Protection zones in the wrong place to prevent coral reef collapse

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Protection zones in the wrong place to prevent coral reef collapse


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POSTED: Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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Conservation zones are in the wrong place to protect vulnerable coral
reefs from the effects of global warming, an international team of
scientists warned today.

Now the team – led jointly by Newcastle University and the Wildlife
Conservation Society, New York – say that urgent action is needed to
prevent the collapse of this important marine ecosystem.

The research, published today in the journal PLoS ONE, is the largest
study of its kind to have been carried out, covering 66 sites across
seven countries and spanning over a decade in the Indian Ocean.

Current protection zones – or 'No-take areas' (NTAs) – were set up to
protect fish in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before climate change
was a major issue.

The team – which comprises of experts from the UK, Australia, the US,
Sweden and France – found the small-scale zones were not working to
protect coral reefs against the effects of climate change.

They conclude that while the existing zones should not be removed, new
areas are needed in the right place to protect corals against the
effects of rising temperatures.

And they say that managing the system as a whole is crucial if coral
reef communities are to have any hope of surviving the effects of
global warming.

Lead researcher Nick Graham, of Newcastle University's School of
Marine Science and Technology, said: "We need a whole new approach –
and we need to act now.

"Our research shows that many of the world's existing no-take areas
are in the wrong place.

"New protected zones are needed that focus on areas identified as
escaping or recovering well from climate change impacts. But a major
focus needs to be shifted towards increasing the resilience of the
system as a whole – that means reducing as many other locally derived
threats as possible.

"Coral dies when it is put under stress so what we need to be doing is
reducing the direct human impact – such as over-fishing, pollution and
sedimentation – across the whole area.

"By removing all these other stresses we are giving the coral the best
chance of surviving and recovering from any changes in temperature
that may occur as a result of global warming."

Previous work by the team focused on the long-term impact of the 1998
event where global warming caused Indian Ocean surface temperatures to
increase to unprecedented and sustained levels, killing off (or
'bleaching') more than 90 per cent of the inner Seychelles coral.

Although many areas are showing signs of long-term degradation, Mr
Graham said it was positive to see that some locations either escaped
the impact or have recovered.

"This provides the key to conserving coral reefs in the face of
climate change," he says. "We are not suggesting that we scrap the
existing NTAs – in terms of protecting fish stocks they have been
quite successful.

"But they are not effective against global warming and in order to
ensure the long-term survival of this rich marine community that is
what we need to address."