Australian Government’s Great Barrier Reef Plans’ Questioned

A monitoring mission from the UN educational and cultural arm, UNESCO, will visit Queensland next month to examine concerns about major port developments and other potential threats to the World Heritage listed reef, as WWF challenged the Australian Government’s view that the Great Barrier Reef is being sustainably managed, citing publications showing that coral had declined by up to 50 per cent.

Staghorn Coral Transplanted to Threatened Reef

In a delicate operation at sea, healthy staghorn coral were transplanted to a threatened reef off the Broward County coast, Florida, by researchers at Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center and its internal National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI).

Pyramids Planted to Revive Philippine Corals

Thousands of small “pyramids” are being planted off the Philippines’ famous Boracay’s coast in an effort to bring its nearly destroyed coral reefs back to life, an environment group said Thursday.

Detecting Detrimental Change in Coral Reefs

Over dinner on R.V. Calypso while anchored on the lee side of Glover’s Reef in Belize, Jacques Cousteau told Phil Dustan that he suspected humans were having a negative impact on coral reefs. Dustan, a young ocean ecologist who had worked in the lush coral reefs of the Caribbean and Sinai Peninsula, found this difficult to believe. It was December 1974… and Cousteau was right.

Mangrove: The Root Of The Matter

In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami disaster that struck Indonesia, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey explored how these unique trees hemming the shorelines, which make up valuable forest ecosystems called mangroves, help safeguard lives, property and beaches during hurricanes, tsunamis and floods.

Mining to blame for islands to sink beneath waves

Two small islands in South Asia’s first marine biosphere reserve, in the Gulf of Mannar, between India and Sri Lanka, did sink into the sea primarily as a result of coral reef mining, experts said. The corals were mined for use as a binding material in the construction industry, as they were rich in calcium carbonate.

Mangrove Reforestation In Belize

CORAL’s (Coral Reef Alliance) mangrove reforestation project in San Pedro, Belize is thriving. Recent monitoring reports reveal that ninety percent of the mangroves planted by the local community have survived.

Rowley Shoals, Timor Sea

Located off the northwestern Australia coastline, the coral reef atolls known as Rowley Shoals, is of impressive biodiversity with 233 coral species and 688 fish species.

Coastal Vegetation Could Blunt Tsunami’s Deadly Impact

A study estimates that the death toll of the devastating 2004 tsunami along Indonesia’s West Aceh coast would have been smaller had there been enough coastal vegetation to dull the blow and shield the coastal settlements from the shoreline.