The Decline of Coral Reefs:

Is It Our Fault?

Eve Chase
February 2017

Independent Research 1 G/T

Dr. Melissa Kiehl

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 Abstract
The decline of coral reefs is due to humans and their impact on pollution. With their

growing involvement with pollution, they are further advancing the negative impacts of global

warming and coral bleaching on the Earths coral reefs. With humans actions and involvement in

reef decline, the death of corals in the last decade have increased immensely and lead to the loss

of almost a quarter of the worlds reefs. With reefs dying, fish populations have decreased and

greatly impacted the fishing economy, hurting the profits from fishing, cutting jobs, and lowering

sales in profits from tourism. Coral reefs bring in large revenue for islands and most countries

and without them money and food resources suffer. If not stopped, reefs decline will eventually

lead to the extinction of fish species and overall lose humans main food source.

Stopping the decline would involve international input, as reefs all around the world are

affected. Governments need to implement acts to stop overfishing and borders for marine life

sanctuaries. Humans all together need to stop creating pollution, global warming, and coral

bleaching as one united force to stop the decline. The purpose of this study was to research the

impact humans have on the oceans ecosystems and ways to fix their mistakes of adding to the

decline of reefs.

In further research, a questionnaire was given to high school students to better understand

the amount of involvement humans feel they have on the decline of coral reefs. The results

showed that most students felt they had a semi-positive and even nonexistent impact on the

environment, but more than half of students said they do not make any efforts to help the

environment. With these results, it was shown that humans are not fully aware of their impacts

on reefs and know little about the decline in general. If students were informed in school and

updates on reefs were in the media more often, then knowledge on reef decline may improve and

in turn, increase public help efforts to save reefs.

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 Introduction

Coral reefs are an essential unit of life on Earth. They are underwater ecosystems, home

to 25% of marine life on the planet (World Wide Fund for Nature, 2017). These ecosystems are

needed for human and marine life survival, giving food resources, jobs, and forms of revenue,

such as: tourism, fishing economies, etc., to humans, and nutrients, homes, and breeding grounds

to marine life. As predicted by the WFI Project, 90% of coral reefs will be in danger by 2030,

and all of them by 2050 (Cho, 2011). This decline has not been slow, or predicted; it has rapidly

increased in recent decades and has shocked the scientists who once thought the decline was not

going to hit until 2050 or 2060 (Parker, 2016). Marine Biologist and Professor at the University

of Hawaii, Cynthia Hunter, has said, The last two years, 2014 and 2015, we lost a great deal of

living coral, and the last bleaching event here was 1996. She claims that the coral decline is the

worst it has been and it continues to increase quickly each year. The aim of this paper is to

highlight the decline of coral reefs and analyze how humans are negatively causing and being

affected by this dilemma. Humans are suffering from the decline of coral reefs, mostly to fault of

themselves, by contributing to the influences of the decline, such as: pollution, global warming,

coral bleaching, and direct tampering with the reefs. This is decline is a chain of events, as the

environmental causes of damage on reefs start with humans pollution, it influences global

warming, and further, coral bleaching.

Review of Literature

One of main links in the chain of reef decline is pollution. Chemical runoff and fertilizers

are pollutants, often coming straight from humans homes. They can come from yards with

fertilizers, poisonous paint washed away, toxic sunscreen or shower gel, etc. These chemicals can

go through sewers or shower drains, dumping into the hub of pollution and contaminants: the

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ocean (Birkeland, 2016). Toxic chemicals have a direct effect on coral, causing a layer of

chemical film to cover the coral and influence the growth of excess algae, formally known as

zooxanthellae. This algae eventually smothers the coral, depriving it from the nutrients and

sunlight it needs for survival. When the corals zooxanthellae grows out of control, fish can no

longer survive on the reef and the coral cannot thrive, instead, dying off (Causes of death of coral

reefs, n.d.). With the loss of fish and omnivores inhabiting on and near the coral, excess seaweed

grows, blocking sunlight from the sun to the coral. This contributes to the chain of decline for

reefs as well, effecting the cycle of photosynthesis which is needed to keep coral alive with

nutrients received from the sun.

