Great Barrier Reef corals mostly dead by 2050

[milesm4]

One thing I would strongly urge everyone to do is go rent "An Inconvenient Truth". It's a good movie for getting some info on how the ocean currents help cool the sea temps and what happens when the ocean gets warmer and warmer. I found it very eye opening and sad. What am I doing as a person about this? Well I signed up through my local county for their Master Composter/ Recycler program so I can teach others about how to lesson your "carbon footprint" and reduce waste while mending soils for healthier plants.

[2t2_crash]

If a 1 degree rise in sea temps would be so deadly why he hell are we able to maintain fish and coral in aquariums that fluctuate so heavily?
doesnt make sense to me so I have to throw the BS flag

[mattgeezer]

Maybe i should try to save them and put em in my tank!!!!

[lunatik_69]

Indeed it is very sad to see beautiful creations die, but unfortunately, the mighty dollar is more important. My wife also took environmental classes last yr and every time she came home, she had new negative statistics to report. I have to admit, I sometimes didnt even want to hear them. Its so depressing to hear all those negative reports and predictions. I sometimes wonder why I brought 3 children into this futureless world. One things for sure, we better get our s**t together before we reach the point of no return. Unless its already to late.

[mattgeezer]

Its something that all man kind needs to unite and save what is very special ..our enviroment .. But really we are our own worst enemy. saying that the water temperature rises coral reefs are forming elsewhere , in colder places where they usually wouldnt so there is some look up with the problem !!

I would like to know how long these scientists have known that this is happening , it seems a very hard task when the glaciers are melting rising water levels etc ...pollution from the cars we drive etc .. the list goes on maybe we should go back to riding horses or something ..kangaroos for that matter:turkey:

[omard]

You young'uns better get down there and enjoy it while you can...

GB Reef is just one link in a great chain.

May other reefs are going to go before and along with it.

[Dador]

Originally Posted by coral reefer

Do you know what gets me upset, is not once did they mention anything about the fish, mammals etc. that will die as a result of this problem! All they are concerned with is the almighty dollar and tourism!!!
As for the temperature aspect, I don't know how correct that is in that all the coral will die if the temp increases by 1degree celcius. Ny coral temp has gotten up to 87 degrees for a period of time with no ill effects. Obviously, I don't know the result of this high temp over a prolonged period of time but no one really does??? Their are many other variables to this equasion!
I could be wrong however but my opinion!
That is sad though our once remarkable and beautiful wonder of the world...our reefs becoming extict soon...NOT GOOD!

Coral Reefer I don't know how many time I need to write ditto after your posts. I am on exactly the same page.

[ziggy222]

i think theres worse things to worry about than a one degree rize in temp.i've had my tank at 90 degrees for 3 days at a time with no loss.i'm more concerned about polution,especially from our neighbors across from us.

[omard]

Originally Posted by Matt Rogers

Hope this isn't true....


Great Barrier Reef corals mostly dead by 2050

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040221/1/3i79u.html

The brightly-coloured corals that make Australia's Great Barrier Reef one of the world's natural wonders will be largely dead by 2050 because of rising sea temperatures, according to a report released Saturday.

Instead of the rich environment depicted in the recent movie Finding Nemo, the coral reef will be bleached out and replaced by ordinary seaweed, costing the tourism industry billion of dollars, the report into the impact of global warming says.

"Once you've got an outbreak, there's almost nothing you can do to stop it. The only way to ensure you've got some reef left at the end of it is to protect lots of other areas," says Dr Andrew Baird, an Australian member of the survey team.


Authors Hans and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg -- the head of Queensland University's marine studies centre and his economist father -- spent two years examining the effects of rising sea temperature on the reef for Queensland tourism authorities and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF).

Their 350-page report found no prospect of avoiding the "chilling long-term eventualities" of coral bleaching because greenhouse gases were already warming the seas as part of a process it said would take decades to stop.

"Coral cover will decrease to less than five percent on most reefs by the middle of the century under even the most favourable assumptions," the report said. "This is the only plausible conclusion if sea temperatures continue to rise."

Warmer sea waters make corals suffer thermal stress, eventually making them bleach and die.

The report said this could occur if temperatures increased by as little as one degree centigrade, well below the two to six degrees water temperatures around the reef are expected to rise by over the next century.

"There is no evidence that corals can adapt fast enough to match even the lower projected temperature rise," it found.

Organisms reliant on coral would become rare or even face extinction, the report said.

It said the bleaching would cost the economy up to eight billion dollars (6.24 billion US) and 12,000 jobs by 2020 under the worst-case scenario.

Even under the best case scenario, about 6,000 jobs would be lost and tourists would be forced to visit "Great Barrier Reef theme parks" offshore to view the remaining coral.

The reef covers more than 345,000 square kilometers (133,000 square miles) off Australia's northeast coast, making it the world's largest coral reef.

Consisting of 2,900 interlinked reefs, 900 islands and 1,500 fish species, scientists consider it the world's largest living organism.

Yet the delicate habitat faces numerous environmental threats, including chemical run off from farms, over-fishing, bleaching and the parasitic Crown-of-Thorns starfish, which attacks coral.

The government announced plans in December to reduce farm run off and ban fishing in about a third of the reef in a bid to protect Australia's number one tourist drawcard.

But the report's authors said the government needed to do more, recommending Canberra ratify the Kyoto protocol on reducing greenhouse gases and take the lead in emission reduction.

The WWF said urgent measures must be put in place to minimise reef damage and reduce greenhouse gases.

"The argument for instant action is undeniable," WWF said in a statement. "Major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions must occur now, not in five or ten years time. This is likely to deliver major benefits to our societies both in the near-term and at times beyond 2050."

Danger to reefs not limited to rising temps...(of course could be related somehow...)

"Killer Starfish" Eating Up Great Barrier Reef

Recent marine surveys by scientists in the Great Barrier Reef have found that an explosion in the population of the crown-of-thorns starfish has decimated parts of the region’s reefs and are now threatening part of the so-called Coral Triangle – one of the world’s richest regions of coral reef biodiversity.

Once you've got an outbreak, there's almost nothing you can do to stop it. The only way to ensure you've got some reef left at the end of it is to protect lots of other areas," says Dr Andrew Baird, an Australian member of the survey team.


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