Today, NOAA announced that “the world is experiencing its fourth global coral bleaching event.” Since early 2023 mass bleaching “has been confirmed in at least 53 countries, territories, and local economies.” Tragically, NOAA’s report shares that they have “now received confirmation of widespread bleaching across parts of the Indian Ocean, including Tanzania, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Tromelin, Mayotte, and off the western coast of Indonesia.” The gravity of this news cannot be overstated as we’re seeing coral bleaching impact more resilient areas.

Let’s talk about what this means and what’s next.

As global temperatures continue to rise, marine heatwaves have become more frequent and severe, subjecting coral reefs to prolonged stress. The result is widespread coral bleaching, a phenomenon where corals expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, leading to their stark white appearance and eventual death if the stress persists.
This fourth global bleaching event is a glaring reminder of the urgent need for decisive action to combat a warming planet and help coral reefs adapt to climate change. Supporting the adaptive capacity of corals to handle changing environmental conditions is imperative if we want them to survive.

Action Against Bleaching

If there was ever a time to roll up your sleeves and get involved in this fight, the time is now. We must take immediate action to lessen further damage to coral reefs while they’re in this vulnerable state. 

What are you doing to help corals rebound from bleaching and battle climate change?
Click here to support our conservation work >

The CORAL team worked together to launch the Coral Bleaching: Toolkit & Comprehensive Guide last summer. This toolkit provides essential resources and strategies to aid in conservation efforts surrounding a bleaching event. A recent update includes more remote sensing and on-site monitoring resources and introduces a section dedicated to online apps.

As we face mass coral bleaching, we hope that the update of our Toolkit and Guide provides a timely compilation of resources of what can be done before, during, and after a bleaching event, and galvanizes support for these amazing ecosystems.

Dr. Helen Fox, Conservation Science Director, CORAL

The toolkit contains actionable guidelines for reporting bleaching events, monitoring reef health, and implementing best practices for tourism sites to minimize additional stress on coral ecosystems.

By following these guidelines and taking proactive measures, we are helping reduce stressors to coral reefs to minimize the devastating impacts of bleaching on marine biodiversity. Corals can survive bleaching, but they need our assistance.

Coral bleaching demands urgent global collaboration to highlight its severity and drive better policies. This Toolkit consolidates information from diverse organizations working on coral bleaching into one accessible resource. Now, urgent steps are needed to integrate these efforts and datasets to ensure unified communication.

Dr. Andrea Rivera-Sosa

Action at CORAL

In addition to providing guidance and resources, like the coral bleaching toolkit and water quality monitoring protocol, all members of the CORAL team are committed to the collective action of our alliance and partnerships, especially supporting local efforts on the ground and in the water.

As our conservation science work has shown, corals can adapt to climate change…if we help them. Our team is working diligently toward securing clean water and healthy fish populations in coastal communities so coral reefs have a fighting chance in this warming world.

During these critical times of bleaching, we’re working closely with our partners to assess the evolving situation and provide necessary resources and funding for monitoring efforts and studies.
In our 30 years of coral conservation, we know supporting coastal communities and helping build their resilience is one of the most important factors in co-creating lasting, sustainable change for coral reefs. More specifically, this includes sharing replicable models to empower coastal communities near priority reefs to take control of their wastewater treatment and fishing practices. It also includes education around sustainable tourism and augmenting ocean literacy, particularly for youths.

Uniting for Reef Resilience

As we sit on the cusp of this fourth global bleaching event – indisputably the worst bleaching event in our planet’s history – we’re reminded of the urgent need for bold and decisive action to protect coral reefs from the consequences of coral bleaching, as well as addressing the root cause: climate change. Corals will not survive for generations to come unless rising carbon emissions are tackled with intention. 

We must come together as a global community to protect and preserve these invaluable ecosystems. By leveraging the power of science, innovation, and collective action, we can alter the grim trajectory we’re on and reposition coral reefs toward a more sustainable future. As part of the CORAL community, we must continuously reinforce that action is the best remedy for despair. 

