Pescados Muertos

In 2003, Disney Pixar opened our eyes to a world of unimaginable underwater beauties in their hit “Finding Nemo.” Coral reefs played a key role in the film, providing not only shelter to many of these fishes, but also a place they could call home and breed comfortably. What would you say if I told you these very same reefs in our world, are slowly dying out because of us? This is a reality we are faced with and if actions are not taken then within our lives, they will all be dead.

Like any other form of hunting, fishing subjects not only the hunted to heavy damage, but the environment as well. Due to recent excessive fishing through careless methods such as dynamites and poisoning, the ecological balance has become unstable. Fishing with Dynamites, formally known as Blast Fishing, destroys Coral reefs in the process of hunting down large quantities of fishes through their explosion that spread widely. Fishing with poisoning, is a method through which cyanide is injected into the water, stunning the fish, making them easier to catch. The food chain established in the fish’s environment has been tampered with, rendering some fishes unable to perform their natural abilities such as consuming algae which in many cases may plague the coral reefs. The effect of algae on coral reefs is that it will spread rapidly and inevitably smother the ecosystem in many cases crippling it to the point of being uninhabitable.

Situations such as the BP oil spill and other forms of pollution can destroy underwater life, making it extremely difficult for fish to live. Chemical pollution will alter the natural cycle of the coral reef to an uncontrollable level that will harm the system permanently. According to environmental websites online (http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/coralreef/CRanthro.html), in cases such as Jordan where the port of Aqaba ships large amount of phosphate fertilizer, some of the fertilizer which is dropped into the red sea causes eutrophication to occur. Eutrophication is “when those phosphates stimulate of aquatic life. Eventually oxygen supplies are depleted by the plants, making it difficult for the coral reef to survive.”

One of mans key roles in destroying coral reefs without even realizing it is careless recreation. Aquatic vehicles brushing on coral reefs can be catastrophic damaging the coral reefs beyond repair, unable to recover to proper health. Dropping anchors has a heavy impact on reefs as well. Every time a boat drops anchor near a choral reef the anchor will plunge to the sea bed almost always crushing any coral that would have been below it. This is devastating because if the anchor is dragged along the sea floor, more and more of the corals are swept along with it. A third form of careless recreation that harms the underwater coral community is direct human interaction. Through careless direct human interaction, we unknowingly subject the coral to pressure breaking pieces of it apart. This will occur when people either bump into it or, stand on it when snorkeling.

To many, global warming is just a myth, but to coral reefs it’s a harsh reality. Coral reefs normally bright vibrant colors are being bleached by the increased temperature that has recently occurred. These increased temperatures are due to the greenhouse gas build up in our atmosphere. Industrial greenhouse gas is generally emitted through large power plants that are supposed to bring life to our civilizations. The effect of the temperature is that a virus known as “Vibrio shiloi” that bleaches and kills coral reefs is far more prominent under warm conditions than cool ones. http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/coralreef/CRanthro.html) When bleached, the choral reefs well lose many of its residents and will continue uninhabited until it slowly recuperates after several weeks. Many times, the new inhabitants to populate the coral reef will not be the same species that were there before.

Seaweed is a nuisance to everything including coral reefs. Seaweed, like algae, will plague the reefs altering its balance dramatically. Seaweed secretes a chemical similar to the suns rays that will bleach the coral rendering them uninhabitable. Seaweed is most prominent in areas where over-fertilization of the costal zone by nutrients from sewage and agriculture occurs. This is normally in larger populated areas with under supervised sewage systems. Some primary culprits could be metropolises such as Sydney, Australia as seen in the movie “Finding Nemo”, though this is not limited to large cities

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