Article: Overfishing harming Honduran reefs

[Google translation] Overfishing is the ‘titanic challenge’ in which Honduras must concentrate ‘more efforts’ to recover and ensure the health of its corals, national scientists and conservationists warned, during the presentation of the report ‘Mesoamerican Reef Health’ in Tegucigalpa.

After two years of research, the Healthy Reefs Initiative (HRI) revealed the results of its monitoring to 73 coral sites in the northern and insular regions of the country.

Ian Drysdale, coordinator of this international scientific organization in Honduras, explained that the objects of study were the live coral cover per square meter, the amount of algae and the biomass (quantity and size) of the fish. This methodology is known as the Reef Health Index (ISA).

Overfishing significantly affected the ISA of Honduras will fall from the highest in the regional rating according to the 2018 report, from “regular to bad” (3.0 to 2.5), and “it is the first time a country has fallen”, ensures the same report and the scientist based in Roatán, Bay Islands.

- La Tribuna (Spanish) 

sunscreens and the reef

The chemicals that help us by filtering UV rays are causing severe damage to Hawaii's marine environment, according to a study by Haereticus Environmental Laboratory, a nonprofit scientific organization. They show up in coastal waters after beachgoers swim in the ocean and via discharges from wastewater treatment plants. The study found that the chemicals seep into young coral and contribute to coral bleaching, which occurs when an increase in sea temperatures kills the algae that grows inside coral, turning reefs white and eliminating nutrients that sustain other marine life. About 14,000 tons of sunscreen enter the world's reefs every year, according to a 2015 paper published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.

- CNN

Great Barrier Reef given £275million investment as damage spreads

Australia on Sunday pledged a major cash injection to restore and protect the Great Barrier Reef in what it said would be a game-changer for the embattled natural wonder. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said more than A$500 million (£275 million) will go towards improving water quality, tackling predators, and expanding restoration efforts. The World Heritage-listed site, which attracts millions of tourists, is reeling from significant bouts of coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change. The reef is also under threat from the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, which has proliferated due to pollution and agricultural runoff.

- Yahoo News

Study: Global warming is killing the Great Barrier Reef

Marine heat waves caused by global warming are killing off the corals of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest reef system, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The Great Barrier Reef experienced an extended marine heat wave in 2016 that caused massive coral bleaching and die-off. Most of the impact was along 500 miles of the northern Great Barrier Reef, its most pristine region. The reef endured coral bleaching in 1998 and 2002, but the northern region sustained only minor damage then. Global heat and coral bleaching began to increase in 2014 and continued through 2017; this event meant that marine heat waves causing bleaching struck three-quarters of the world's coral reefs and that the heat waves that cause corals to die struck almost a third, the researchers said. The 2016 marine heat wave caused the most severe and catastrophic coral bleaching event the Great Barrier Reef has ever experienced, the study found. Overall, these events have affected every part of the reef.

- CNN

600-mile-long reef discovered at the mouth of the amazon

Oceanographer Patricia Yager has been studying the Amazon River plume—where nearly one-fifth of the world’s river water discharge gushes into the Atlantic Ocean—for the past 15 years. But even with her level of expertise, she was shocked by the discovery of a 600-mile-long reef below the murky waters off Brazil’s northern coastline, stretching from the French Guiana border to Brazil’s Maranhão state. More than 73 species of fish, spiny lobsters, sea stars, 60 species of sponges, and even invertebrate species not yet identified were discovered living along the reef, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances. “‘Astounded’ is really the word,” said Yager, an associate professor of marine sciences at the University of Georgia and coauthor of the study. “It’s so muddy there, you just assume that it all ends up resting on the sea floor. There’s no way coral could survive down there, but it’s there.”