Together, let us rise to the challenge and safeguard the health of our planet’s coral reefs.

For all media inquiries, please contact Kate at communications@coral.org.

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The dangerous combination of rising ocean temperatures and poor water quality has led to widespread coral bleaching, presenting significant challenges to Cordelia Banks, a protected area off the SouthWest coast of Roatan in the Bay Islands, as well as Capiro in Tela off the North coast of Honduras. Coral bleaching occurs when corals expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing the loss of their vibrant colors and weakening their ability to survive. Corals can bounce back from bleaching events, especially if they are healthy and the environmental stressors are alleviated in time.

These once-thriving reefs, teeming with life and biodiversity, now highlight the pressing challenges climate change poses to our planet’s delicate ecosystems. The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) and our partners stand at the forefront of the battle, leveraging 30 years of expertise and unwavering commitment to coral reef conservation. Together, we’re dedicated to not only addressing these challenges but also to revitalizing and restoring the vibrancy and biodiversity of these essential marine habitats.

Critical Work for Coral Reefs

With our commitment to preserving these underwater wonders, CORAL emphasizes the importance of acting swiftly to prevent further damage to neighboring reefs. Our team and partners focus heavily on reducing stressors to the reef, including securing clean water and implementing sustainable fishing practices, to give corals a better chance of survival in warming waters.

I’ve lived alongside these reefs most of my life, so to see this devastation first-hand is heartbreaking. We need all hands on deck to swiftly reduce local threats to allow coral reefs to adapt to climate change. The most important local actions needed are to eliminate sewage pollution, increase protection, and implement effective management measures to restore the ecosystem so it can adapt to more challenges ahead.

Jenny Myton, Conservation Program Director

Now, more than ever, we call on individuals and organizations to contribute to our cause and accelerate the expansion of our efforts to reduce threats of wastewater pollution in Tela, Coxen Hole, and other emblematic sites across the Western Caribbean. The time to act is now, as we witness first-hand the window of opportunity to safeguard these precious ecosystems rapidly closing.

Our Response Plan

Immediate Actions for Reef Conservation

First and foremost, our focus is on understanding the full impact. We’ve partnered with the Healthy Reefs Initiative (HRI) to apply the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) for past studies and will join forces with them again to assess the ecological impacts and reef health monitoring in emblematic sites across the Mesoamerican Region. We’re also delving into the social and economic impacts, exploring potential partnerships to broaden our insights.

When it comes to interventions, we’re identifying both short-term and long-term solutions, such as promoting sustainable tourism best practices to reduce pressure, supporting sustainable fisheries, and effective enforcement within the MPAs, as well as collaborating closely with the Bay Islands National Marine Park Technical Committee (BINMP-TC) and the Tela Inter-Institutional Environmental and Protected Areas Committee (CIAT) to continue assessing the situation and planning joint next steps.

Communication is key. We’re keeping decision-makers and local communities in the loop with briefings and clear information. Feedback from our team on the ground and in the water will be critical to sharing updates.

Next Steps for Coral Reef Resilience

Once we’ve assessed the situation, we’ll enact next steps to maximize resilience. This will include more effective management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), like providing technical assistance to local stakeholders, capacity building, and funding MPA co-managers to implement their critical programs.

On the local front, we’re teaming up with partners like The Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) and Tela Reef Friend’s Association (AMATELA) to tackle local sanitation issues through water quality monitoring. We are working alongside local organizations in creating budgets and fundraising to make sanitation management models a reality. The goal is to have these models adapted to different coral reef communities around the world. Tools to replicate these adaptable and scalable management models will be publicly available this summer. Click here to be notified when this toolkit is available. (link to a sign-up page)

And, of course, we can’t forget about the reefs themselves. Simultaneously, we’re supporting the enforcement of MPA regulations and safeguarding fisheries by partnering with the Roatan Marine Park (RMP) and the Foundation for the Protection of Lancetilla, Punta Sal and Texiguat (PROLANSATE) to ramp up patrols. RMP and Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA), lead efforts to identify restoration methods for the damaged reefs, which complement our priorities to address wastewater and fisheries. Collectively we’re actively looking into what research is needed to ensure we’re making all the right moves.

