The Thammasat University Libraries have newly acquired a book about the importance of preserving coral reefs. The Reef: a Passionate History is about the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, made up of more than 2,900 reefs and 900 islands that stretch over 1,400 miles. Its author is Iain Duncan McCalman, an Australian historian and professor at the University of Sydney. The Great Barrier Reef is located off the coast of Queensland, Australia, in the Coral Sea. A great natural resource and tourist attraction, the reef is currently suffering from coral bleaching. This happens when the water temperatures rise too high due to climate change, and the tiny living organisms that usually live in the reef and help it to grow, go away. Without these organisms, the reef cannot thrive. Bleaching has happened before to the Great Barrier Reef, but in March a scientific study announced that higher temperatures now make these episodes a probable annual event. Other coral reefs harmed by excessively warm sea temperatures are found in the Indian Ocean in the area of the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and other countries. Another danger is acid rain caused by air pollution, making the oceans more acidic and further damaging coral reefs. Professor McCalman discusses how the reef was dangerous for sailors 200 years ago, yet also provided a home for castaways, helped by local people. Coral reefs also offer a home and food to millions of different animals of all sizes. On his website, Professor McCalman adds:

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system. It can be seen from outer space, has been selected as a world heritage site and is labelled one of the seven natural wonders of the world, yet few know the social, cultural and environmental history behind it…I explore how the Reef has in the recent past been seen variously, and sometimes simultaneously, as a labyrinth of terror, a nurturing heartland, a scientific mystery and a fragile global wonder. I’ve written my stories of encounters between humans and this colossus of nature in biographical form. I explore the lives, thought and work of around twenty extraordinary individuals — men and women, Australians, Indigenous peoples, Britons and Americans — who’ve shaped our ideas and attitudes to the greatest marine environment this planet has ever seen… In the process I’ve come to realize that the passions and ideas of humans and the biological work of polyps and algae have together created the Reef, and they must work in unison if our planet’s greatest marine wonder is to live.

Earlier this month, Tim Flannery, an Australian environmentalist, visited the reef and wrote about what he saw:

Most of the reef’s usually vibrant staghorn and plate corals are covered with an ugly green slime. Even some of the massive stony corals – the hardiest of all – are scarred with the tell-tale white of bleaching. The reef’s diverse and stunning fish population are starving. A green turtle passes by. As the dead reef breaks down, its habitat will be eroded to rubble. And climate change is affecting the species in other ways. Rising seas have massively degraded its most important nesting site – Raine Island in the northern Great Barrier Reef…This great organism, the size of Germany and arguably the most diverse place on earth, is dying before our eyes. Having watched my father dying two years ago, I know what the signs of slipping away are. This is death, which ever-rising temperatures will allow no recovery from. Unless we act now…If global emissions aren’t trending down by 2020, it will all but ensure the reef will disappear.

Coral Reefs in Thailand

According to Dr. Niphon Phongsuwan of the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) and Fisheries Development Centers, Department of Fisheries:

Coral reefs are one of the most productive marine systems in Thai waters.

Although coral reefs in Thailand have been monitored for over 20 years by the PMBC,

Its director, Dr. Pinsak Suraswadi, told the Phuket Gazette in 2012:

Currently, our natural coral reefs are not half of what they used to be – we are in a crisis. The areas that have been most seriously affected are those that are regularly exposed to human activity, such as off tourist destinations along the coast.

Dr. Pinsak reported that reefs in the Gulf of Thailand were at greater risk than the Andaman coast:

Abundant and beautiful coral reefs are now only found in national parks, such as the Surin Island and Similan Island reserves. In these places the coral is still world class. Closing National Parks has definitely been helpful in giving the corals time to recover from the pressure humans exert on the ecosystem…Everyone can get involved in preserving our marine environment; it’s not just the responsibility of the government. Changes made in our daily lives, such as using less soap and fewer plastic bags, can really make a difference.

Dr. Pinsak also proposed creating artificial reefs for tourist divers to enjoy, allowing natural reef systems to recover during the months when parks are closed:

It will reduce the effect the diving tourism industry has on the natural reefs. Artificial reefs, such as scuttled ships, will provide new diving destinations.

In April, The Phuket News noted

that in response to possible coral bleaching, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) may have to close affected coral reefs. Senior fishery biologist Dr. Nalinee Thongtham stated that warmer temperatures and crowds of tourists were putting stress on the reefs. While the bleaching of reefs has happened periodically in the Kingdom, the increasing temperatures and tourist flow cause more significant concern.

Protecting nature’s beauties

Thailand is a member of the Japan-based International Coral Reef Initiative, under the auspices of DMCR researchers such as Dr. Niphon Phongsuwan. Dr. Thamasak Yeemin of Ramkhamhaeng University is a lecturer and coral reef biologist, helping to manage the problem. Thai students are also getting involved. Last year, Natthakorn Kasemsamran, a freshman at the Faculty of Engineering of Burapha University, Chon Buri and Natthaphol Chaimark, a fourth-year student, received a prize at the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, Switzerland. The students developed a computer-controlled lighting system to help coral grow faster in endangered reefs. Using energy-efficient LED bulbs, their invention shines light that makes coral react as if it were coming from the sun or moon. Coral grows more quickly than in natural lighting without such assistance, as a result.  

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).