Global survey shows coral reefs in decline

SCIENTISTS said the first global survey of the health of the world’s coral reefs shows they are in serious decline, with overfishing worsening a crisis situation.

Scientists and volunteers found that overfishing has affected 95% of the more than 1,000 coral reefs monitored since 1997. At least four species of reef fish face extinction.

The results of the five-year study were presented in a report yesterday by the Institute of the Environment's Reef Check programme at the University of California, Los Angeles.

More than 5,000 scientists and volunteers in about 60 countries contributed to the survey, possibly the largest ecological study ever undertaken.

"What we have seen is coral reefs have been damaged more in the last 20 years than they have in the last 1,000," said Gregor Hodgson, a UCLA marine ecologist and founder of Reef Check. "Suddenly, the pressures of overfishing and damaging types of fishing dynamiting fish and poisoning fish, particularly in Southeast Asia have taken off."

Hodgson said plummeting populations of overfished species, including fish and sea urchins, can allow the algae they normally keep in check to smother coral and kill entire reefs.

Reefs where fishing has been banned or restricted show signs of recovery, but virtually all the world's reefs show signs of declining health.

Hodgson said that of 1,107 reefs surveyed, just one, near Madagascar, could be considered pristine.

Pollution and increased amounts of sediments are also taking their toll. A recent study identified bacteria found in the intestines of humans and other animals as the cause of a disease killing elkhorn corals in the Caribbean Sea.