Strengthening the Future through Research and Capacity Building

Collaborating with experts to fill information gaps related to sanitation, coral health, and water quality is a priority. We’re building capacity for MPA co-managers, ensuring we have the knowledge and skills needed for effective conservation.

Empowering Change with Your Support

Our work isn’t limited to reacting to the current threats; we’re working diligently to shape a resilient future for our coral reefs and the communities that depend on them. Your support is pivotal in turning these plans into action.

So what can you do? To make a global impact, think local. Support local initiatives and conservation organizations, adjust your daily habits to include more sustainable practices, and keep learning. Then turn that knowledge into practice. Together, we can safeguard our oceans and leave a legacy of thriving marine ecosystems for generations to come.

The post Two Caribbean Reefs Gravely Distressed from Coral Bleaching and Climate Change appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

According to a World Bank report, an additional 68 to 135 million people could be pushed into poverty by 2030 because of climate change. As more frequent marine heatwaves endanger the livelihoods and food security of about 1 billion people globally who benefit from coral reef ecosystems, evidence-based adaptation strategies are paramount to ensuring biodiversity protection and sustainable use. Currently, management approaches mostly target reefs less exposed to heat stress but ignore biological and social adaptation that can reduce the risks that climate change poses to sustainable ocean livelihoods.

Climate REEFS will help solve this problem by identifying adaptive reefs from space and by characterizing the social vulnerabilities of different stakeholders, particularly women and marginalized groups. The project will quantify how reef structure predicts species and genetic diversity, which likely links to a reef’s capacity to adapt to climate change. It also aims to develop socially equitable, context-specific climate adaptation pathways.

“Climate REEFS will implement social research to identify the climate vulnerability of coastal communities together with gender and socially inclusive adaptation pathways, geospatial research to detect adaptive reefs from satellite-derived data, and ecological and genomic research to pilot an analysis that tests the interplay of climate change-adaptiveness from genes to people,” said Dr. Maria Beger, University of Leeds, and lead PI of the project. 

“The impacts of climate change are not felt evenly across genders and geographies. It is particularly important to understand how degraded coral reefs are impacting women and other marginalized groups in the Asia Pacific so we can design climate adaptation strategies that support all members of a community,” said Rocky Sanchez Tirona, Managing Director of Rare’s Fish Forever program.

The project aims to work both on local and national levels towards sustainable climate-smart coastal fishing livelihoods. “Climate REEFS will help people in the village get information on the health of their reefs, how they are used, and help develop policies about their future use. Most fishers never see the reef so they don’t realise their impact,” said Professor Gino Limmon, Director of Maritime and Marine Science Center of Excellence at the Pattimura University.

“It is exciting to have this multi-disciplinary team coming together to conduct innovative research that will inform policy and management as well as strengthen science capacity in Indonesia and the Philippines,” said Dr. Helen Fox, Conservation Science Director of the Coral Reef Alliance.  

Climate REEFS is part of CLARE’s first cohort of projects. CLARE is a £110m, UK-Canada framework research programme on Climate Adaptation and Resilience, aiming to enable socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards. CLARE is an initiative jointly designed and run by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and Canada’s International Development Research Centre. CLARE is primarily funded by UK aid from the UK government, along with the International Development Research Centre, Canada.  The project is also funded through FCDO’s £154m COAST programme, which is part of the UK’s £500m Blue Planet Fund portfolio. COAST aims to support climate change adaptation and more prosperous, sustainable, and resilient coastal economies, focusing on protecting and restoring coastal habitats, strengthening the sustainability and climate resilience of small-scale fisheries, unlocking more sustainable aquaculture production, and driving inclusive coastal governance and planning.