Pollution spillage of oil in the ocean covers the coral, stopping all sunlight trying to reach

the reef, as well as, causing fish gills to get clogged and suffocating them to death. This cause

harms the coral directly, but ruins populations of fish, indirectly harming the reef. With no living

organisms to carry on symbiotic relationships (organisms cleaning the coral, giving the coral

nutrients, protecting the coral from predators, etc.) with the coral, there is no hope for further

survival of the reef. Oils also contaminate the corals algae, making it sick or poisoned, and

leaving the reef vulnerable to disease (McDermott, 2010). Pollutants lying on the bottom of the

ocean (old netting, plastic waste, etc.), can lead to fish entanglement, starvation, drowning, and

strangulation. Fisherman cutting off broken fishing lines and throwing nets into the water

damages not only the marine life, but physically damages the coral, breaking it and ruining the

environment surrounding it. The plastic waste carried through the ocean, whether floating on the

surface or lying on the bottom, excretes harmful chemicals into the water. These chemicals are

often from the processing plant from which the plastic came from, purposely put on the plastic

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for production procedures. It easily washes off, mixing into the ocean water and contaminating

the reefs.

As referenced above, pollution is part of the chain effect; when humans pollute, they then

contribute to the effect of global warming. With the pollution of burning fossil fuels, it causes an

excess of carbon dioxide to fill the air, creating a layer of harmful gases to fill the ozone layer

(Ocko, 2016). These gases get trapped in the atmosphere and the sun heats them up, causing

temperatures to raise. With no outlet for the gases to cool, their heat stays compact within the

ozone layer. The carbon dioxide heating in the atmosphere causes warming in the water and

causes carbonic acid to produce. Carbonic acid makes the pH levels go down in salt water. This

makes the ocean water slowly dissolve living organisms and skeletons, and tampers with any

survival of living fish. Fish larvae become unable to identify locations and die off due to illnesses

from the acid, affecting the overall reproduction of fish populations (Birkeland, 2016). Todays

levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have raised 40% since the Industrial Revolution

(Ocko, 2016). Chris Langon, an oceanographer at the University of Miami, predicted that acidity

levels in the ocean will raise 250% by the end of the century, lowering the pH levels even more

from now (Parker, 2015). With the continuation of burning fossil fuels, this number will only

increase.

Global warming has a direct effect on coral life, being the instigator of the world

epidemic of coral bleaching. Coral bleaching is the dying of corals from an extreme temperature

rise in ocean waters. When water temperatures rise, the zooxanthellae that feeds and protects the

coral is excreted, in turn, causing the coral to turn bleach white and become dehydrated of

nutrients. With the excretion of algae, the symbiotic relationship between the two, gaining and

giving nutrients and protection to each other, is ruined, eventually, ending the life of the coral

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(Cho, 2011). Bleaching leads to the death of coral, unless waters cool long enough to allow the

coral to rejuvenate and gain life again. Depending on the severity of the coral bleaching, it could

take decades to years for recovery. In order for recovery, the algae in the coral must reproduce

and grow back onto the coral to bring it back to life, though this can often be difficult due to the

effects the bleaching has on the environment around the coral. It causes fish populations to

decline because they cannot survive in the nutrient lacking environment, often dying. If the fish

flee from the bleaching area, the once flourishing habitat of the coral dies due to no marine life

around it.

The remains of coral after a bleaching are toxic to marine life in the surrounding waters.

The coral experiences color loss and turns white, and can give off extreme stenches that can be

strong enough to fill the air above the surface of the water (Slezak, 2016). The coral looks fallen

apart and drooped. Plants near coral bleaching are dead looking and lack immense color or

variation. Usually, seaweed and other ocean weeds will infest the area, furthering the loss of

coral and other fish, blocking the sunlight needed to rejuvenate the coral and reproduce the algae

the coral needs. One session of coral bleaching can affect an entire environment, even killing off

marine life nearby.

Bleaching can occur anywhere; scientists find bleached coral in the least populated areas

of the world, and the most. For example, the most recent, and one of the largest bleachings, was

in May of 2016 at the Australian Great Barrier Reef, damaging almost all of the individual 520

corals that make up the reef (Innis, 2016). Four single reefs out of the total 520 corals were left

undamaged from the bleaching. As the Great Barrier Reef is the largest in the world, the decline

of this reef sets an example for the even smaller reefs that have received the same amount of

damage.