- Yahoo News

Wow! Life is nothing if not tenacious. This gives me hope for our much abused and injured planet.

article: mass coral bleaching now affecting half of great barrier reef

Two weeks ago, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority reported half the coral in the northern parts of the reef were dead. Hughes said that was consistent with reports from divers north of Port Douglas. Hughes said this was by far the worst bleaching event to have hit the Great Barrier Reef. He said it was three to four times worse than in 1998 or the second great bleaching in 2002. Last year, the Great Barrier Reef narrowly escaped being listed as “in danger” by Unesco, even though environmental groups said it clearly met the criteria. Hughes said the “outstanding universal value” of the reef was now “severely compromised”. Ariane Wilkinson, a lawyer at Environmental Justice Australia, said the bleaching might cause Unesco to reconsider its decision. “[Unesco] weren’t scheduled to examine the reef this year but in light of the terrible bleaching it is entirely possible that they may decide to look at the reef,” she said. “If the World Heritage system is to have any value, it must address the most serious threats to the most iconic examples of world heritage,” she said. “If any site falls into this category, it is the ... Great Barrier Reef.”

- Earth Island Journal

Heartbreaking news. What have we done?

video: nature is speaking: coral reefs

healthiest reefs

Roatan has the healthiest reefs in the region encompassing Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. The organization Healthy Reefs International today presented at [the Honduras] Government House the latest report on the health of the Great Mesoamerican Reef. Ian Drysdale, Coordinator for Healthy Reef Honduras said that Honduras has to celebrate having the best reef health of the four countries. "Honduras has the highest biomass of herbivorous fish of the region, and Roatan qualified as the subregion with the highest quality of the Mesoamerican reef," he said.

Let's keep it this way! Translated from Diario El Heraldo [spanish]

snorkeling highlights

Handled expertly by my brother Tom, Paya Bay's snorkeling options include fun boat excursions from the resort's dock to multiple snorkeling spots inside the barrier reef system.

Snorkeling photos taken by our guests...

Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras.

coral reefs in jeopardy

The industrial age of fossil fuels has severely changed the Earth's ocean ecosystems. Our oceans absorb about one-third of human-caused carbon-dioxide, but unfortunately rising emissions have surpassed what the oceans can sustainably absorb.

As the world continues to burn fossil fuels at an increasing rate, people are pumping more and more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which act like a blanket over the Earth, causing the planet to warm. The warming and the increased carbon dioxide in the oceans are combining to put coral reefs, some of the most biodiverse and important ecosystems on the planet, in jeopardy.

- Yahoo News

snorkeling pigeon cay

Located about an hour's boat ride from Paya Bay Resort, Pigeon Cay offers some of the best snorkeling in the Caribbean. Paya offers a weekly excursion to this gorgeous cay. Learn more.

Map image courtesy of Google Earth.

stunning

A fractional view of the beautiful fringing reefs typical of the Pigeon Cay area. It's understandable why this unique corner of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System with its multi-hued, crystal-clear waters is considered one of the top spots for snorkeling in the Caribbean. In the background, Barbareta -- the fourth largest (and most pristine) of the Bay Islands of Honduras -- floats peacefully in the Caribbean sea. Being a native-born Bay Islander elicits a lot of personal pride. Truly an exceptionally beautiful archipelago to call home.

US$3.5 billion

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has assessed the value of the coral reefs found in the Bay Islands of Honduras at US$3.5 billion.

- Proceso Digital (Spanish)

Don't know how they came up with that figure, but it seems rather low to me... I'd say our beautiful, healthy reefs are more in the neighborhood of priceless.

photo of the day

A little red starfish seems to have made its home inside a cyan colored sea sponge. It's very likely a symbiotic relationship in which the starfish keeps the inside of the sponge free of algae in return for a beautiful home. Both snorkeling and scuba diving can be enjoyed at Paya Bay Resort.

By the way, notice how the patterns of the Universe keep repeating themselves.

I'll help you:

If a simple little sea sponge is a little galaxy all unto its own, imagine what we are...

Photos: Roger and Lori Griswold, NASA

photo of the day

 

A school of blue chromis (Chromis cyaneus) creates a spectacular effect on the reef. Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Honduras.

ocean acidification: another threat to coral reefs?

Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are acidifying the oceans and threaten a mass extinction of sea life, a top ocean scientist warns.

Dr Carol Turley from Plymouth Marine Laboratory says it is impossible to know how marine life will cope, but she fears many species will not survive.

Since the Industrial Revolution, CO2 emissions have already turned the sea about 30% more acidic, say researchers.

It is more acidic now than it has been for at least 500,000 years, they add.

Source: BBC