Media Contacts:
Kathryn Ashman (comms), Dr. Maria Beger, University of Leeds, K.Ashman@leeds.ac.uk M.Beger@leeds.ac.uk
Zach Lowe, Rare, ZLowe@rare.org
Prandito Simanjuntak, Universitas Pattimura, pranditosimanjuntak@gmail.com  
Kate Beebe, CORAL (Coral Reef Alliance), KBeebe@coral.org

The post “Climate REEFS” Initiative Launched to Advance Equitable Pathways to Climate Adaptation in Asia Pacific appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

Our Project

Through our project “Restoring and Strengthening Resilience of Maui Nui Reefs” we will implement innovative strategies to restore degraded coastal habitats, reduce land-based pollution, and protect critical coral reef ecosystems in Maui Nui which includes the islands of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai – all interconnected by the movement of coral larvae. This grant is a significant step forward in CORAL’s efforts to safeguard coral reefs and highlights the importance of collaborative conservation efforts to protect our oceans.

Our Approach

CORAL is committed to working synergistically with communities and local partners to protect and restore coral reef ecosystems. This approach is reflected in our name. We recognize that effective conservation efforts require the participation and support of the local communities who depend on these ecosystems for their livelihoods and cultural traditions. By forming alliances with community partners, we are able to develop solutions that are grounded in local knowledge and practices and that reflect their needs and priorities. This approach has been critical to our success in implementing coral conservation projects around the world, ensuring that long-term solutions and management succeed. It will continue to guide our work as we strive to protect coral reefs throughout this three-year project.

Launching this upcoming Fall, this project will focus on restoring the lower watershed and stream banks of the West Maui watershed on Maui and restoring ancient fishponds along the south shore of Molokai that are vital for healthy of reefs across Maui Nui. Our CORAL team and partners on the ground recognize that we need to act urgently if we want to save the Maui Nui coral reefs from the threats of land-based pollution. To learn more about the projects funded across Hawaii, see NOAA’s news release.

How can you help?

Consider making a gift of any size so that our team can be fueled from now until the Fall, conducting critical assessments and executing extensive planning measures to ensure that this project will be a success.

The post CORAL Receives Transformational Funding for the Reefs of Maui Nui appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – September 16, 2022 – Coral reefs can adapt to climate change if given the chance to evolve, according to a study led by Coral Reef Alliance, Rutgers University, the University of Washington and other institutions.

The recent study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, finds that coral reefs can evolve and adapt to the effects of climate change—but only if we protect a sufficient diversity of coral reefs, particularly when it comes to temperatures. 

“Evolution happens when corals that have already adapted to new environmental conditions breed with corals that have not yet adapted,” said Malin Pinsky, associate professor at Rutgers and a coauthor of the study. “As ocean temperatures rise, we need to keep corals in hotter waters healthy and protected so they can reproduce and spread their heat tolerance to other coral reef areas.” 

The study advocates for a conservation approach that protects coral reefs at local, regional and global scales, in a way that allows heat tolerance to spread. 

The authors of the study said if humanity takes rapid and effective action to keep coral reefs healthy at local scales and addresses climate change, coral reef ecosystems may recover over the next century and thrive in the future.  

“The best part about these results are that they underscore the importance of our actions at local scales—we don’t have to just sit back and watch coral reefs suffer as our climate changes,” said Madhavi Colton, lead author of the study and former executive director of the Coral Reef Alliance. “This study provides guidance on how to design local conservation solutions that will have real, lasting impacts well into the future.” 

Coral reefs cover less than one percent of the earth’s surface, but they are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on our planet. Home to about 25 percent of all marine life, coral reefs support an estimated one billion people with food, income and coastal protection. But threats to coral reefs continue to mount. Today, nearly 75 percent of all coral reefs are threatened by climate change and localized human activities. 

Scientists predict 99 percent of coral reefs will be lost by the end of this century without concerted efforts to protect them.

“We simply cannot afford to lose coral reefs,” said Helen Fox, conservation science director at the Coral Reef Alliance and a collaborating author on the study. “It is imperative that we do what we can to save coral reefs now because we will be faced with combined global economic, humanitarian, and biodiversity crises if we do not.” 

