A Nightmare Is Unfolding in the Great Barrier Reef

[+BobcatReefer]

If scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef is on your bucket list, you might want to book tickets soon. This week, marine biologists dropped some horribly depressing news: the Great Barrier Reef is dying. The world’s largest reef is in the midst of a widespread coral bleaching event, and scientists aren’t sure whether it will fully recover.

Over the past few days, Terry Hughes of James Cook University has led aerial surveys of more than 500 reefs from Cairns to Papa New Guinea, including the most pristine sections of the Great Barrier Reef. Everywhere Hughes traveled, he was met with a nightmarish scene—the ghostly white remains of a once vibrant ecosystem. All told, Hughes estimates that 95 percent of the northern Great Barrier Reef is “severely bleached,” marking the worst such event on record.

“Almost without exception, every reef we flew across showed consistently high levels of bleaching, from the reef slope right up onto the top of the reef,” Hughes said in a statement. “This has been the saddest research trip of my life.”

more: http://gizmodo.com/a-nightmare-is-unfolding-in-the-great-barrier-reef-1767702006

[Dan H]

Yeah, I've been reading a bunch of articles on this and it's beyond depressing.

[FarmerTy]

That's just depressing.

[Jimbo662]

Between Dan and Ty y'all should have enough frags to repopulate the reef...right????

[FarmerTy]

Between Dan and Ty y'all should have enough frags to repopulate the reef...right????

I keep my temperatures at an average of 81... Eat that global warming! The Great Tyrier Reef! I like it!

[Dan H]

81 eh? Hmm, may have to try bumping up mine a touch... I'm at 80.7 average.

[mFrame]

I went to Hawaii in February and got to spend some time with Dana Riddle, who continues doing research on photosynthesis in corals. One of the days I was there we went to a tide pool that he visits to monitor coral health. He has last been there in November, where he had seen 80-90% of the coral in the tide pool bleached or bleaching. Our visit was to follow up and document the coral's status. He was amazed to find that the coral had not only fully recovered, but actually had higher levels of zooxanthellae than prior to the bleaching event. He has a device that measures photosynthesis in the coral, which showed higher rates than he had measured before the initial bleaching event. Mind you, this recovery took place in less than four months.

I specifically asked him about the causes of the bleaching event, to which he replied that it is an El Nino year and that this is a known effect of such. What amazed him was how quickly the corals had not only recovered, but surpassed their previous levels of "health".

I mention all this to say, don't underestimate the ability for corals and the reef to survive. There are certainly environmental impacts affecting the reef worldwide, many of which can be mitigated (Check out Jame's Fatheree's comments from our prior C4 round table), but don't count the reefs out yet.

[+KimP]

Yeah, I've been reading a bunch of articles on this and it's beyond depressing.

Me too. It's so depressing. I was thinking today that there might come a time where some types of coral will only exist in fish tanks, like some animals do in zoos. I certainly hope that's never the case, of course. [emoji22]

[jestep]

I see a major problem possible in the future, hopefully not near, if this trend continues to the point where coral aren't able to recover.

Let's just speculate that NOAA decides that all or a large group of coral belongs on an endangered species list, which would be a reasonable reaction if we start experiencing mass coral death (not bleaching). This effectively prevents any trade of existing coral in captivity irrespective of whether the coral can even survive anymore in the wild.

[FarmerTy]

Yeah, I've been reading a bunch of articles on this and it's beyond depressing.

Me too. It's so depressing. I was thinking today that there might come a time where some types of coral will only exist in fish tanks, like some animals do in zoos. I certainly hope that's never the case, of course. [emoji22]

That's it! I'm setting up a Ty's Ark! Bring all your expensive and rare corals to me for saving! No uglies please. [emoji13]

[FarmerTy]

Joking aside, not that I consider it a non-issue, but I've seen how my own corals react to higher temps, higher bacterial levels, and higher nutrient levels and I have faith that natural populations, even though they'll take a hit, will evolve and thrive over time.

[mFrame]

I see a major problem possible in the future, hopefully not near, if this trend continues to the point where coral aren't able to recover.

Let's just speculate that NOAA decides that all or a large group of coral belongs on an endangered species list, which would be a reasonable reaction if we start experiencing mass coral death (not bleaching). This effectively prevents any trade of existing coral in captivity irrespective of whether the coral can even survive anymore in the wild.

This has already happened and continues to be an evolving story:

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2014/08/corals_listing.html

[Bluemoon]

Thanks for Dana update mike! He's the man. This is crazy to sad to be a part of.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

Joking aside, not that I consider it a non-issue, but I've seen how my own corals react to higher temps, higher bacterial levels, and higher nutrient levels and I have faith that natural populations, even though they'll take a hit, will evolve and thrive over time.

+1. I've put corals through all kinds of stressors. The more delicate ones will die off, but the more robust specimens will survive and take their place. Just hope that an event isn't so traumatic that it doesn't kill off everything without leaving any to repopulate with.

[Isaac]

I know my "politics" might stand out on this one.... but i've found most gizmodo articles to lean a bit one way as of late. be it jobs, phone sales, weather, reefs. The article stresses the losses, even mentioned the el nino in the 90's, it DOESNT mention how much it bounced back after that. after reading that, you feel like those 90's losses are still there, and this el nino is ontop of that. Simple google searches found facts they conveniently left out (as others have noted here).

I've said it a billion times... each article is a starting point for your own research, trust nobody at face value. Journalism today does NOT have the "ethics" it used to with multiple cross-bias source verification. We are reading op-eds, not news because of this tiny little fact. </soapbox>

[Isaac]

Coral Bleaching reports on Great Barrier Reef misleading: Port Douglas Operators

http://www.newsport.com.au/Coral-bleaching-reports-on-Great-Barrier.13618.0.html

[FarmerTy]

GBR bleaching not as severe as reported. Thanks media.

https://reefbuilders.com/2016/06/06/coral-bleaching-on-the-gbr-not-as-severe-as-first-reported/