Rainforests of the Sea

Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Coral reef diving is every scuba diver’s dream. Diving a coral reef is like jumping into a giant fishbowl. The reef itself is a patchwork of colorful coral housing multitudes of fish. The abundance and diversity of life it can sustain never ceases to amaze me, from the shy clownfish hiding in the anemone to the poisonous lionfish protecting its hunting grounds.

Maroon Clown Fish (Great Barrier Reef, Australia)

Red Lionfish (Great Barrier Reef, Australia)

In the eyes of species extinction is it easy to preach population research and heightened protection status, but the answer is not quite as simple when the ocean itself is the problem. Marine Protection Areas are the equivalent of National Parks and can help promote fishery management and habitat protection, but they can’t protect against the water itself.

Harlequin Ghost Pipefish (Great Barrier Reef, Australia)

Great White Wall (SomoSomo Straits, Taveuni, Fiji)

White Spotted Puffer Fish (Rainbow Reef, Fiji)

Climate change plays the biggest role in coral loss in several different ways. The increase in ocean temperature is causing coral bleaching and coral disease. In addition a quarter of the ever-increasing CO2 produced enters the ocean and causes ocean acidification, which will only amplify the numerous other problems.

If the beauty of coral reefs alone doesn’t move you to want to keep them around, a few facts about their importance might help. Coral reefs have global economic value of $375 billion a year, something that we literally cannot afford to lose. In addition, reefs are home to 25% of all marine life on the planet, despite the fact that their total area amounts to only about a quarter of a percentage of the entire marine environment. 

Climate change is not just a charade, dreamed up by the politicians. You merely have to look at the water around us to know it is real. I could sit here and expound the mountains of proof, but I think it is more important to realize exactly how much we have to lose by not taking action. It would be a shame to lose so much beauty because we are unwilling to admit that our actions affect our planet. Time is not something we have on our side, it is predicted that by the end of the 21^st century we could lose coral reefs entirely. Once the reefs are gone the slow growth rate of coral will mean we have a long time to wait before we see them again, and that's assuming we can fix the problems that caused them to disappear in the first place. The Great Barrier Reef is 500,000 years old. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to wait that long to see it again.