The study was co-authored by Malin Pinsky, associate professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at Rutgers University, as well as Lisa McManus, who conducted the work as a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University and is now faculty at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, and researchers from Coral Reef Alliance, University of Washington, Stanford University, University of Queensland, Univeristy of British Columbia and The Nature Conservancy. The research was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and The Nature Conservancy.

ABOUT THE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) is committed to saving the world’s coral reefs. The nonprofit organization works at local, regional, and global levels to keep coral reefs healthy so they can adapt to climate change and survive for generations to come. Learn more about their approach at coral.org. 

Download our infographic to learn more.

The post Scientists Believe Evolution Could Save Coral Reefs, If We Let It appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA – July 11, 2022 – The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL), a global nonprofit dedicated to saving the world’s coral reefs, announced this week that Raleigh resident Heather Starck has joined the organization as executive director. 

Starck is responsible for leading CORAL through a new strategic planning process and advancing the organization’s efforts to keep coral reefs healthy so they can adapt to climate change. 

“Heather’s passion for conservation and the oceans mixed with her track record of driving successful nonprofit operations will be the perfect addition to CORAL,” says Kirby Ryan, chair of the Board of Directors at CORAL. “Her pragmatic, people- and mission-centered approach will help CORAL further our mission while enhancing our culture.” 

Starck most recently served as the Vice President of Grassroots Capacity Building for the National Audubon Society, in which she led the growth, development and engagement of a network of chapters, volunteers, activists and youth leaders dedicated to bird and wildlife conservation. She also previously held the role of executive director for Audubon North Carolina and sat on the National Audubon Society’s Climate Cabinet, acting as a leader for environmental conservation.

“The underwater world is what led me to conservation,” says Starck about her decision to join CORAL. In addition to more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit conservation management, Starck brings both a background in marine biology and an incredible enthusiasm for CORAL’s mission to save the world’s coral reefs.“Somewhere in the suspended water and time floating along a reef is where I am most at peace. CORAL’s mission, to save the world’s coral reefs, is one that I can bring my entire personal and professional passion and expertise to support.”

Though coral reefs only encompass less than one percent of the earth’s surface, they are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on our planet. They are home to 25 percent of all marine life and support over 500 million people with food, income and coastal protection. They are also one of the most valuable ecosystems on the planet, contributing more than $375 billion in services each year. 

But the threats to coral reefs continue to mount, and today nearly 75 percent of all coral reefs are threatened by climate change and localized human activities. Scientists predict that 99 percent of coral reefs will be lost by the end of this century without concerted efforts to protect them. 

CORAL works through community partnerships to keep coral reefs healthy throughout Hawaii and the Mesoamerican region, and spearheads global conservation science and collaborations to focus attention on what corals need in order to adapt to future climate conditions. Learn more at coral.org. 

ABOUT THE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) is committed to saving the world’s coral reefs. The nonprofit organization works at local, regional and global levels to keep coral reefs healthy so they can adapt to climate change and survive for generations to come. As one of the largest global NGOs focused exclusively on protecting coral reefs, CORAL has used cutting-edge science and community engagement for nearly 30 years to reduce direct threats to reefs and to promote scalable and effective solutions for their protection. Learn more about their approach at coral.org. 

The post North Carolina Native to Lead Coral Reef Alliance appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

OAKLAND, CA – May 11, 2022 – A new study this week shows that a popular coral restoration technique is unlikely to protect coral reefs from climate change, and is based on the assumption that local threats to reefs are managed effectively. The research, published in the journal Ecological Applications, used innovative models to explore the response of coral reefs to restoration projects that propagate corals and outplant them into the wild. Additionally, the study evaluated the effects of outplanting corals genetically adapted to warmer temperatures, sometimes called ‘super corals,’ to reefs experiencing climate change as a way to build resilience to warming.

