Caribbean coral reefs only 25 percent healthy: report

From an article from Agence France-Presse:

MIAMI (AFP) — Global warming and pollution are decimating coral reefs around the world, with only 25 percent in good health in the Caribbean Sea, US experts warned Tuesday.

In other areas of the world such as the Pacific basin, nearly 70 percent of the coral reefs are either thriving or in good condition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a report.

NOAA told the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that nearly half of coral reef ecosystems in the United States are in poor or barely passable condition.

"This is absolutely a call to action," said NOAA Coral Program director Kacky Andrews.

To reverse the deterioration and lessen the threat to coral reefs, she strongly suggested curbing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and the use of fertilizer, prevent damage from anchors and stop the sale of coral for jewelry.

"In the Caribbean, parts of Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Mexico that have been strongly impacted by hurricanes in the past few years, large communities of coral have been lost," Diego Lirman, a University of Miami Rosentiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science expert, told AFP.

He said the Caribbean region, which sustains only 60 or 70 species of coral compared to more than 500 in the Pacific, "has lost a large part of its most ancient corals, which ... can be more than 500 years old and make up the reef's basic structure."

While reports indicate a worldwide reduction in coral reef covering, in the Caribbean the problem is compounded by the reefs' increasingly slow rate of recovery, Lirman said.