Tourism: The Recession of the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef
Queensland, Australia holds one of the seven wonders of the natural world: The Great Barrier Reef (GBR). It stretches over 1,800 miles along the coast of Australia and is composed of a precise, fragile, and balanced ecosystem that is millions of years in the making. It is the largest coral reef system in the world composing of 1,500 species of tropical fish and 400 different types of coral. The length of the GBR is visible from outer space, and consequently serves as an essential natural barrier to people living on the coasts. Marine fish such as whales, dolphins, the endangered sea turtles, and many other aquatic species come to the GBR for mating. However, all of this unparalleled diversity has attracted the attention of mankind as well.
The Great Barrier Reefs Dictator
In response to its rise in popularity, the Australian government opened the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP). The park opened in 1985, in the past forty years it has attracted tourists to travel from all over the world to see its coral and tropical fish. Millions of people every year visit the underwater cities for the opportunity to see the parks breath-taking sites. Unfortunately, the drawback to the parks popularity is the inherent risk for contamination to occur to the parks delicate ecosystem. After analyzing several sources, it’s clear that human interactions with the GBR pose disturbing threats to all life that live within it for the slightest contact to a coral can be severe to the biodiversity within the ecosystem.
The experience one has in coral reefs is remarkably beautiful and memorable, but tourism contributes to the decline of coral by direct damage through anchoring, snorkeling, and diving. This decrease of coral cover, limits biodiversity, and is being reinforced by the development of coastal infrastructures that expel pollutants such as sewage runoff and littering. In spite of tourism being a stable revenue source for neighboring countries and the Australian economy, tourism to the GBR needs to be regulated before one of our few natural wonders of the world disappears.
The Anchor. The Diving. The Snorkeling: Watch Your Surroundings!
Tourism contributes to the decline of coral by direct damage through anchoring, snorkeling, and diving Although these activities may seem minor, the collision between tourists and coral are severe and effect the entire ecosystem. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the largest coral reef on the planet Earth refuging a diversity of coral, fish, and various other species. While the size of the GBR may seem immune to disturbances, the coral it contains is very fragile and can be easily broken.
Hoffman (2005 is a professor at Darden Graduate School of business Administration, forecasted models to quantify the anthropogenic stress on coral reefs by anchor damage. He explains that the damage caused by an anchor is proportional to the size of the boat and is further dependent on the type of coral community (592). The damage is instant which makes it problematic for coral communities because of the slow rate of coral recovery. Anchoring is an anthropogenic stress, where Hoffman stated “the growth in mass tourism to coral reef destination has been, and continues to be, robust” (590). There are 14 million people that engage in SCUBA diving every year to seek out the coral reef ecosystems. Many of those people use boats to take them to their location once people arrive to their site, the anchor damage they inflict is immediate and visible. Since the rate of recovery for coral is time taking, an anchor can severely damage the coral, giving it a more inadequate time to heal properly.
Snorkelers and divers inflict most of the breakage to branched corals, a species of hard coral. Divers and snorkelers can critically damage coral by grabbing, kicking, sitting, or walking on the reefs. The result of coral damage has been increasing since the GBMP opened due to its increase of tourists visiting the park. Katharina Fabricius, a coral reef ecologist at the Australian institute of Marine Science and study co-author, has been diving and working on the GBR since 1988, observing the decline of coral. “I hear of the changes anecdotally, but this is the first long-term look at the overall status of the reef. There are still a lot of fish and you can see giant clams, but not the same color and diversity as in the past” (Fabricius). While coral cover is lost, it affects the ecosystem of the reefs The more coral lost, the less habitation and resources there is for marine fish and many other species.
You Hurt the Coral, You Hurt the Fish
The continuous decline of coral at the Great Barrier Reef Affects the biodiversity of organisms by limiting their habitats and resources. Diversity at the Great Barrier Reef is important for variety of reasons. Jessica Carilli who is an assistant professor in the school for UMass Boston, stated that “biodiversity ensures that some life will continue to survive, even after major catastrophic events that wipe out many species”. It s difficult to imagine species such as tropical fish are fading away due to the coral cover being degraded by tourist activities. The biodiversity won’t disappear but decrease to an extent where the largest biodiversity of organisms will be no more.