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 Along with the cause of pollution by humans, humans have had other negative effects on

corals through direct tampering, such as: tourism, overfishing, and construction. Tourism has had

lasting effects on coral reefs, mostly depending on how populated an area is. The more

population somewhere, the less area coral have to live freely and untouched. If an area is

populated heavily, like a vacation destination, there are activities of snorkeling and scuba diving

that are direct contact with the coral (Birkeland, 2016). Charter companies bring large groups of

tourists into dense coral reef zones for swimming and other water activities which contribute to

the decline in a major way, contaminating the reef by the tourists wearing sunscreen, or

disrespecting the coral and breaking or touching it. Often, tourists apply sunscreen before they

swim in the water, but are unaware that the chemical within the ingredients of sunscreen is toxic

to coral and fish. The prominent ingredient in most sunscreens, oxybenzone, leaches the coral of

its nutrients and bleaches it white of color, poisoning fish, as well as, contaminating the waters

for reef survival (Wagner, 2015). This chemical has similar negative effects as other chemical

pollution, as explained above, covering the coral with a toxic chemical layer. Fishing and charter

boats dropping their anchors also damage coral, making holes and breaking off pieces of the reef,

which kills the coral, and further ruins the underwater ecosystem (Causes of death of coral reefs,

n.d.).

Shoreline construction by humans has a large impact on coral, ruining the waters around

the construction area and reefs nearby. Debris from construction can float far into the ocean,

polluting farther than the general radius of the construction. Construction near shorelines can

lead to the disruption to coral underwater, moving fish habitats and contaminate the area with

upturned sediment and sand or construction waste (International Coral Reef Initiative, n.d.). It

can pollute the water with more chemicals and construction sources (concrete, plastics, etc.).

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Construction can push away sediment or corrode the beaches, losing sand and habitats along the

shoreline. This form of pollution, directly from the hands of humans, again, ruins the once stable

symbiotic relationship between coral and algae. With the suffocation of soil and excess land

waste, coral reefs cannot reach sunlight and experience harmful poisons, then, slowly die off.

(Causes of death of coral reefs, n.d.).

Overfishing from humans is a cause of reef decline. Trawling from boats and dragging

nets along the bottom of the ocean floor ruins the coral and damages it. The purpose of this tactic

is to fish, but overall just harms the reefs and opportunities for fish to reproduce (Cho, 2011). It

drags the coral or picks up sediment and other coral formations and can stir up the water making

the habitats discombobulated, scaring away fish, breaking down the ecosystem. The trawl can

physically break apart the coral and kill it right away. Fisherman for fishing purposes, and the

government for oil and other research, also often perform dynamite explosions underwater.

These are a terrible case for coral, blowing them to pieces and ruining the population of coral all

together. With this tactic, it leaves the coral with no chance to even rebuild itself. With extreme

levels of overfishing rising in recent years, fish populations have declined, making it hard for the

food chain to go full circle and the coral to survive without fish inhabiting them and keeping the

environment stable (Hunter, 2016) .

As humans negatively affect coral, they are ruining the future of oceans and the future of

humans all together. The decline of reefs causes a decline of fish, leading to the chain effect of

humans slowly losing their main food source, jobs, and huge revenue from tourism. 500 million

people, in 94 countries all around the world rely on coral reefs for food supply, and with

overfishing and pollution, humans can easily give up their most relied on source (Cho, 2011). 30

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million people depend on reefs for jobs and revenue, proving this decline will not only take a toll

on the ocean but humans lives as well (Innis, 2016).

With overfishing, the fish populations go down, setting fish markets and fishing

companies at loss. Without fish, fishermen and fisheries will have no jobs, aquariums will have

no fish, and stores will have no food. In 2011-12, The Great Barrier Reef, alone, brought over

69000 jobs and $5.7 billion in revenue (Slezak, 2016). This natural monument brings in a

massive amount of money that leads to a large factor of economical stableness. Coral reefs, all

together, bring in an estimated amount of $375 billion every year due to tourism and fishing

(Cho, 2011). Loss of corals could result in the loss of 80% revenue for countries, such as: Haiti,

Fiji, Indonesia, and the Philippines, that depend on corals for survival. With the loss of our

corals, everyone is affected and everyone is at fault.

