Coral Reef Destruction

The Causes of Coral Bleaching

Coral bleaching is one of the main ways that coral reefs could die. Coral reef bleaching is the whitening of the creature due to reduction of photosynthetic pigment. Bleaching conditions that last longer than ten weeks usually lead to the death of the coral. It is caused by a change in sea temperature, sedimentation, freshwater dilution, and could be caused by many other things too. It is thought that half of all the coral reefs will die within the next forty years unless extreme measures are taken to save them from the climate changes. Twenty percent of the Earth’s coral reefs have been completely destroyed already. Another threat to coral reefs that causes bleaching is that there are very destructive fishing practices, like poison fishing that makes the coral more vulnerable to bleaching. It can decrease coral cover or get rid of fish that are important for the coral reef ecosystem. If we don’t start protecting the coral from bleaching, a lot more coral will die.

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