Be Part of the Solution: Saving Coral Reefs
By Yesenia Villafuerte
Earth Law principles applied to MPAs can protect reefs from multiple stressors
Meet the coral reefs
Coral reefs are not found in great numbers all over the world. They cover less than 1 percent of the seafloor (equal to 110,000 square miles/285,000 square kilometers) and are incredibly productive and diverse ecosystems.
To the average eye, coral reefs may look like a structure created by colorful plants, but marine invertebrates (marine animals without a backbone) actually form the reefs. Polyps, the individual corals, don’t move, which contributes to their plant-like appearance. Some coral species build coral reefs called hermatypic or hard corals. Hard corals use calcium carbonate to create an exoskeleton to protect their soft bodies. When the polyps die, new ones take their place and add their own exoskeleton to the ones already there. It’s those actions that allow the reef to gradually grow.
Referring back to the topic of colors, the polyps do not produce the color — algae called zooxanthellae do.[i] Coral and zooxanthellae have a mutualistic relationship, meaning they both benefit. The coral provides shelter, protects the algae and provides them with compounds they need for photosynthesis. The algae produce oxygen, help coral remove waste, and, through photosynthesis, provide products that the coral can use to make proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and the calcium carbonate they need for their exoskeleton.[ii]
Why do coral reefs matter?
Coral reefs cover very little of the seafloor, but they provide shelter for such a diverse range of species: 25 percent of all known marine species use reefs for food, shelter, and breeding. More than 4,000 species of fish and thousands of other plants and animals call reefs their home.i
Healthy reefs allow for a diverse range within species, which provides a large gene pool that can be helpful in increasing a community’s chances of survival. If all species have similar genes, one disturbance can wipe them all out. With a larger gene pool, there’s an increased chance that some organisms will be able to survive and continue the species.
Coral reefs also play a role in nitrogen-fixing and nutrient recycling.[iii] Nitrogen-fixing converts nitrogen gas from the air into a form that fuels the growth of plants and other organisms.[iv] Nutrient recycling helps deal with the limited number of chemical elements available on Earth by recycling them for further use.[v] Nitrogen-fixing and nutrient recycling are incredibly important processes in ecosystems. Losing organisms that contribute to fixing and recycling would be harmful to many other marine organisms.
We are losing our corals
The challenges coral reefs face have resulted in many of them being lost, as reported by different studies. In October 2000, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, which is the largest coral reef monitoring effort in the world, reported that 27 percent of reefs have been lost and 32 percent are at risk of being lost in the following 20 to 30 years.
The World Resources Institute reported that 58 percent of all reefs are at serious risk from human development. Both reports point to human activity as the main cause for the decline in reef health.
Threats to Coral Reefs
Different areas of the world face different challenges. Some areas have issues with water pollution, with one example being how Florida State drains septic tanks directly into the ocean. This drainage increases the amount of nitrates in the water, which can cause harmful algal blooms.[vi] These algal blooms occur naturally, but the increase of nutrients that results from practices such as waste drainage and agricultural drainage (where pesticides are the cause of the nutrient spike) increases the occurrence of blooms.[vii] These blooms grow on the water surface and the deprivation of sunlight affects the coral polyps, as well as the marine plants.vi The loss of the plants affects herbivores, which in turn affects the predators that eat the herbivores. Water pollution damages the relationships between the plants, coral, and other animals in the reefs. Those relationships are crucial to survival, so any harm that comes to them also harms the organisms.
Another human activity that impacts coral reefs is the burning of fossil fuels. That activity releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, from where much of it is absorbed into the ocean. That carbon dioxide increases the water’s acidity, making it more difficult for coral to survive.i Scientists have measured the way ocean acidification has impacted coral growth and found that there has been a 52–73 percent decline in larval settlement on reefs that experience increased acidity. With the way the acidity affects corals, it could mean a future where the polyps are more brittle and less resilient to disturbances, decreasing their overall chances of survival.[viii]
Additionally, fishing can have a negative impact on reefs. One specific type of fishing involves dynamite. While it can simplify fishing, it also results in the reefs being blown into pieces. Overfishing, as well, is an issue. Overfishing can cause a dramatic drop in predators, which can in turn causes certain species to flourish in ways the ecosystem is not prepared for. Certain species, in great numbers, can devastate coral reefs in the area.
Human greenhouse gas emissions are a human activity that receives much attention. These emissions cause the top layers of the oceans to warm up. High temperatures put reefs at serious risk and are the main cause of coral bleaching.vi Too high temperatures cause the algae to produce large quantities of reactive oxygen, which is toxic to the algae and coral. This toxic chemical breaks the relationship and causes the algae and coral to separate. Without the color-giving algae, only the white exoskeleton remains, creating the “bleached” look. If the algae are unable to recolonize the coral within a few months of the separation, their absence can result in the death of the coral, as the polyps are unable to survive for long without the algae.[ix]
What does coral reef bleaching mean exactly?