So how can humans reverse the damage theyve already done? If everyone does

something small, putting an effort to fix the planet that gives life, than humans can make a

change. Marine Biologist Hunter has called to action saying, As a world community, [we need

to] reduce the use of fossil fuels immediately, burning of coal and gas. She says this in hope that

with the reduction of pollution it will cause a positive chain effect, reducing the cause of global

warming and allowing time for coral reefs to evolve and the species to recover from the damage

that has ruined it. 75% of the worlds coral reefs are at risk from local and global stresses. Ten

percent of coral reefs have already been damaged beyond repair says StateofthePlanet.com,

proving humans have little room to overlook this dilemma and must start taking action now.

As humans themselves work closer to reversing the loss of reefs, by limiting chemical

run-off, poisonous sunscreen, and pollution, governments across the world need to take action

and set a representation for their people. Specifically, the U.S. passed a bill for the Coral Reef

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Task Force in 1998(National Ocean Service, 2016). This force monitors coral reefs and funds

research for causes of reef degradation. The president of the U.S., in 2016, declared the

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a marine national monument (Hunter, 2016) and remote islands

in the Pacific as monuments to stop overfishing. Palau government, in 2015, made steps towards

preserving reefs by closing 80% of their fishing zones for periods of time to let the reefs rebuild,

and they do this regularly now, too (McCarthy, 2015). New Zealand followed in Palaus steps,

and made a no fishing zone around a strand of underwater volcanoes in their territory.

As a call to action, take the facts this paper has presented, and know that little

contributions to pollution of the world can have big impacts on humans, and overall, Earths

future. As a community humans can reverse this decline of our most valued creatures, only if

everyone takes a little step towards a clean Earth every day.

Research Methods and Data Collection

The question that started this experiment was: Why are coral reefs declining and

how does this affect humans future? This question led to the research into coral reefs and the

factors affecting their decline. The hypothesis, Coral reefs decline, due to pollution, global

warming, and bleaching, is negatively affecting the ocean and humans, helped set a starting

point for where the project was headed, looking deeper into the causes and effects that come

from the decline of reefs. The data collection was collected through a survey that had questions

relating to the topics as stated in the research question and hypothesis, along with tailored search

results through the web to gain further knowledge on the topic.

The data collection was a survey created on Google Sheets and sent through the online

database Canvas.com. Students enrolled in the courses of Algebra 2, American Government

Honors, and English 10 G/T personally received the survey through a message on Canvas.com

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and participated by choice from March 20, 2017 to April 3, 2017. The students grades ranged

from freshmen to seniors at Mount Hebron High School. The research was correlation and was

purposed to find the relationship humans feel they have with their environment and coral reefs.

Research and Data Analysis

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2

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FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4

FIGURE 5

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 The data collection proved that most students, and in general people, do not have

much knowledge on the decline of reefs. In FIGURE 1, the majority of participants (43.2%) said

they knew about the decline of reefs from news outlets, which is good for reef publicity, but only

29% of students answered they have learned about the reef decline in school. That is an

astoundingly low number, meaning that out of 100 students, only 29 have been taught about the

decline in school, where 95% of students said they have taken biology class. This is a telling data

collection, pointing out the flaws in school sciences and the amount of limited focus the

government has on reefs. FIGURE 2 showed positive results, with most students choosing that

the decline of reefs is due to (as ranked from #1-3 choice from applicants): Humans, Pollution,

Global Warming. This is good feedback, as only 4% said the decline is not real or influenced by

humans, showing that most students know the main reason reefs are at decline.

FIGURE 3 and FIGURE 4 show great contradiction from applicants, as almost 50% of

students said that they care about reefs in FIGURE 4, but in FIGURE 5 results were spread out,

with only 20% saying they agree that reefs impact their lives and 25% saying they disagree that

reefs impact their lives. The results for the two figures do not line up as hoped; proving that there

is a divide in peoples ranking of importance of reefs. Without people stating they care about

reefs and knowing how important reefs influence on humans is, then the reef decline will not

improve and continue at a rapid rate.

