Southeast Asian coral reefs
[2] Corals inhabit coastal waters off of every continent except Antarctica, with an abundance of reefs residing along Southeast Asian coastline in several countries including Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.
[2] However, despite their importance, Southeast Asian coral reefs are under severe threat from various factors, including overfishing, sedimentation, pollution, bleaching, ocean acidification, and human impacts.
Bleaching events, triggered by rising sea temperatures, cause corals to expel the algae living in their tissues, leading to their whitening and eventual death.
Ocean acidification, resulting from increased carbon dioxide absorption, poses another threat, weakening coral skeletons and hindering their growth.
Human activities, such as coastal development and tourism, further exacerbate the degradation of coral reefs, disrupting fragile ecosystems and causing irreparable damage.
For instance, Thailand has attempted to limit the number of tourists that can visit certain islands in a year or has implemented fees that would go towards counteracting the environmental damage on corals caused by tourism.
[12] Efforts in Thailand to rebuild reefs is part of a larger economic movement that attempts to preserve natural beauty in order to continue a lucrative tourism industry, a significant source of revenue for Thai islands.
The news isn't all bad: Establishment of the Sumilon Island marine reserve has resulted in a marked comeback of fish in adjacent areas.
[17] The Philippines ecotourism sector is unfortunately stifled at this time due to a limited budget and there are approximately 7,000 islands to patrol for destructive fishing techniques.
[20] A study in the early 1990s revealed that coral reefs are damaged by a variety of human activities such as household sewage, industrial waste, and agricultural chemicals from land that are washed to the sea.
[21] This was a new finding for the time period in which it was widely believed that the main damage to coral reefs was causes by oil spills or from pollution dumped by ships.
This survey was concentrated on SE Asia mainly because it was believed that coral reefs in this region were at great threat of extinction if continued to be unmanaged.
The agriculture sector experiences notable repercussions as longer dry periods attributed to El Niño result in substantial harm to crops and farm yields.
Additionally, coastal regions and marine ecosystems face significant threats, including coral bleaching due to El Niño events and the erosion of coastlines prompted by rising sea levels and intensified wave activity.
These multifaceted impacts underscore the urgent need for proactive measures to mitigate the effects of climate variability and safeguard vulnerable communities and ecosystems.
Human activities threaten an estimated 88 percent of Southeast Asia's coral reefs, jeopardizing the biological and economic value to society.
Changes in ocean chemistry due to increasing carbon dioxide level cause weakening of coral skeletons and reduce the accretion of reefs, especially at higher latitudes.
By filling up an empty bottle with fertiliser and kerosene a fisherman can create an improvised but powerful explosive and throw it into the ocean gaining immediate access to hundreds of dead fish.
[27] Laws created to prevent blast fishing are poorly enforced by officials of this area, and fisherman are highly motivated to continue this practice for survival and profit.
[37] The detrimental exaggeration of the natural occurrence can be explained by the increasing temperature of the oceans which is accused to be a result of the "Greenhouse Effect," or global warming (Blackman and Hughes).
Biological oceanographer Paul Falkowski and marine biologist Andrew Baker from the Wildlife Conservation Society study bleaching and why it occurs.
Their explanations can be put in their simplest terms as such: the algae's membrane melts from the rise in temperature and, as a result, spits out an "oxygen species" directly into the reef.
[25] One of the largest potential threats of ocean acidification to marine invertebrates is the corrosive properties of undersaturated waters with respect to calcium carbonate skeletons/shells, and a theoretical inability to calcify under these conditions.
The sinking pH of ocean waters makes it difficult for these shelled creatures to produce enough calcium carbonate to build and maintain their skeletal structures.
Poor land management practices, such as clear-cutting forests or improper soil conservation measures, can exacerbate sedimentation and its impacts on coral reefs.
According to Tiffany Adams of Hong Kong, "With the higher demands on the coral reef to produce for the increasing population and the introduction of the world market in the last fifty years, overexploitation has become the most prevalent threat."
The high levels of development and change in the methods of using the land have led to massive deforestation, which in turn has created a substantial amount of sediments and nutrient loads being placed in coastal environments.
The problem, of a community's abuse and overuse of a natural resource, as created through desperation, poverty and a lack of oversight, cannot be handled by a foreign, external organization or a well-intended NGO.
IUCN has defined an MPA as “any area of intertidal or subtidal terrain, together with its overlying water and associated flora, fauna, historical and cultural features, which has been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment”.
[56] Increased fish stocks resulting from marine protected areas only add to the solutions needed to revitalize Southeast Asian economies, life systems, and coral reefs.
