Guys, I am starting this topic to popularise the issue of coral reefs surviving in the face of global warming.   

Below is a draft article on the issue, which I have written and hopefully it will soon be posted up on my company's website.

So the earth and its oceans are warming. Little do we divers realize that the pleasant warm waters we dive in is leaving us with less reasons to dive in the first place.

‘It’s the direct impact of higher temperatures that is proving to be the most threatening aspect of climate change to coral reefs’, Flannery writes. When the sea temperatures exceed a certain threshold, bleaching occurs where the coral polyp loses its symbiotic algae buddy, the zooxanthellae, and turns white. Under normal circumstances, the coloured algae provide the polyp with food via photosynthesis while the polyp provides shelter and nutrients to the algae. But because the zooxanthellae’s photosynthetic capabilities are weakened in higher temperatures, it is no longer beneficial for the coral polyp to keep its buddy and therefore the algae would be released.

The symbiotic relationship would renew should water conditions become favourable once again. However, if the water continues to warm, the bleaching effect will persist and the coral polyps will eventually starve to death. When the corals turn to rubble, the ocean's inhabitants, especially those that spend most, if not some, parts of their life cycle in coral reefs will soon face death and possible extinction.

It is a miserable prognosis, isn’t it? And the situation gets even more depressing.

The world's leading coral reef researchers warn that projected increases in temperatures over the next fifty years will exceed the conditions under which coral reefs have flourished over the past half-million years. What this basically means is that by 2050, even the most isolated and protected of reefs will be showing massive signs of damage. This is because it takes the oceans around three decades to catch up with the heat accumulated in the atmosphere. In other words, our reefs are as good as gone.

A lot of people depend on the tourism and fisheries sector to survive. So there is an urgent need to preserve our world’s precious simply because far more economies is at stake. The ocean, as the most significant carbon sink the Earth has at the moment, deserves our attention. With the global warming set to progress for at least the next several decades, do our coral reefs have a fighting chance against the catastrophic currents of climate change?

Well, it is the International Year of the Reef this year.  As an EcoDiver, I can only hope that the relevant government bodies, academic institutions, banks, non-governmental organizations and learned corporations would urgently execute sound policies and action plans to save our world’s natural resources from being a climate casualty.

Our underwater world will need all the help it can get within the next couple of years - on land, in the air and under the sea. A good start would be to monitor and rate the conditions of our reefs over time and relate such results to developments that are taking place on land. Once a correlation is established, red alerts on the deteriorating ecosystem could be sent out to the relevant authorities and action can be taken before it is too late.

I'm sure most of you are aware that the percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere is 0.03% as compared to 78% of Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and about 0.93% Argon.

The info below helps put this in perspective for anyone who, like me, thought that what's the big deal with 0.03%:

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the body's regulator of the breathing function. It is normally present in the air at a concentration of 0.03% by volume. Any increase above this level will cause accelerated breathing and heart rate. A concentration of 10% can cause respiratory paralysis and death within a few minutes. In industry the maximum safe working level recommended for an 8 hour working day is 0.5% .

this is the reason even a trivial increase can put the entire ecosystem in jeopardy.

Yeah...I understand that.

It was that in the global warming forum, it could not be established the exact quantities that will do all the things that you elaborated.

Trend Graphs on Temperature vs increase in population, cars, buildings, etc. will generate a similar graph as the CO2 version.

I was just ADDITIONALLY making it clear that the earth may tolerate a lot more cars, building,etc. EVEN rise in temperature may be tolerable but a relatively small increase in CO2 (parts per million (ppm) or percentage values) can have a disasterous effect.

In other words, Humans may be dead (due to CO2 concentrations) long before the temperature becomes a problem.    

Anyway, back to the topic, what do you think we can do about the corals? Need to ideas so that we can start lobbying the relevant government fellas.

Salamsss & Selamat Sejahtera.......