The models found that neither approach was successful at preventing a decline in coral coverage in the next several hundred years due to climate change, and that selectively breeding corals to be more heat tolerant will only lead to benefits if conducted at a very large scale over the course of centuries. Even then, benefits won’t be realized for 200 years. Restoring areas with corals that haven’t been selected to be more heat tolerant was ineffective at helping corals survive climate change except at the largest supplementation levels explored.

“The scenarios where coral reefs showed the greatest resilience to climate change were those where natural genetic variance was highest, and outplanting heat-tolerant corals in those areas had little to no effect on outcomes,” says Dr. Lukas DeFilippo, who co-led this research as a graduate student and postdoctoral scholar at the University of Washington, and is now a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

“Our previous research shows that corals have the best chance of adapting to the effects of climate change, like warming ocean temperatures, if there is high genetic diversity and if habitat is protected from other local stressors.” says Dr. Lisa McManus, the other co-lead, who conducted this work as a postdoctoral researcher  at Rutgers University and is now faculty at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology. “Repopulating a coral reef with corals that have similar genetic makeups could reduce an area’s natural genetic diversity, and therefore make it harder for all corals to adapt to climate change.” 

Coral reef restoration techniques are widely applied throughout the world as a way to repopulate degraded coral reef areas. Though the practice has some benefits, like engaging and educating communities about reef ecosystems, or replenishing a coral reef population after an area has been hit by a storm or suffered direct physical damage, more scientists are speaking up about the limitations of conservation approaches that focus solely on restoration. 

“There’s a time and place for coral restoration, but ultimately, restoration alone likely won’t save coral reefs from warming waters for the foreseeable future,” says Dr. Helen Fox, one of the co-authors on this study and the conservation science director at the Coral Reef Alliance. Fox’s doctoral research focused on coral restoration and she is one of few early researchers to have studied its cost effectiveness and long-term success rate. “For starters, if we don’t also address local threats to reefs, like poor water quality and overfishing, then any corals that are outplanted may also eventually die.”

The paper’s authors agree that focusing solely on coral restoration and genetically engineering corals to be more tolerant of high temperatures is risky. Our understanding of the genes that determine heat resistance is limited, and focusing on reproducing just one single trait could undermine a coral’s resilience to other stressors or its natural ability to adapt. 

Restoration practices also carry a hefty price tag and require a lot of resources. The median cost of restoring just one hectare (or about 2.5 acres) of coral reef has been estimated at over $350,000, and that’s not factoring in the high mortality rates that often come with such projects and the cost of genetically modifying corals. 

“My biggest takeaway from this study is that the scale at which restoration would need to be done is so large that we instead give corals a better chance of surviving climate change with reef management strategies that focus on promoting natural genetic variance,” says Dr. Madhavi Colton, another co-author on the paper and the executive director of the Coral Reef Alliance. “This means keeping corals healthy by creating and managing marine protected area networks, reducing pollution through better wastewater treatment, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

This study was the result of a collaborative effort between the Coral Reef Alliance, University of Washington, Rutgers University, Stanford University, University of Queensland, University of Hawai’i, and The Nature Conservancy; funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and The Nature Conservancy.

ABOUT THE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE
The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) is committed to saving the world’s coral reefs. The nonprofit organization works at local, regional and global levels to keep coral reefs healthy so they can adapt to climate change and survive for generations to come. As one of the largest global NGOs focused exclusively on protecting coral reefs, CORAL has used cutting-edge science and community engagement for nearly 30 years to reduce direct threats to reefs and to promote scalable and effective solutions for their protection. Learn more about their approach at coral.org.

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Launched on the eve of the Our Ocean Conference in Palau, ReefCloud is a user-friendly, open-access platform poised to revolutionize global coral reef monitoring and management by allowing the world’s coral reef monitoring community to work together, in real time.

