Coral reefs: Going, going, gone?

Text and Photos by Henrylito D. Tacio
Recently, while reading the “Philippine Daily Inquirer,” one news report caught my attention: “Ship runs aground, ruin coral reefs.”
Michelle Joy L. Padayhag, author of the report, wrote: “A Panamanian-registered cargo ship ran aground in a shark sanctuary and a known diving destination in Daanbantayan town in northern Cebu province, ruining nearly three hectares of coral reefs.”
MV Belle Rose was the name of the vessel that is registered under Alpha Ship Management Corporation.  “It came from Tsukimi, Japan, and was heading to San Fernando town in southern Cebu,” the report said.
According to the environmental group Greenpeace, the government should not allow Belle Rose to leave the country “to ensure that its owner rehabilitate the damaged reefs.” “We want to make sure the accountability … It takes time to rehabilitate these coral reefs,” Vince Cinches, Greenpeace’s oceans campaigner, was quoted as saying.
To most Filipinos, coral reefs may not be that important but having attended three International Coral Reef Symposiums (in Bali, Indonesia, then in Fort Lauderdale, United States and finally in Cairns Australia), I came to appreciate their value to our ecosystem.
The Philippines lies within the Coral Triangle, which includes more than 75 percent of all coral species and 35 percent of the world’s coral reefs. “The coral reefs of the Philippines is the second-largest in Southeast Asia,” noted the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The country’s coral reefs cover 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers).  “The reefs support extraordinary biodiversity, including more than 400 species of hard coral — 12 of which are unique to the area — and more than 900 species of reef fish,” WWF said.
The “rainforests of the sea” is how coral reefs are considered.  “Coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, housing tens of thousands of marine species,” says the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
According to the environment department, reefs buffer shorelines from waves and storms that cause flooding and erosion, support commercial and subsistence fisheries, and are home to a thriving recreation and tourism industry.
Although coral reefs contribute US$1.5 billion to the country’s economy through tourism and fishing, they are on the verge of extinction.  Recent studies showed some 98% of Philippine reefs are classified as threatened, with 70% at high or very high risk.
“Definitely, the Philippines is in danger of losing its valuable marine biodiversity,” pointed out Nomer Varua in his presentation at the International Conference on Environment and Renewable Energy in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. “The Philippines needs to address the problem because we all know for a fact that corals are the most productive ecosystem on earth.”
According to the DENR, major causes of coral reef destruction include destructive fishing, overfishing, sedimentation, ill-planned coastal development, and rapid population growth (the Philippines is now home to more than 100 million people).
“Coral reefs have survived tens of thousands of years of natural change, but many of them may not be able to survive the havoc brought by humankind,” the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) points out in its website.
As a response to the coral degradation in the country, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the DOST (DOST-PCAARRD) funded the Filipinnovation on Coral Reef Restoration Program.
Started in 2012, the program seeks to roll out coral transplantation technology using asexually reproduced corals to improve productivity of coral resources for sustainable fisheries.
Corals asexual reproduction technology for reef restoration involves the collection of dislodged live coral fragments or “corals of opportunity” (COPs) and attaching them to coral nursery unit (CNUs) for quick recovery and regeneration to increase survival rates upon transplantation in degraded coral reef sites. Each CNU is designed to hold 500 COPs per batch and can be used several times a year.
Varua, who is part of a team at Bataan Peninsula State University that’s restoring the reefs, reported in his presentation that about 90% of the corals survived.
“Over time, the rehabilitated reefs will be re-inhabited by fish aquatic life,” the DOST said in  a press statement. “The restoration of reefs has other major positive economic impacts. It improves the productivity and sustainability of municipal fisheries and at the same time enhances the beauty and value of the area for the underwater tourism industry.”
Even if the coral reefs can be restores and rehabilitated, they still face two major stresses posed climate change. These include further increases in ocean temperatures, which can trigger coral bleaching, and ocean acidification, which at critical thresholds makes it difficult for corals to build shells and skeletons.
“Corals’ spectacular coloration comes from symbiotic algae, which also nourish them,” the UCS explains.  “When rising ocean temperatures or ultraviolet light stress the corals, they lose their colorful algae, leaving only transparent tissue covering their white calcium-carbonate skeletons.  If the stresses are sustained, the corals die. Even small increases in water temperature can cause coral bleaching.”
 Since 1950, global mean sea surface temperatures have risen roughly 1° F (0.6° C).  “The intensity and frequency of coral bleaching has increased significantly over the past 30 years, causing death or severe damage to one-third of the world’s corals,” the UCS says.
The Philippines first suffered mass coral bleaching in 1998-99. Reefs off northern Luzon, west Palawan, the Visayas, and parts of Mindanao were affected. The worst bleaching — which affected 80% of corals — occurred around Bolinao.
That’s just for starter.  “Continued acidification of the ocean as it absorbs our carbon emissions poses another danger to corals and other sea animals that need calcium carbonate to build shells or skeletons,” the UCS says.
Scientists warn of a threshold point where the ocean becomes so acidic that calcium carbonate — in the mineral form that corals use — is unavailable to corals for building reefs.
Studies show that a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide would reduce coral calcification more than 30%.