Nanda u are wit seathru? I think with all your connections u should try to persuade terengganu state goverment to stop selling the turtle eggs in Terengganu especially in Pasar Payang. I live in K.Terengganu and it is almost easier to find turtles eggs in restaurant ( big or small ) than to find nasi lemak kerang !!!!. It is bad for terengganu image towards tourist. The reason why im telling u this because i think u are in a better position (contacts) rather than me but i can always be a help if needed. As for the coral bleeching yes i've seen it started as early as Januari last year and all these padina start coming in. tq

oh this prof. yeah i got experience with her b4, she in fact dont ever give me opportunity to look at turtles b4.

so with this picture can we touch turtles now huh?

 

that is not a turtle as in penyu.
the one she is holding is a tortoise as in kura-kura..
so kura kura is OK to touch lah, kot? 

Quote from: SeaDemon on January 19, 2008, 01:59:07 PM

There are politician-divers as well in the cabinet; but as politicians, the first popular questions they might ask would be, "What's in it for me?" and "How much can we make out of it?"

This is so true 

Looks like Terrapin to me.... then again I am known to be sooOOooOOoo WRONG when comes to marine life.

 

Yes, it is a terrapin, but what do the reporters covering that story know? See, even the reporters weren't briefed on what she was holding. 

Halo.....

How did the topic end up on turtles and Prof Chan? Thought it was about corals and climate change.....

My thoughts:

1) We have to be realistic that the governments of the world will NEVER EVER get the cut down of CO2 to be a reality... all too kiasu..... they will only change when it already too late
2) So the only realistic thing is to first change our own individual ways to cut down on the CO2.... depends on what you can and willing to do....
3) There are other stressors on corals at the regional and local level in addition to global stressors like climate change..... now these regional and local ones we can act upon ourselves...... but the question is do we want to do something about it collectively or even individually?
4) There are a lot of marine scientists out there pointing that it is already too late for corals in general.... but some hope in the paleoclimatologists out there that is still trying to prove that all this is a 'natural cycle' and has happened before in our earth's geological history.... though my gut feeling says the corals of the present world is going to go through hell and things are going to get very bad in the near future before it gets any better.....

Even though all the above i still believe we individuals can make a difference...... we have to fight to the last coral standing. And please no more stupid decisions (by the powers that be) on development in our marine parks and try to be a responsible diver ourselves

nuff said.......

Its been a while since my last post here... thanks for the discussions (that deviated a little but came straight back on track)... 

Government and the relevant authorities need to be educated as well and we being the more learned ones can play that role in creating awareness and dealing with the issues effectively via the RIGHT approach. Global warming is affecting people of all generation and societal levels, each ingrained with different schools of thought, so it is understandable that people have their own ideas on how to best deal with things (or not).

Let us try to make a difference in our own way and to whatever extent we are capable of. A lot of good things are happening in the background at the moment (only because we do not want others unnecessarily mess it all up  )...

As for reducing carbon emissions, we are all guilty of being too dependent on fossil fuels, but that doesnt stop some of us from off-setting that through tree-planting. these past few days, I've been busy having to organise groups of volunteers who want to plant indigenous forest trees in urban areas which have been set aside for conservation purposes. Obviously the landowners have been enlightened on the benefits of conservation.. even after decades of doing the opposite, it shows that it is never too late to change.

People who do not know much, wont do much. Those who know much, but do little or nothing at all, are EVIL in my books. 

PVCs and artificial reefs - 5 buddies and I were at Tioman's Pirate Reef last weekend and we saw some artificial reefs that are beginning to attract marine life.. stuff is gradually anchoring to the crevices and establishing well. Depends on WHO is advising corporates involved in marine conservation projects, that will determine the success or failure.

Artificial habitats would work well, given the right 'ingredients' and well-trained 'chefs' to put them all together.

Global warming is a natural cycle, but the stress on the reefs (and mother Earth in general) is too high this time around..