ReefCloud standardizes data collected from around the world, analyzing coral reef composition with 80-90 percent accuracy, 700 times faster than traditional manual assessment, saving weeks and months of labour and freeing precious reef management resources. It was developed by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in collaboration with Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Fiji, the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), University of South Pacific, Queensland University of Technology, Marine Ecology Consulting, Maldives Marine Research Institute and CO2 Consulting, with in kind support from Accenture,

Speaking at the launch at PICRC, Australian Ambassador for the Environment Jamie Isbister said ReefCloud brought a transformative change to the way we monitored our coral reefs and came at a critical time for global reef protection. It also included engagement with indigenous communities, many of whom play a key role in marine monitoring.

“Coral reefs are rapidly declining, with climate change being their single greatest threat globally,” Mr Isbister said. “This platform is going to address key challenges by helping coral reef managers assess the condition of their reefs and take appropriate management actions.”

AIMS Research Team Lead and ReefCloud Director Dr Manuel Gonzalez Rivero said ReefCloud was the “democratization of knowledge”.

“We’re partnering with the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) to support a transformation in coral reef monitoring,” he said. 

“Last year, GCRMN released a global snapshot of coral reef condition which involved integrating reef monitoring efforts from 12,000 coral reef sites in 73 countries. With limited human resources it took years to painstakingly reconcile inconsistent data formats and methodologies. ReefCloud can automate that process, providing up-to-date information within hours, which leads to more timely and informed decisions on actions to improve the long-term sustainability of our coral reefs.”

ReefCloud is a A$6.6M program, jointly funded by AIMS and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). DFAT has provided an additional $200,000 to engage indigenous communities, many of whom play a key role in marine monitoring.

In a joint mission to save the world’s coral reefs, CORAL is officially partnering with ReefCloud and is looking forward to working with this new technology that will help us keep reefs healthy.

The post Latest Coral Snapshot Now One Click Away in the Cloud appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

HILO, HAWAI‘I – January 19, 2022 – A new dataset, made public this month by Hawai’i Wai Ola, gives community members access to high quality, open-source water quality testing data dating back to June of 2020.

Volunteers and members of Hawai’i Wai Ola—a local community hui founded by the Coral Reef Alliance to improve water quality—have taken monthly water quality samples at popular sites around Hawai’i Island, including Kahalu’u Bay, Richardson Beach Park, Carlsmith Beach Park, Puhi Bay Beach, Reeds Bay Beach and Moku Ola Beach. The new dataset includes metrics from these locations on pH, salinity, temperature, turbidity, nutrients and enterococcus levels—commonly used indicators of sewage pollution in nearshore ocean environments. 

“The fact that we have this data set is incredibly exciting,” says Erica Perez, senior program manager at the Coral Reef Alliance and founding member of Hawai’i Wai Ola. “These are sites that aren’t tested by the Department of Health (DOH), so this is the first time this information is being made available to people.” 

While DOH regularly tracks water quality throughout the state, their resources are limited and as a result, there are critical knowledge gaps in the information they collect. 

“DOH can’t take action to address poor water quality if they don’t know when the water quality is poor,” says Perez. “The purpose of our program at Hawai’i Wai Ola is to empower local communities to work alongside DOH and help expand their understanding of ocean water quality and overcome their resource barriers.”

For example, this new data shows several beaches have experienced unhealthy enterococcus levels over the last year and a half. Richardson Beach Park measured 1119 CFU per 100 mL in August of 2020—that’s nearly nine times higher than the levels considered healthy by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Hawai’i Department of Health issues an alert for any area experiencing levels of 104 CFU per 100 mL or above for a single sample. 

But Perez warns that it’s important not to jump to conclusions when noticing one-off data points like this, and instead to focus on the fact that the community near Richardson Beach Park can now work with DOH to identify if there’s a bigger problem and find a resolution. 

“These are one-time sampling events that happen once a month, so they don’t necessarily give the full story,” says Perez. “Enterococcus levels can change rapidly based on tides, currents, weather events, etc. It could rain and cesspools could leach into the groundwater and into the shoreline, and then it could be gone the next day. So these levels aren’t always an indicator of an ongoing problem.” 

The hui is working with the community to ensure they know about this new resource and they have shared the dataset with DOH so they can conduct a more thorough analysis. This new knowledge will be included in DOH’s bi-annual ocean beach health report that they use to identify areas of concern and strategize. 

