Coral Bleaching Is Killing The Maldives
The islands, the Maldives, are affected by dirty chemical bleaching of its coral reefs. It creates the worst environmental situation since the 1998 that destroyed many islands shallow underwater coral reef.
Global warming is literally present everywhere. It also affects the algae present in seawater. This algae is dependent on the coral reef of the ocean. The rise in the temperature of the ocean further kills the algae as it causes stress, which is uncalled for. This results in the algae not able to survive in this condition and they leave which causes the coral bleaching or slow death of the coral.
Marine biologist Hussein Zahir reported from the Marine Research Center that approximately 10 to 15 percent of the Maldives shallow reef coral has been bleached white and still another 50 to 70 percent has begun to fade.
Another marine biologist, Guy Stevens reports from the Four Seasons Resort in Landaa Giraavaru that he too had seen the bleaching of the shallow coral reefs last year. He attributes the continued bleaching to the left over effects of El Nino. According to him, the coral reefs in the Maldives have been trying to come back since El Nino. Stevens has been accounting for the almost total destruction of the shallow coral reefs around the Maldives which he admits is close to 95 percent dead to El Nino and says that the situation has a most dire effect on the Indian Ocean since he admits that coral reefs are the basis of the entire reef ecosystem.
Thailand’s marine biologists have reported that coral reefs off the coast of Thailand are being completely wiped out, despite the claim by others in the field that they were not affected by the 1998 El Nino event. The state of Thailand’s coral reefs and their destruction does not seem to figure in the explanation that Stevens provides for the decimation of the coral reefs in the Maldives.
If the continued destruction of the coral reefs in the Maldives is due to after shocks of El Nino, why are the coral reefs off of Thailand also being killed when they had no part in the El Nino wide spread killing of algae?
Cecelia Owens loves travel and she does freelance writing for the top South African travel comparison website, bestflights.co.za