1.4 Coral Reef protection

Question 1

Fringing reef example

Answer 1

Menjngan Coral Reef in Bali

Question 2

What are some of the facts for the risks to the GBR

Answer 2

• Bleaching in 2016 and 18 killed 50% of its corals
• GBR thought to have died 6 times and restabilished each time
• 2011 and 2018 cyclones affected GBR
• 2million visitors a year
• 59% exposed to plastic waste
• 10m gallons of raw sewage in the sea every year

Question 3

What are the effects on the coral reef?

Answer 3

• Coral cover fell from 40% fifty years ago to 20% now
• Dugong populations continued to decline
• Seagrass in trouble due to chronic stress and extreme events
• Shark population declining
• Crown of thorns starfish outbreak
• Increasing coral disease, water temperatures and decreased calcification

Crown of thorns starfish:

• 3 waves of outbreaks, linked to nutrient discharge pollution from the land
• Removal of fish predators linked
• Largest cause of coral mortality on the GBR - have poisonous spikes and eat through the coral at 10m per year.

Question 4

What is the management

Answer 4

Legislation and investment:

• 200m invested by state on police patrolling and enforcing laws
• 1975 marine Park act controls zoning and fishing limits to maintain ecosystem
• $1.6bn for monitoring and education
• Turtle hospital
• Partially successful but need to be global to have an effect
• Pesticide management through APVMA
• Focused largely on tourism and exclusion of fishing only in small area of no-take zones

Improvements:
-2050 water improvement plan - works with locals and farmers on water management, implemented in 2017 - inorganic nitrogen fell by 5.4%, 80% protected by pesticides, sediment reduced by 10%

Tourism:
-1997 Eye on the reef, integrates tourism and make observations on coral and report back to obtain data - tourism still an issue, 2m people still go

Question 5

What are the benefits of the GBR?

Answer 5

-Supports 64,000 jobs
-$6.4bn yearly to economy
3000 reefs
1600 fish
344,400 km2

Question 6

Why did management fail?

Answer 6

• Early emphasis on tourism - not main issue
• Took too long to prevent fishing and terrestrial runoff
• APVMA failure in pesticide management
• Climate change hard to manage
• Coastal development poorly managed
• Difficulties on getting scientific consensus

Question 7

What have been global management strategies?

Answer 7

• 2015 Paris agreement on climate change - limit increase to 1.5 degreees by century
• Investment in renewable energy
• Less fossil fuels, CO2 and acidificiation
• 5p charge - 85$ reduction in plastic bag consumption
• Genetic selection of heat resistant coral
• Expensive and needs global effort to succeed.
• Reefs provide $1tn to global economy