Major Threats

Reefs in peril: Coral reef degradation "Coral reefs are the most biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world and also the most vulnerable. Threats to coral reefs fall into two principal categories: climate change-induced factors that threaten reefs on a global scale and local factors that cause damage within a more limited geographical area. In 2011, a study by the World Resources Institute reported that 75 percent of coral reefs worldwide were at risk from global and local threats, with a quarter of reefs already damaged beyond repair. Since then, the degradation of coral reefs has continued unabated on a global scale."

The following are not listed in any particular order.

• Acid Rain from livestock farming and industrial practices.

• Fishing & Aquaculture

  • Bottom Trawling

  • Cyanide Fishing is a common practice used to fuel the exotic pet trade, and is toxic both to the coral as well as the fish. Many of whom die in transit or shortly after reaching their destinations.

  • Dynamite Fishing 

  • Ghost Nets harbor dangerous bacteria which spread disease to coral which are easily entangled and smothered by old fishing gear.

  • Aquaculture waste: fish feces, antibiotics and other medications or poisons harm all aquatic life, but in particular fecal waste has been found to smother reefs which (unlike mobile lifeforms) can't swim, crawl, or float out of harms way.

  • Slaughterhouse/Meat Processor Waste pipes of blood and other disease-contaminated waste is dumped into waterways and oceans.

• Sewage 

  • Livestock Manure

  • Human & Pet Sewage

  • Waste Including Sewage From Ships Cruise companies pay million in fines, which they consider the price of doing business.

• Invasive Species these can displace species, over eat and cause trophic cascade, bring disease, etc.

• Warming Ocean Temperatures cause bleaching

• Sedimentation

• Damage from Diving & Tourism

• Oil & Chemical Spills

• Coral Disease

• Algae Blooms

• Plastic & Other Marine Debris

Programs & Projects

North America

USA

Louisiana

• Louisiana Artificial Reef Program "includes planning documents and reef locations"

Organizations

International

• The Rewilding Institute "We live for the day when Gray Wolves and Grizzly Bears have connected habitat from Mexico to Alaska, when Pumas have reclaimed their homelands East and West, when salmon and other migratory fish swim freely up and down our continents’ rivers, when the oceans are teeming with whales and sharks, and when all native species regain natural patterns of abundance and distribution."

Europe

• OSPAR "is the mechanism by which 15 Governments & the EU cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.
  
  OSPAR started in 1972 with the Oslo Convention against dumping and was broadened to cover land-based sources of marine pollution and the offshore industry by the Paris Convention of 1974. These two conventions were unified, up-dated and extended by the 1992 OSPAR Convention. The new annex on biodiversity and ecosystems was adopted in 1998 to cover non-polluting human activities that can adversely affect the sea.
  
  The fifteen Governments are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
  
  OSPAR is so named because of the original Oslo and Paris Conventions ("OS" for Oslo and "PAR" for Paris)."

Maps

North America

USA

Florida

• Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission: Marine & Estuarine Habitats Map Interactive

South America

Bonaire

• Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire Sites (Interactive) "Over the past 30 years coral reefs have faced a major decline. Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire's mission is to protect and restore coral reefs in Bonaire by developing new and innovative ways to restore reefs that are supported by research collaborations and shared worldwide, training, engaging, and inspiring the community locally and internationally through volunteering, educational events, and outreach, and demonstrating that through community efforts there is still hope for coral reefs. Right now more than 15,000 coral fragments are growing in the nurseries in Bonaire and more than 42,000 have been already outplanted on the reef."

Oceana

Australia

• Great Barrier Reef Foundation: Grants and Opportunities "Apply now for open grants with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation."

Further Reading