For more than a decade, divers worldwide have
reported rapidly increasing damage to reefs, but there
has been little scientific data supporting their observations.
Now, thanks to 750 volunteer divers and 100
marine biologists, Gregor Hodgson, coordinator of Reef
Check, says "we have evidence that coral reefs are being
plundered on a global basis."
In fact, Reef Check, the first global survey of reefs
ever made, has found that 95 percent of the world's
coral reefs have been damaged by overfishing, dynamiting,
poisoning, pollution, or ships' anchors.
The Reef Check survey, which was sponsored by
the Marine Conservation Society, was carried out last
summer at 300 sites in the Caribbean, the Indo-
Pacific, and the Red Sea. It revealed that populations
of fish and shellfish once common to the reefs it
studied have been decimated on most of them. On
each reef studied, teams examined an area of coral
roughly the length of a football pitch. They checked
numbers of 20 key species and looked for evidence of
coral damage from sewage pollution, cyanide fishing,
and anchor destruction.
The most severely affected reefs were in the Indo-
Pacific, where demand for reef fish -- a gourmet
delicacy in Hong Kong and southern China-- has
stripped reefs of many large species. The Napoleon or
humphead wrasse and Barramundi cod were once
moderately abundant on Indo-Pacific reefs, but none
were reported at 85% of the 179 reefs surveyed in the
region. Although more than 25 kilometers of
Indo-Pacific reef were surveyed, only 26 humphead
wrasse were seen. Cyanide and other forms of fishing
had severely damaged populations of this species,
which was formerly found in moderate abundance
there. (Areas in the Maldives and the Red Sea, where
there was no fishing with poisons or explosives, had
bigger fish populations.)
Lobsters were also scarce in the region. Only 25
were found in the 179 Indo-Pacific reefs surveyed, 11 of
them at a single reef in an Indonesian marine reserve.
In all, the Indonesian Institute of Science found that
42% of Indonesian coral reefs have been damaged and
that only 6% are in excellent condition.
Sadly, worldwide statistics aren't a whole lot better.
No lobsters were found at 81 percent of the reefs
surveyed worldwide, and 40 percent of reefs had no
grouper longer than a foot. Large grouper are heavily
fished world round, and none were reported at 40% of
the reefs studied. The rest had small numbers at best.
(The Maldives and the Red Sea, where no poisoning or
dynamiting occurs, were also an exception to this trend.
More than 20 large grouper were recorded at survey
sites in these areas.) Out of 51 Caribbean reefs surveyed,
the once-common Nassau grouper was found at
only four sites, and the total count was only 12 fish. In
the Seychelles, Dr. Elizabeth Wood noted that "we
found no lobsters on the sites we surveyed, and valuable
shells such as giant triton have also been over-collected
-- we found none of these either."
"Coral reefs on a global basis have been pretty well
wiped out as far as these high-value edible species go,"
says Hodgson. "The results are very shocking."
If there is any positive side to the study results, it is
that this sort of information is vital if countries are to
be convinced to protect their reefs before it is too late.
Says Herman Cesar of the World Bank's Coral Reef
Rehabilitation Program, "the Indonesian government
does not realize that if coral reefs are destroyed, the
value of Indonesian reefs, which can generate 2.3
billion dollars in annual income, would diminish
seriously." However, it's just this kind of information
that has led the Philippines to set up a legal system
which makes it easier to bring violators to court. As a
result, Cesar said, cyanide fishing there has decreased
significantly.
-- from various news sources, including New Scientist
Next issue: What YOU can do to help save the reefs.