Dominica Weekly Blog | Blue Isle Jazz | Caribbean Recipes | Historic Dominica | Photos | Classified Ads | Search Jobs
// you’re reading...

Caribbean News

Scientists warn of significant coral bleaching in the Caribbean

coral-bleaching

United States scientists have warned that conditions are favourable for significant coral bleaching and infectious coral disease outbreaks in the Caribbean.

Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) made their forecast in the July Coral Reef Watch outlook, released here Wednesday.

They cautioned that their forecast will be particularly felt in the Lesser Antilles in view of continued high water temperatures through October.

“Just like any climate forecast, local conditions and weather events can influence actual temperatures,” said Dr. Mark Eakin, NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch coordinator.

“However, we are quite concerned that high temperatures may threaten the health of coral reefs in the Caribbean this year,” he added.

Eakin said he is concerned that bleaching may reach the same levels or exceed those recorded in 2005, the worst year of coral bleaching and disease in Caribbean history.

He said in parts of the Eastern Caribbean, as much as 90 percent of corals were bleached and over half of those died during that event.

Eakin said prolonged coral bleaching of more than a week can lead to coral death and the subsequent loss of coral reef habitats for a range of marine life. It also affects local economies and tourism.

“By providing local officials with advance warning that a bleaching event is about to occur, some steps can be taken to protect the corals,” he said.

“Possible responses include mobilising monitoring resources to measure extent and impact of bleaching, and establishing temporary restrictions on other reef uses like diving, boating and recreational fishing, to keep these activities from adding to the stress of higher sea temperatures already affecting the coral reefs,” he added.

Eakin said there is also potential for similar conditions in the central Gulf of Mexico and a region stretching from the Lesser Antilles to Puerto Rico, across to the southern coast of Hispaniola and the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.

Scientists have said that coral bleaching is associated with a variety of factors, especially increased ocean temperatures. This causes the coral to expel symbiotic micro-algae living in their tissues – algae that provide sustenance for coral.

The also said that the loss of algae leaves coral tissue devoid of colour, making it appear bleached.

Eakin said the bleaching risk may be higher in certain regions in the Caribbean than in this initial forecast, as the model used for the outlook does not account for El Niño warming weather effect – something NOAA’s operational Climate Forecast System indicates is likely over the next year.

Eakin warned that if El Niño continues to strengthen, it could increase the bleaching risk in the central to the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean.

NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center said that last month the world’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record.

Source:cbc.bb
Photo credit:news.mongabay.com

No comments for “Scientists warn of significant coral bleaching in the Caribbean”

RSS feed | Trackback URI

Comments »

No comments yet.

Name
E-mail
URI
Your Comment (smaller size | larger size)
You may use <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong> in your comment.
© 2005-2009 Online News From Dominica. Entries (RSS) | Log in