Coral Bleaching

24/9/2010

It seems that the West Indies are in for another severe bleaching event in the next few weeks.

Read this article about it. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/science/earth/21coral.html?_r=1&ref=science

Have you ever come across bleached coral in your adventures in the waters of the BVI? After reading this article and understanding what little we know about this phenomenon, is there anything that can be done to stop or address coral bleaching?

16 Comments

Cameo

25/9/2010 06:13:55 am

I have come across bleached coral in my adventure in the waters of the B.V.I. It seems that almost every coral reef there is at least a quarter of it dead. For example Apple bay (Capoons bay). There is a whole bunch of things that can be done to prevent coral bleaching, a few things are don't run sewerage into the water, also every time we have a massive rain fall and the mud runs into the water and then the sea water goes all muddy the corral is dieing, a easy solution to that is to make the drains work. Also every time some one torches or stands on the coral it dies. These are only a few things that can stop coral bleaching.

Trevor

25/9/2010 06:14:54 am

I have never personally seen bleached coral but I know a lot of people who have. Yes there is many thing that people can to stop them from being bleached such: stop the run off water form going into the water by using some kind of under ground irrigation for the water to go into and desalinate it so it can be stored and reused as fresh water. There could fines that are actually enforced on the people of the people of the B.V.I. instead of just not doing anything about all the trash in the water and on land. There also could be lectures on coral bleaching that are told in all the school on a monthly basis.

Adya Maddox link

27/9/2010 06:12:16 am

I have gone snorkling in the BVI alot but I havetnt ever come across bleached cloral while snorkling or I just havent noticed it. I agreee with trevor in the effective ways e can stop coral bleaching. I have seen when it rains and the ater looks completly brown and disgusting. This goes away but it still affects the coral and the species who live there.

Erin Anderson

29/9/2010 06:28:22 am

I have personlly swan, dived, and snorkeled in the BVI, but i dont think i have ever come across bleached coral. I agree with everyones reason on how to stop it. Some ways to prevent coral bleaching could be to stop using chemical fertilizers or pesticides. As Camerson says " make the drains work" if the drains worked then the fertilzers and pesticides wouldn't really matter that much. Also some other ways don't pollute, stand on it, or pick it up to take it home. Thats all ridiculous. At dive shops there can be signs saying not to trash or stand on the coral. I think its all common sense and all or this can definitely be prevented very easily.

Joshua Hayles

29/9/2010 10:50:11 am

The thing that really worries me about this phenomenon is that this is the second global bleaching of coral, then how much coral bleaching has occurred on a small scale, and have occurred in total, and how many more are coming. When one coral bleaching process is complete, the millions of microscopic animals that the coral is made of will die also.

Joshua Hayles

29/9/2010 10:55:51 am

Coral Bleaching is part of a much bigger problem. The fact that we would have to stop the entire Earth's warming process is non-processable. We are still debating on whether the Earth naturally warms and cool, or whether the human race has had such a big in pact on Earth that it has disrupted a chain of events as old as time. To solve all of these problems we must first organize ourselves, to work together, to work against this problem.

KItty Hasted

30/9/2010 06:12:13 am

I have dived all throughout the the B.V.I, and enjoyed seeing how all the living and non-living organisms interact with each other. I have seen some coral bleaching in some places and it is really sad to see this because it shows just how much global warming is effecting us. I believe that there are ways to help prevent coral bleaching. One way is to stop putting sewerage into the water like the are just out of Sea Cows Bay.

Amani Kayed

30/9/2010 07:39:22 am

I have never seen any bleached coral, in my years of diving. There arnt any small things we can do to save the coral, but there are things that will take time. We have got to cut down on our green house gases. Also global warming is the main cause of this situation. The human resources need to cut down alot, and save the environment, because almost everyhting is going to be gone from global warming, and CFC'S,

Ellen

30/9/2010 08:08:07 am

I don't think I have ever come across bleached coral when scuba diving or snorkeling but that still doesn't mean it is not a problem for us. Seeing as climate change is a huge problem all across the globe now, coral bleaching problems have blown up. It all really falls on the shoulders of global warming. Although it could take years, every little counts. We all need to reduce, reuse and recycle to save our planet from coral bleaching and much more! Keep our reefs looking beautiful!

Joey Archibald-Bowers

30/9/2010 09:52:07 am

Well, I have snorkeled in different places all over the island, but I have actually never seen bleached coral. Unfortunately, there aren't any things we can do that will immediately change the corals, but there are things we can do, like we can stop using so muck green house gases, stop with burning coal and oil and all the things that cause that big old hole in our atmosphere to grow bigger. If we can stop all of that, while keeping people happy, then we should have a better earth, a better life, a better coral reef.

Xante Chalwell link

30/9/2010 10:45:51 am

I have seen coral bleaching all over the BVI when I'm snorkelling and walking along a beach where reefs are. There are alot of ways to stop coral bleaching. They can fix the drainage because when the drains overflow the mud and other stuff goes in the sea and kills the coral. When tourists go to snorkel they should not be able to touch the coral because it can kill it. It is also an El Nino year so the summers are hotter. When the water becomes hotter, it is no good for the coral. The build up of greenhouse gases is affecting the coral also.

macden wheatley

30/9/2010 09:30:50 pm

i personal have not seen coral bleaching in the B.V.I but i keep hearing people in my family talking about it. i think that there is lots of ways to stop coral bleaching in the B.V.I. water pollution such as divert some of the water so that the guts wont get full and run over and pump some of the human wast further out rather so close to the land. stop using so much chemical in the land because after some time it will end back into the sea.

Barney Nockolds

1/10/2010 05:20:50 am

I have dived and snorkelled all over the BVI and I have found many occasions of coral bleaching. It is sad to see that many reefs are dying. I think that humans can stop the coral bleaching by not polluting the water. Global Warming has gone up so high in the past 5 years which is probably why the amount of coral bleaching all over the world is spreading.

Beth Whitrod

1/10/2010 08:22:45 am

I have not seen cora bleaching here on Tortola. However I still believe that it is a problem and anybody should contribute into helping with this problem. I agree with everybody above about what they said to stop it. We should definitly cut down on our resources to slow global warming down and we should also like Amani and Ellen said stop using so many greenhouse gases and recyle. All of these solutions will come together and make a huge change over time.

Sebastian Hibbard

3/10/2010 06:04:19 am

I have seen coral bleaching around the bvi and it is a huge problem. It kills millions of animals living in the reef and it makes snorkeling and scuba diving ugly. We should definitely try and stop it by recycling, not using so many greenhouse gases, and do anything we can to slow global warming down. This also affects the economy of the bvi because people don't come here to scuba dive and snorkel as much. It is a problem caused by humans, and it can also be fixed by humans.

Austin

3/10/2010 10:17:54 am

I have not seen much coral bleaching in the bvi. But I do think that it is something we need to be worried about because of the millions of animals that will be affected if the coral reefs die. Because the coral reefs would be dead there would be less fish, And if the coral reefs are dead and there is no fish why would any tourists want to come and snorkel or go scuba diving. This would not only affect creatures in the water but it would also affect many busynesses. To stop this we halve to stop or reduce GCC. We can do this by recycling, reusing, and not polluting. We also need to stop putting so many greenhouse gasses in the air because it traps heat in the atmosphere and causes the ocean to be hotter than it should be.

Coral Bleaching

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