Geoffrey Jones who is a professor at the School of Marine Biology and Aquaculture, researched how coral decline threatens fish biodiversity in marine reserves. Jones did an eight year study in Papua New Guinea where coral cover has decreased causing a parallel decline in fish biodiversity. “Over 75% of reef fish species declined in abundance, and 50% declined to less than half of their original numbers (5251). This means the greater the dependence species have on coral, the greater the observed decline in abundance. Many fish depend on coral for habitation and food to survive and reproduce with their fellow mates. This immediate damage is severe, an instant destruction of a home to a known specie or even an endangered species.
Coral, which are related to jellyfish and anemones, forms the backbone structure of the Great Barrier Reef. They present the aspect of beauty that has contributed an attraction from our world to visit theirs. Coral are divided into two main groups, “soft” and “hard” coral. “They are differentiated by their composition, texture, and the number of tentacles that can be found on their polyps” (Myott). Hard coral are found in clear, shallow waters where they reproduce and habit a variety of organisms. The “Staghorn variety” is the most common hard coral at the Great Barrier Reef (Mynott). They form limestone casings that become an important building block in the reef’s expansion while providing more viable habitats for its diverse reef-dwelling organisms. Scleractinian coral is another type of hard coral that can be shaped like a branching tree, table, or other shapes, and has the potential to reach the size of a car. These hard coral can only survive in the sunlit waters of the tropics which less than 1 percent of the ocean provides (Myott. They can harness multiple species of organisms due to the size and shape they create.
Soft corals are perceived as a more visual strike in amusement to people with their eight tentacles and lack of cytoskeleton. Soft coral are important for they serve a home to one of the most essential food sources in the entire Great Barrier Reef, the marine algae on which the entire ecosystem depends on. The smallest of the small fish to the largest greatly depend on the nutrients marine algae provides. Thus, both hard and soft coral are essential to the Great Barrier Reefs ecosystem. While hard coral provides habitats for marine life, soft coral contains and habits their essential resources. You can visualize how important coral is to the ecosystem however, the abundances of species reliant on live coral for food and shelter have been declining throughout many years. Disturbances from direct contact such as snorkeling, diving, and anchoring, discussed previously, have an immediate effect on the coral. Once an individual or community of corals is lost, habitats and nutrition is also lost. Decline in coral abundance lead to corresponding declines in the abundance of coral-dwelling fish.
Statement of Purpose
I chose my audience to be students at VCU who are going to participate in Study Abroad to the GBR. The purpose of this remediation is to provide knowledge of the stress the GBR is consuming, so students will acknowledge the fragility of the reef and be more cautions when exploring their world. To further convince my audience with my argument, I created this web-text with pictures, videos, and links to give my audience a perception of what is currently happening: the GBR is fading.
First, the background images. I wanted to have exotic backgrounds that presents the amount of life the GBR contains. The size of it from outer space, the coral, and fish. I also wanted to show my audience how the GBR is owned by large companies that can also be seen as “dictators”. Massive resorts own large portions of the GBR. I wanted those businesses to be portrayed as dictators because they abuse the reefs to obtain money. They own it, further there in control of everything.
I chose to put down a video in the beginning of my web-text because I wanted to firstly introduce the size and beauty of the GBR. Another angle of the picture perhaps instead of just looking at images. People would probably assume due to the size of the GBR, one little disturbance wont affect it. I wanted to argue that with pictures and evidence from my paper to support my argument.
I wanted this web-text to be serious while having the environment of the GBR. So that way when students read this advertisement, they would be attached by the looks of it and amazed of the biodiversity the GBR has to offer.
I also had images of cartoons. I felt cartoon images expressed my point more because they are indeed specific and rather amusing to look over. I also had images that contained quotes from professors. I thought it would be a good way to express my point in the degradation of reefs. I wanted to let the audience know every second, minute, hour counts in the GBR.
My titles are also another way I expressed my point. There are more rather directions to students so that they will acknowledge how easily coral and fish can be affected by human presence.
References
“Cartoon Guide to Biodiversity Loss XXVIII.” ConservationBytescom. N.p., 03 Feb. 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
“5 Places You MUST See Before You Die! — United Forum.” United Forum RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
“Half of Great Barrier Reef Lost in past 3 Decades.” CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
“Posts Tagged With: Reef.” TouchDown Down Under. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
“All This Will Have to Make Way for Australia’s Biggest Coal Mine.” SumOfUs. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
“Tourism Overuse.” N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
“GREAT BARRIER REEF.” Great Barrier Reef Info.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
“GREAT BARRIER REEF — Earthducation — Expedition 3.” Earthducation Expedition 3. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