The whole program and the fact that this data now exists highlights the power of citizen science networks, says Manuel Mejia, the Hawai’i regional program director for the Coral Reef Alliance. Hawai’i Wai Ola and the Coral Reef Alliance are working to train community volunteers to collect water quality samples following DOH protocols. Volunteers will then bring the samples to a water quality lab in Kona for analysis. 

“We can’t manage what we can’t measure,” says Mejia. “But we can give communities the tools they need to start measuring, and to advocate for an improvement in water quality which is so desperately needed across our islands. Allowing local communities to have more ownership over their resources and to have a say over how they’re utilized is invaluable.” 

The new dataset can be viewed online at hawaiiwaiola.com/data.  

ABOUT THE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) is committed to saving the world’s coral reefs. The nonprofit organization works at local, regional and global levels to keep coral reefs healthy so they can adapt to climate change and survive for generations to come. As one of the largest global NGOs focused exclusively on protecting coral reefs, CORAL has used cutting-edge science and community engagement for nearly 30 years to reduce direct threats to reefs and to promote scalable and effective solutions for their protection. Learn more about their approach at coral.org. 

Contact:

Marissa Stein, Associate Marketing Director

Coral Reef Alliance

mstein@coral.org

(510) 370-0502

The post New Water Quality Data Empowers Local Residents appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

West Maui is laden with historic sugarcane and pineapple plantations that are now out-of-use. During heavy rain events, the potentially contaminated soil from these degraded landscapes travels down old dirt roads, enters stream gulches, and ultimately reaches the ocean where it smothers coral reefs.

CORAL uses native plants—and over 100 supportive volunteers—to restore the degraded landscapes and trap the sediment before it has a chance to runoff into the ocean.

“This past year alone, our restoration projects have trapped over 20 tons of sediment that would have ultimately ended up on our coral reefs,” says Jen Vander Veur, CORAL’s Senior Program Manager on Maui. “That’s the equivalent weight of 10 cars. It’s so great seeing all of our hard work pay off.”

And that’s just the beginning—as the plants grow and the sediment traps continue to accumulate materials, their efficiency will grow.

“Ultimately, as our traps collect sediment, that sediment will fill in openings and slow the stormwater even further, trapping more sediment, and so on and so on,” says Vander Veur. “And the more sediment we can keep off of Maui’s reefs the better.”

Most hard corals are hosts to zooxanthellae, tiny algae with which they share a symbiotic relationship. Corals provide the algae with protected environments, and in exchange, the algae use the sun to photosynthesize and produce oxygen, and help the corals remove waste. When sediment is dumped on a coral, it blocks out the necessary sunlight to support this process and corals ultimately die.

West Maui’s coral reefs are important sources of coral larvae that replenish reefs across Maui, Lanai and Molokai. Because of this, the area has been designated a priority conservation site by the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources.

But a 2012 Wahikuli-Honokowai Watershed Management Plan prepared for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation Program identified erosion from degraded agricultural lands as a major threat to these vital coral reef ecosystems.

Funded in part by the Hawai‘i Department of Health, CORAL’s program is part of a larger collaboration of community organizations who are working to restore these lands and stabilize the slope.

“It’s great that there is such strong community and governmental support to protect these reefs,” says Vander Veur. “Even with COVID putting a pause to our in-person volunteer planting days, our volunteers have continued to keep this project moving forward.

Over 100 volunteers are growing native plants from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that number continues to grow. Once grown, volunteers drop their plants off at a greenhouse space donated to CORAL by Pacific Biodiesel, where they stay until they are ultimately planted at the restoration sites.

Volunteers interested in helping with this project should contact Larissa Treese at ltreese@coral.org.

This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) under assistance agreements C9-96978718-0 and C9-9697819-0 to the Hawai‘i State Department of Health, Clean Water Branch. The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the EPA, nor does the EPA endorse trade names or recommend the use of commercial products mentioned in this document.

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