Coral Reefs Over-Fished, Poisoned, Blasted
Chive Mynde
Wednesday, October 03, 2001
By David Suzuki
Anyone who has ever dived at healthy coral reefs knows how spectacular
they can be: communities of fish, coral, and invertebrates in a riot
of color and shape. But sadly, those same qualities are also leading
to many reefs' downfall.
Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment
Program (UNEP) doesn't mince words. The reefs are over-fished, bombed,
and poisoned, he said. They are smothered by sediment and choked by
algae growing on nutrient-rich sewage and fertilizer run-off.
The UNEP has just finished the first World Atlas of Coral Reefs, and
it has some disturbing findings. Coral reefs are among the world's
most beautiful and diverse ecosystems, but they are increasingly rare
and their abundance has been vastly overestimated, according to the
new atlas. Calculations done for the UNEP indicate that coral reefs
actually cover less than one-tenth of one percent of the ocean. That's
less than half of previous estimates.
The atlas points out that reefs are under threat from warming oceans
due to climate change and a number of other human activities,
including fishing by explosives and cyanide. Such practices are common
in the trade of live marine aquarium animals, especially in countries
that lack enforcement like Indonesia and the Philippines — home
to the world's largest and third-largest areas of coral reefs
respectively. Together, these two nations supply 85 percent of the
world's tropical fish that end up in saltwater aquariums and as live
entrees for upscale Hong Kong restaurants.
Fishing with poisons or explosives may seem bizarre — and it is
illegal in these countries — but it still happens. Divers squirt
cyanide at tropical fish, for example, to disable them and make them
easier to catch. As might be expected from using such a deadly poison,
this practice also kills a huge percentage of the intended catch. Up
to 50 percent die almost immediately according to a report in
Scientific American. And 40 percent of the survivors die before they
make it to an aquarium.
Cyanide is also toxic to the coral itself. Laboratory tests on 10
species have shown that cyanide diluted to concentrations thousands of
times lower than those used by divers can kill most coral species
outright. Those that survive initially usually die within months.
According to the nonprofit International Marinelife Alliance (IMA),
collectors in the Philippines have squirted more than 1 million
kilograms of cyanide onto the country's reefs during the past 30
years. The method has also spread to neighboring countries like
Indonesia, where the government admits that less than 7 percent of the
nation's reefs are still in good condition and some 82 percent are
currently at risk from poisoning and blast fishing.
Coral reefs are not just important because of their beauty and tourism
potential. They also serve as a breeding ground for important food
fish, protect shorelines, and harbor an incredible diversity of life,
including 25 percent of all marine fish species. Important drugs have
been obtained from reef organisms, including the HIV-fighting AZT,
which is based on chemicals derived from a Caribbean reef sponge. And
there is still much to be discovered. Scientists have only identified
perhaps 10 percent of the more than 1 million species believed to
inhabit coral reefs.
There are hopeful signs that Asia's coral reefs can be protected. In
the Philippines, the IMA has helped train thousands of fish collectors
to use nets rather than poisons or explosives. The Philippine
government has also started randomly testing fish destined for export,
and the number testing positive for cyanide has dropped considerably
in recent years.
The nonprofit Marine Aquarium Council also recently started a
voluntary certification program to encourage trade in aquarium fish
that have not been caught using poison or explosives. For the health
of coral reefs around the world, it is vital that this certification
become the industry standard.
Over the long run, the greatest threat facing coral reefs may be
warmer waters due to global warming. But the most immediate threats
come from more tangible and, hopefully, more easily preventable
sources.
Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network
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