Southeast Asia: mass death of corals

Scientists say many reefs in Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean have died massively in recent months, and are a warning bell for the need to control global carbon emissions.

The state of dead or dying coral extends from the Seychelles Islands, the UK to the Sulawesi Islands, Indonesia and extends to the Philippines, as well as in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and many other locations at West coast and eastern Indonesia.


' This is undoubtedly the worst mass coral phenomenon we have ever encountered in 1998. So far, about 80% of the Acropora coral population and 50% of the other coral populations in areas The area has died since the coral bleaching epidemic began to begin in early May this year, "said Dr. Andrew Baird, who works at James Cook University (Australia).

The cause of coral bleaching - according to scientists - is that high temperatures cause the water environment to warm up , shock the coral and ' knock out ' algae from corals. The coral from here is no longer a symbiotic algae that absorbs sunlight and carbon dioxide to nourish it. Corals were bleached and died quickly on a large scale.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), ocean surface temperatures in these waters reach a record high of 34 ⁰ C, more than 4 degrees above the region's long-term average. .

Dead corals will lead to a decline in marine species, typically fish species that depend on coral reefs, thereby affecting the local fishing industry, according to Baird.

He and his colleagues argue that ' mass death of corals is almost certainly a consequence of global warming ' and the phenomenon can only be saved unless ' we can reduce carbon emissions'. globally '.