How can you help to safe coral reefs?

Answer 1

Solutions

Solutions to the problems of climate change and reefs exist on a number of levels.It is important for governments to realise the urgency of this situation as reefs are not going to be able to withstand such dramatic changes in climate for long.Governments should have a responsibility to educate both the public and industry about these hazards. Laws banning the production of CFC gases would help to slow down the rate of ozone depletion and global warming. If fines existed for production of these gases, maybe industry would be encouraged to use safer alternative measures. You can help by reducing your energy consumption (turn off lights, walk instead of drive) therefore reducing the amount of fossil fuels (which release CO2) that are burnt for you.

What Can You Do?

No problem is to big for you to help a little bit. The reef might feel far away from you but you can do your bit to help save the reef by doing a few simple things. Don't buy aerosol cans that are powered by CFC gases. If nobody buys them then there won't be any point in them being manufactured anymore. Take public transport when you're going somewhere rather than your own private gas guzzling machine. Emissions from automobiles are the 2nd largest source of greenhouse gases. So if everybody took the bus or the train then the number of vehicles on the road would fall dramatically. You might want to think about how much meat you eat - most of the deforestation in the world is so that cows can eat grass. Forests produce oxygen and eat up carbon dioxide, while cows produce a lot of methane - not a good combination. These things might seem small but they can really help solve the problems of climate change. Imagine if everybody did this, there would hardly be a problem at all!

What is being done?

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has prepared a Coral Bleaching Response Plan. Its development has been triggered by the increasing threat of coral bleaching under projected climate change scenarios. Key objectives of the plan are to Improve ability to predict bleaching risk, provide early warnings of major coral bleaching events , measure the spatial extent of bleaching , assess the ecological impacts of bleaching, involve the community in monitoring the health of the Reef, communicate and raise awareness about bleaching , evaluate the implications of bleaching events for management policy and strategies. The response plan has the following two main components: Early Warning System - Climate monitoring, Sea temperature monitoring, BleachWatch. Assessment and monitoring - Broad-scale synoptic surveys, Intensive in-water surveys.

How To Help

Minimise the use of chemically enhanced fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides. Such chemicals are non degradable and they will end up in the rivers and oceans and will disturb the natural ecosystem. Practice safe and proper disposal of industrial waste. Some harmful industrial waste must be treated before being disposed of in bodies of water. Respect and follow rules and regulations as well as dos and don'ts when you visit a coral reef area. Avoid water pollution wherever possible. Do not dump chemicals (especially human waste) or oils in bodies of water. Avoid deforestation which increases global warming. Instead, participate in tree growing campaigns by planting trees or giving financial support. Avoid overfishing and the use of fish nets. Overfishing results in a drop in zooplankton and therefore starvation of corals. Refrain from starting a live rock aquarium. The rock is increasingly being depleted from the reefs. Take all possible measures to prevent actions that exacerbate global warming. Avoid desertification and the release of harmful chemicals into the atmosphere, as these degrade the ozone layer which prevents or limits the amount of sunlight that reaches the earth's surface. Temperature increases have been cited to be among the major causes of coral bleaching because a continued increase in world temperatures has been recorded. Water pollution must be limited since the placement of dark substances with high absorbance tends to promote water temperature increases. Activities like cloud seeding over a coral reef would form clouds to act as a blanket to help reduce temperatures across the water.

Answer 2

Coral bleaching can be treated by adding large amounts of hydrogen peroxide into the surrounding waters and allowing for the tide to bring it in.

This will fix coral bleaching as the peroxide will counteract the natural UV exposure that so often causes the bleaching to occur and fix MOST of the problems.

Answer 3

to stop destroying them and pulling them out of the ground