FIGURE 5 had positive feedback, with 43% of students saying they believe the decline

can be reversed, which is a good starting point to start making a difference. With hope, there can

be change, and with these positive results, there seems to be hope in the coming age of students.

Discussion and Conclusion

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 The findings from the data collection contribute to the greater research of this topic,

showing that most people do not know the great influence reefs have on humans. People want to

see a change and do not want to see beautiful reefs at decline but do not know how to stop it or

where the decline stems from. This points out a flaw in our society, as a major world issue is not

very discussed or considered important. The government, one of the main leaders for the

preservations of coral reefs through setting boundaries for marine sanctuaries, passing fishing

laws, and informing their citizens, are doing a disservice to themselves and the world by not

implementing more courses and lessons on the decline in school environments. As a whole, the

data collection further proved the research was indeed correct - that humans need to take much

greater steps towards learning about the decline, by first, looking at themselves and realizing

they are the main cause.

The limitations of the research set bars for how far the research could be taken and how

much information could be gathered. Without access to live sources, such as professional marine

biologist and government officials, further knowledge on personal interactions with studies and

reefs, and government participation in reefs was limited. As well as limitations on resources,

limitations on the time allotted to posting the survey online, audience of only high school

freshman seniors, optional student participation, access to students, anonymous survey

submissions, and access to students from other schools, affected the overall results of research.

From here, this research can lead to helping further publicize the decline of reefs and

creating a starting point. As a whole though, humans need to inform themselves more on the

worlds major issues and how they contribute. With government support and news publicity, the

reef decline can gain support and communities can work together to improve their actions

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influencing reef decline. Limiting humans negative contributions in the world now, can help

revive reefs and stop the decline all together.

References

Birkeland, C. (2016, December 6). [Personal interview by the author].

Causes of death of coral reefs. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2016, from Sea World website:

https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/coral-and-coral-reefs/longevity-

and-causes-of-death

Cho, R. (2011, June 13). Losing our coral reefs. Retrieved October 12, 2016, from State of the

planet website: http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/06/13/losing-our-coral-reefs/

Hunter, C. (2016, December 5). [Telephone interview by the author].

Innis, M. (2016, April 9). Climate-related death of coral around the world alarms scientists. The

New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/world/asia/climate-

related-death-of-coral-around-world-alarms-scientists.html?_r=0

International Coral Reef Initiative. (n.d.). Status of and threat to coral reefs. Retrieved January 8,

2017, from http://www.icriforum.org/about-coral-reefs/status-and-threat-coral-reefs

McCarthy, O. (2015, November 20). Four countries that took big steps in 2015. Retrieved

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McDermott, A. (2010, June). Effects of ocean pollution on marine life. Retrieved October 27,

2016, from lovetoknow.com website: http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/

Effects_of_Ocean_Pollution_on_Marine_Life

National Ocean Service. (2016, September 2). Protecting coral reefs. Retrieved

November 10, 2016, from National Ocean Service website:

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_corals/coral11_protecting.html

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Ocko, I. (2016). What sparked global warming? Retrieved December 4, 2016, from EDF.com

website: https://www.edf.org/climate/what-sparked-global-warming-people-did

Parker, L. (2015, January 15). As oceans heat up, a race to save world's coral reef. Retrieved

October 10, 2016, from National Geographic website:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/151015/coral-reef-death-climate-

change-science-animals/

Parker, L. (2016, May 2). Floridas coral reef is disintegrating. Retrieved December 4, 2016,

from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160502-reef-florida-acidification-fish/

miami/

Slezak, M. (2016, June 7). The Great Barrier Reef: A catastrophe laid bare. Retrieved December

4, 2016, from The Guardian website: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/

jun/07/the-great-barrier-reef-a-catastrophe-laid-bare

Wagner, L. (2015, October 20). Chemicals in sunscreen are harming coral reefs, says new study.

Retrieved November 10, 2016, from The Two-Way website:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/20/450276158/chemicals-in-sunscreen-

are-harming-coral-reefs-says-new-study

World Wide Fund for Nature. (2017). Coral reefs. Retrieved February 2, 2017, from

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/coasts/coral_reefs/

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