Great Barrier Reef collapsing

[Lion Heart 15,041]

Depleting fish populations and corals that are still bleaching in the winter paint a bleak picture for parts of the Great Barrier Reef, which is undergoing a “complete ecosystem collapse,” scientists say.

For a week, Coral Watch chief investigator Justin Marshall surveyed the reefs around Lizard Island in Queensland, according to the Guardian. He said many of the fish species commonly spotted around the coral had completely disappeared.

“The lack of fish was the most shocking thing,” Marshall told the Guardian. “In broad terms, I was seeing a lot less than 50 percent of what was there [before the bleaching]. Some species I wasn’t seeing at all.”

Coral bleaching occurs when ocean waters warmed by climate change cause coral communities to release the algae that provided their color and food. The corals can't cool down and find new algae fast enough, which causes them to die out and become a milky shade of white before they begin to decompose and attract turf algae.

A declining population of fish was a major indication that the ecosystem had collapsed. When corals die, they become covered with algae, which cuts fish off from the sources of shelter and food that they need, according to Coral Watch. Without these resources, the fish either die out or move elsewhere.

Another blow to the livelihood of the Great Barrier Reef: Marshall told The Guardian some of the corals continued to bleach, even as cooler water from the Southern Hemisphere’s winter moved in.

“There are still corals bleaching,” said the scientist. “Especially noticeable on Lizard Island were the soft corals. Some of them have remained bleached. And some of the hard corals are still white.”

It was revealed that 93 percent of the Great Barrier Reef has undergone bleaching, with more than 80 percent showing signs of severe bleaching.

..

 “What happens when these reefs disappear? Current predictions are that coral reefs worldwide could be gone within 25 years.

Full Story: https://weather.com/science/environment/news/great-barrier-reef-queensland-australia-coral-bleaching-complete-ecosystem

[PartySick 172,486]

That...is devastating omg

[BlondeQueenOfGGD 25,454]

That's so sad

[weed 78,905]

I remember when it was completely healthy 

the Great Barrier Reef dying in my lifetime is tragic 

[Seeka 12,372]

Don't we make artificial reefs as well by sinking ships?

but yes, that is sad, but it doesn't mean we can''t heal it or anything. We have many of these fish in captivity and I believe one day we can reverse global warming and unbreak the world.

i choose to be an optimist! Do not shatter my bubble world!

[Zsolti 2,688]

NEMO!

[PunkTheFunk 125,703]

When is Gaga going to speak out about this though? 

[Mast 980]

1 hour ago, Seeka said:

Don't we make artificial reefs as well by sinking ships?

but yes, that is sad, but it doesn't mean we can''t heal it or anything. We have many of these fish in captivity and I believe one day we can reverse global warming and unbreak the world.

i choose to be an optimist! Do not shatter my bubble world!

Um, sorry to break it to you, but having captive fish isn't going to help anything. We can't release them into the wild and the numbers we have in captivity would not be enough to rebuild their populations. They would also need a living reef in order to survive, and most of the Great Reef is dying or already dead. And it would be very difficult to fix the Great Barrier Reef. Also, it's not like we sink ships on purpose, and creating artificial reefs is not a common practice. The Great Barrier Reef extends over 1,400 miles. This is not a small issue at all. We can't fix the Great Barrier Reef and we most definitely cannot reverse Global Warming/Climate Change, but we can certainly slow it down. However, to fix the Reef and its biodiversity, we have to stop the fishing industry completely, as overfishing causes oxygen depletion in coral reefs, but have fun trying to tell the countries that rely on the fishing industry that they have to stop. We would also have to severely reduce our usage of fossil fuels, but have fun telling people to give up their oil. We would also need to stop the farming industry from using pesticides and insecticides and stop raising animals for meat, as overgrazing causes the ocean water to be polluted, but how are we gonna feed people? This is a very complex issue, but it's an issue that we humans have brought upon ourselves. This is a loss of habitat, which means that the hundreds of bird species, thousands of fish species, several species of endangered turtles, and hundreds of filter-feeders and algae that make up the reef, have lost or are going to lose their nesting grounds and homes, and many of these species are endemic, which means that we will lose these species forever. That also means that the entire ecosystem around the area is going to collapse, and animals such as whales and sharks, which rely on the reefs for food-source, will suffer greatly as well. 

 

It's not helpful to "choose to be optimistic" about these issues. We need to address them, not hope that it will sort itself out.

[Seeka 12,372]

10 hours ago, Mast said:

Um, sorry to break it to you, but having captive fish isn't going to help anything. We can't release them into the wild and the numbers we have in captivity would not be enough to rebuild their populations. They would also need a living reef in order to survive, and most of the Great Reef is dying or already dead. And it would be very difficult to fix the Great Barrier Reef. Also, it's not like we sink ships on purpose, and creating artificial reefs is not a common practice. The Great Barrier Reef extends over 1,400 miles. This is not a small issue at all. We can't fix the Great Barrier Reef and we most definitely cannot reverse Global Warming/Climate Change, but we can certainly slow it down. However, to fix the Reef and its biodiversity, we have to stop the fishing industry completely, as overfishing causes oxygen depletion in coral reefs, but have fun trying to tell the countries that rely on the fishing industry that they have to stop. We would also have to severely reduce our usage of fossil fuels, but have fun telling people to give up their oil. We would also need to stop the farming industry from using pesticides and insecticides and stop raising animals for meat, as overgrazing causes the ocean water to be polluted, but how are we gonna feed people? This is a very complex issue, but it's an issue that we humans have brought upon ourselves. This is a loss of habitat, which means that the hundreds of bird species, thousands of fish species, several species of endangered turtles, and hundreds of filter-feeders and algae that make up the reef, have lost or are going to lose their nesting grounds and homes, and many of these species are endemic, which means that we will lose these species forever. That also means that the entire ecosystem around the area is going to collapse, and animals such as whales and sharks, which rely on the reefs for food-source, will suffer greatly as well. 

 

It's not helpful to "choose to be optimistic" about these issues. We need to address them, not hope that it will sort itself out.

We can't reverse climate change right now. But maybe we can in the future.

 

But I can "choose to be optimistic" and be helpful at the same time. mast, I'm not gonna just sit around on my ass and do nothing. Some of us optimists actually do something because we know it won't sort itself out. We're optimistic because we know we can do something.

Please do not think of me in any way, shape, or form, as some useless optimistic who sits around doing nothing.

We all know what is happening in the world, and some of have the ability to change it.

I know that there are people working to do something about this, either by prevention, or be research or something similar.

Do not look down upon people because they're optimistic, it does not behoove you. I'm a realist as well. And every day, more and more, i feel like the world is ending. And I want to do something about. Or I want to kill myself and get away from it all.

I like you mast, as you do bring attention to thing that need to have attention brought to, but assumptions and you attitude are a wild card no one can predict, and you can come off as a ****.