As time has gone by, bleaching events have increased. In the 1980s, the global proportion of coral being hit with a bleaching event was 8 percent, much lower than the 31 percent seen in 2016. In the last forty years, bleaching events have occurred five times more frequently than before. In the 1980s, the average reef was affected once every 25 to 30 years, while in 2016 reefs were affected every six years. While reefs had much more time to recover in previous years, the current average time between events is not enough for full recovery.[x]
As an example, the Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef and is a well known one. Coral bleaching became a hot topic after the reef suffered back-to-back bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, which resulted in the deaths of almost a quarter of the corals.[xi]
While bleaching due to warm water is what is generally seen, there has been a coral bleaching event as a result from colder temperatures. In 2010, reefs in the Florida Keys experienced water temperatures 12.06 degrees Fahrenheit lower than average and this led to bleaching. Scientists are working to evaluate whether a cold water event makes coral as susceptible to disease as the warm water events do.[xii]
New Approaches
A market-based approach acknowledges the social, economic, and environmental value of reefs, as well as the challenges reefs face. The OneReef organization wishes to reach their conservation goal through this approach. They seek to develop a way for people to be paid to conserve and/or restore marine ecosystems. This would involve adding incentives around the value of reefs, rewarding stewardship, and creating accountability for reef degradation.[xiii] This approach not only relies on incentives from the value of the reefs but also on organizations and people who are willing to pay to keep the ecosystems healthy and fully functional.[xiv]
A prohibition approach can be seen in Hawaii. At the end of April 2018, lawmakers passed a bill to ban the selling of non-prescription sunscreens that contain chemicals that contribute to the destruction of coral reefs and other ocean life. The bill, which is the first of its kind in the world, will go into effect on January 1, 2021. Chemicals prohibited include oxybenzone and octinoxate, which are found in many popular sunscreen products. One 2015 study of coral reefs in Hawaii found that oxybenzone leached nutrients from the delicate polyps and disrupted the ecosystem, even when only present in small quantities. Researchers found that 14,000 tons of sunscreen lotions end up in reefs around the world a year.[xv] Knowing how detrimental even a bit of these chemicals can be, we can appreciate that banning them is a great way to inhibit coral bleaching.
A rehabilitation approach is used by SECORE, a global network of scientists, public aquarium professionals, and local stakeholders. They work towards reef restoration and have begun an initiative to improve reef health.[xvi] Together with the California Academy of Sciences and The Nature Conservancy, they began the Global Coral Restoration Project to help rehabilitate coral reefs and preserve them. The project involves the study and application of coral restoration techniques and practices on a large scale while integrating coordinated conservation, education, and outreach efforts. The project aims to help maintain the genetic diversity in reefs by seeding them with sexually reproduced coral offspring. Maintaining genetic diversity maximizes the reefs’ ability to adapt. This practice also has the potential to produce large numbers of coral offspring from one spawning event. SECORE hope these efforts produce long-term positives that previous attempts haven’t been able to create.[xvii]
The rise of Marine Protected Areas
MPAs are defined as “any area of the marine environment that has been reserved by federal, state, territorial, tribal, or local laws or regulations to provide lasting protection for part or all of the natural and cultural resources therein.”[xviii] MPAs come in multiple forms, such as marine sanctuaries, estuarine research reserves, ocean parks, and marine wildlife refuges. They can be established to protect ecosystems, preserve cultural resources, or sustain fishery production. They can also be located in a range of habitats, including oceans, coasts, intertidal zones, estuaries, and the Great Lakes.[xix] To be effective with coral reefs, they must be part of an approach that protects the reef communities from multiple stressors so the reefs can recover more quickly from disturbance. This approach helps protect reefs from multiple challenges and increases their chances of survival.[xx]
The United States has more than 1700 MPAs that cover more than 41% of U.S. marine waters, with 8 percent of those waters being in MPAs that focus on conserving natural or cultural resources.[xxi] The first MPA was established in 1903, with more following as the twentieth century moved on. The twenty-first century saw the designation of many more MPAs, showing an increased focus on marine health and restoration.[xxii]
Earth Law Center’s Place in Reef Protection
Quantifiable measures of what certain natural ecosystems provide to humans aren’t the only way to determine the importance of said ecosystems. Under Earth Law a coral reef’s existence is enough for it to be considered an important part of the world. Earth Law recognizes the right of coral reefs to exist, thrive, and evolve. Rather than viewing coral as an object, Earth Law views reefs as a fellow subject — an entity with rights and the ability to defend itself against damage in court.
Recognizing the rights of an MPA could strengthen the protection for coral reefs found within that MPA. The coral reefs would be protected and represented in court by a management board or appointed guardians. In addition, the MPA’s human guardians would defend it by only permitting activities that best serve the health and vitality of those coral reefs and the surrounding ecosystem.
Organización para la Conservación de Cetaceos (OCC) and ELC have partnered in Uruguay to try to establish legal rights for the Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary in Uruguay’s territorial water. The sanctuary was established in 2013, but a management plan has not been created and the area is troubled by increasing threats from ships, pollution, and unsustainable fishing.[xxiii] The cetaceans face many threats, including whaling, net entanglement, climate change, pollution, and habitat destruction. The sanctuary is a significant area in Uruguay. Thousands of species of cetaceans and other marine animals know the area as home, and it is also an incredibly productive aquatic system. While working together, OCC and ELC can improve the sanctuary, thus protecting the ecosystem.[xxiv]
Join us to protect the coral reefs
With much of the news focusing on the negatives in the natural world, it can be difficult to feel positive about the future. It’s important to remember that hope is not lost until we all lose hope. It’s also equally important to contribute to the health of the natural world sooner rather than later.
Coral bleaching can seem like the end of the world, but even that is something the reefs can bounce back from as long as we make necessary changes. Finding the right opportunities to help can take time, but it’s an important step to improving the health of Earth.
Changes cannot be made without thoughtful citizens putting the work in. Your help, whether it be volunteering, donating, or signing petitions, is needed and appreciated. As long as there are those who put themselves ahead of nature and believe humans have the right to destroy and use the planet’s resources as we wish, there needs to be people like us who fight back against those beliefs and make sure the natural world gets what it truly deserves.
Act today and join the growing global movement of Earth Law by:
· Staying informed of Earth Law Center
· Volunteering with ELC
· Supporting ELC
