How long will the Caribbean coral reef be around?

We have wondered when we would start to lose some of the worlds wonders, maybe we need to do something about it. We need to find out why the coral reef is shrinking and what can be done to help? Everybody knows of something that is affecting the coral reefs, but not everything is so clear, somethings we need to find out about.

Interestingly the Caribbean contains just over 20% of the world’s coral reef and there is a huge amount of damage being done to it. Honduras is a place where they grow several different plantains including bananas, these require a lot of fertilizer. The nutrients released by this fertilizer damage coral and can kill fish in the ocean. The farms in this area leak pesticides and fertilizer into the ocean, this damages the coral reef sometimes beyond repair. The fish in the ocean are key to the survival of the coral reefs, although a lot of people dont really know this. The fish act like the corals personal grooming kit, they remove bacteria from the coral keeping it clean and healthy, they also eat the surrounding seaweed making sure oxygen levels stay up in the sea.

Apparently fish have dropped in population rates by around 70-95%, a massive fall. When we remove fish from the sea in massive amounts, we are removing a vital part of the corals survival.

Another problem is an obvious one, Global Warming. This is the big one, rises in global warming have created acids in the sea and reduced the amount of Aragonite. This is a carbonate mineral that coral requires to stay alive and even begin growth. According to some people the acid levels in the sea will be so high in about 40 years, coral will stop growing.

However there are few things that we can do to try and help. We can take part in some activities abroad, that allow us to get stuck in with the cleaning of the coral and enjoy ourselves as well. If you do go on luxury holidays or Caribbean holidays you could have the option to go and volunteer for a coral clean up operation, where you can help clean coral underwater or on the shore. This isn’t just rewarding, you can have a good time while you do it too.

Also if you go fishing around coral, try not to drop anchor, you will tear the coral apart and damage anything living around it

So if your thinking about going abroad or maybe somewhere tropical, maybe some of you want to have weddings abroad, it might be a good idea to get there as soon as you can. If you want you could chip in with the divers and help the coral survive, you never know how much longer it will be around.

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