THREATS CORAL REEFS FACE AND SOLUTIONS

Coral reefs are delicate marine ecosystems. They face many threats including pollution (sedimentation, nutrients, toxins, waste and microplastics, pathogens), climate change and warming waters, ocean acidification, overfishing, coral harvesting, and physical disturbances from boats or divers. Coral bleaching is one of the largest threats reefs face globally. This is when a loss of algae in the corals unveils the white structure of the coral and is triggered by increasing water temperatures and more CO2 being absorbed in the ocean. Click the first link below to learn more about threats corals face from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. 

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Coral bleaching also occurs when the coral is stressed due to the harmful toxins in sunscreens, which is why it is important to use reef-safe sunscreens to protect the biodiversity that coral reefs support. 

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Although reefs are facing numerous issues, there are efforts to preserve reefs for future generations. Groups like Coral Restoration Foundation are using innovative methods to use fragments of coral reefs to create coral tree nurseries. This allow each fragmented coral the ability to grow before it is outplanted on to a reef. Coral Restoration Foundation has been doing this since 2012 and has outplanted 120,000 corals in Florida! Learn more about this process and their work below.