force was established in 1988 in order to lead the U.S. government efforts to protect and conserve the coral reefs as well as their ecosystem. It has been helping in building strategies, partnerships and providing support on ground to conserve the coral reefs.

The task force also comprises of government officials and scientists who come together to discuss on the issues facing this organisms.

Among the research done by this task force, it has been established that in the warmer seas and oceans there has been coral bleaching. Among the deduced cause of this bleaching is increased carbon dioxide emissions especially from factories are said to have made the oceans more acidic thereby changing the pH value of the ocean waters.

This has affected the coral reefs in maintaining their structure.

Coral Reef Task Force

The United States of American Coral Reef Task Force, has tried to made some recommendations that if implemented can have a positive impact in the fight against coral bleaching. In their recommendation they argue coral reefs can be strengthened by focusing more on the climate change through reducing pollution and restoring the coral reefs habitats with clean and clear water that promotes t he growth of these organisms.

They have then recommended for the Clean Water Act which they describe as a powerful tool in their efforts to realize this dream.

Since the implementation of this act, industries have been able to discharge their pollution directly into the ocean and harbor a thing that has seen a lot of progress across the states and territories in the United States.

The act also provides authorized setting of local water in quality standards. This is to eliminate the chemical water standards of quality that endangers coral reefs.

Coral Reef The future.

This image depicts all of the areas that the Millenium Coral Reef Landsat Archive covers. Red dots indicate coral reef data at the website: http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi/landsat.pl (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Despite this progress there some clause of the act that has not been implemented fully. Among them is reducing the pollution from source points for example the sewerage treatment and industrial plants. If the recommendations by this taskforce are to be adhered and be implemented fully there US government will have gone a mile in saving the danger facing the coral. In turn economies of the affected states will increase and the effect of global warming will be reduced to some extent.

Related articles

• Effects of coral bleaching on fish communities
• Genetics clues to survival of coral reef
• Heat-resistant corals provide clues to climate change survival

The effects of Coral bleaching on fish communities and the effect is so clear especially with the rise in global warming that has seen rise of temperatures hence the death of the most essential organisms especially s the Microscopic algae that has a symbiotic relationship with the coral reefs.

The effects of Coral bleaching on fish communities has seen hundreds of fish species being affected especially in their structure of their communities. Some of the major effects of coral bleaching were experienced in the 1997-1998 El Niño especially in the Indian Ocean. This article describes some of the researched effects of coral breaching on fish species.

There have been changes in the size, biodiversity and composition of fish communities following the decline in coral reefs. Since most of fish have depend on the coral reefs for food and bleeding grounds, decline of the coral reefs has seen more fish dies and even their eggs being easily destroyed by their predators.

Coral bleaching has been accused of disturbing the structure of the fish surrounding. This is because as the coral reefs die they become over populated with algae which dominate the previously coral reefs dominated zones. This has an effect on fish since they have to migrate to other grounds to look for foods as well as bleeding grounds.

Effects of Coral bleaching on fish communities.

In addition a lot of fish may die as a lot of the effects of Coral bleaching on fish communities grows out of control. As mentioned earlier coral reef bleaching leads to either death or weakening of the coral reefs. In turn they are unable to control the amount of carbon dioxide levels in the water where fish due to lack of oxygen which forms a major component for survival in the water. Again many fish may die due to deprivation of air especially if out of water. This is because many fish moves in swarms of thousand of fishes and given that the ocean water is not stable there is lots of water waves most of may be swept to the dry land hence deprived of their medium for oxygen.

The change of environment especially after the death of the coral reefs exposes the fish to more dangers. There some species of algae family that attacks the fish infecting them with poison that halts the normal operation of the fish thus killing thousands of fish.

More so, the change of the structure that does not favor the fish since some predators may invade the region invading on the fish.

From the above description, it is obvious evident that coral bleaching has endangered the lives of many fish species. Indeed there is much worry that more of fish may be affected. This would mean decline of economy as a result of decreased fishing activities as well as tourist activities in the regions that are well habited by coral reefs. Though various organizations, governments of the affected countries and some individuals have been concerned, coral bleaching should be announced an international disaster and educate people on some of the factors that contribute to coral bleaching especially global warming.

People should also be made aware of the value of the coral reefs to their lives and lives of other organisms.

Related articles

• Coral Reef Bleaching – Death of Marine Species
• Coral Reefs Bleaching to Death