Coral reefs are important to ocean life in a number of ways. They are an important source of essential nutrients such as nitrogen for the functioning of the biogeochemical cycles of the ocean. In addition, they provide habitats and shelter for various marine organisms. Moreover, they protect the coastlines from the destructive impacts of tropical storms and waves. The potential benefits coral reefs provide to both humans and the overall environment include providing resources such as food and nutrition and offers protection from large waves and storms. Coral reefs has several economic benefits including provides employment in various countries worldwide thus a source of income, their beauty serves as a tourist attraction thus earns the country foreign currency, and they are used as medicine to treat various diseases and harbor fisheries that are sold for economic benefit (Pratchett et al., 2018). I believe the most important economic benefit is tourism because it earns the country millions of dollars, which is crucial in economic development.
The three threats that coral reefs are currently facing include coral bleaching due to global warming. Climate change leads to rise of seawater temperature, thereby breaking the symbiotic relationships between corals and microalgae causing corals to appear “bleached”. Algae offers corals with the bright colors. In addition, high temperatures makes corals susceptible to diseases and allow faster growth of disease-causing organisms. Another threat is pollution that causes death of coral reefs and other creatures it offers habitat or shelter. Pollution is caused by fertilizer runoffs from agriculture and sewage as well as acidification of water due to high emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere that get absorbed in the seawater thereby increasing ocean acidity. Coastal development also poses a significant threat to coral reefs. Coastlines have become attractive areas for the world to reside due to the beautiful views and associated activities such as snorkeling. This increases pressure on coral reefs, which are already fragile. Also, tourism related development activities such as harvesting souvenirs and stepping on the reefs directly, cause environmental problems like disrupting the marine environment, that have a direct impact on coral reefs (Pratchett et al., 2018).
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Acidification can be addressed by reducing the carbon footprint. This is important because minimizing emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere helps to prevent global warming, which in turn helps to prevent harm on coral reefs. This will ensure the coral reefs remain healthy and prevent growth of harmful algae, hence improving the economic benefits of coral reefs such as being a tourist attraction, providing employment, and generating foreign currency. Pollution from agricultural activities and sewerage can be protected by planting trees to minimize runoff into oceans hence protecting coral reefs from damage. Additionally, farmers can make use of organic fertilizer to prevent chemicals from running into the ecosystem. Therefore, practicing general conversation helps to minimize environmental damage. Construction and development near the shore should be avoided to prevent the loosen silt and sediment running off into the seawater, which have the potential of killing coral reefs or preventing them from growing completely. In addition, the coral reefs systems can be protected by promoting responsible tourism whereby tourist should not step on the reefs, harvest souvenirs or litter the shorelines. Tourism related with coral reefs is among the fastest growing section of the tourism industry (Hilmi, Safa, Sumalia & Cinar, 2017). Therefore, adopting sustainable practices could make a huge difference in protecting the coral reefs from damage.
The two protection strategies that should be implemented is reduction of carbon footprint and preventing construction and development along or near the shoreline. These actions should be strictly mandated by the local, federal and international law because it is a global issue affecting different areas of the world. The kinds of enforcement methods that I believe would be most effective in ensuring success of implementing these strategies include establishing policies that would ensure sustainable practices around the coastlines as well as controlling human activities that result in emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. Any person who is found violating these laws should be punished according. Another kind of enforcement is educating the people about the importance of conversation and ways of achieving sustainable practices. Having knowledge on the significance of conservation or coral reefs protection will automatically lead to sustainable practices (Hilmi, Safa, Sumalia & Cinar, 2017).
References
Hilmi, N., Safa, A., Sumalia, U. R., & Cinar, M. (2017). Coral reefs management and decision making tools. Ocean & Coastal Management , 146 , 60-66.
Pratchett, M. S., Thompson, C. A., Hoey, A. S., Cowman, P. F., & Wilson, S. K. (2018). Effects of coral bleaching and coral loss on the structure and function of reef fish assemblages. In Coral Bleaching (pp. 265-293). Springer, Cham.
