Chemical Bleaching
The Deteriorating Great Barrier Reef Australian government officials in the last few years have been taking the protection of the Great Barrier Reef into their own hands. After creating an eye on the reef program, which specifically targeted the health of the Great Barrier Reef, scientists created algae killing bleach that would be applied to infected sections of the reef. Practices worked well until 2014 after a double dose of the bleach. After many tourist encounters with the reef a few individuals took notice in the declining health over the reef. After reaching out to the Australian Government about the concerns United States Marine Biologists were informed that a “mass bleaching event is taking its toll on the Great Barrier Reef for an
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Since the reef is dying at an alarming rate the chance for outside influence is very dim. Richard Fitzpatrick, a professional filmed and Marine Biologist, mentions that the second bleaching of the reef “came 30 years early” (Fitzpatrick par. 10) and with that said, by 2050 the reef may be nothing but a coral graveyard if emission levels do not settle and another bleaching does not occur. With the second bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef occurring so early the toxicity levels on the reef are too great to be repaired naturally. This example of chemical bleaching should be noted in history as a reason for retiring the practice of using man made chemicals on reefs to promote their …show more content…
With the reef once containing 25 percent of the biosphere’s fish species, many being market species, humans will be negatively affected as well as anything that would consume those certain fish species. Chemical bleaching needs to be cut from reef restoration programs, especially on the Great Barrier Reef. This practice should be replaced with a live coral farming and restoration program that can help build the reef over the next few decades. The worlds reefs are under attack from manmade chemicals and with the Great Barrier Reef being already 22 percent dead there is no place on this planet for the bleaching of the world’s reefs. Toxins are putting the planets ecosystems at risk and the human population may not see the once thriving reefs in the next 30 years. Something that has been alive for millions of years may be dead because of two years of chemical bleaching. The Great Barrier reef needs help. The human population needs
Since the reef is dying at an alarming rate the chance for outside influence is very dim. Richard Fitzpatrick, a professional filmed and Marine Biologist, mentions that the second bleaching of the reef “came 30 years early” (Fitzpatrick par. 10) and with that said, by 2050 the reef may be nothing but a coral graveyard if emission levels do not settle and another bleaching does not occur. With the second bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef occurring so early the toxicity levels on the reef are too great to be repaired naturally. This example of chemical bleaching should be noted in history as a reason for retiring the practice of using man made chemicals on reefs to promote their …show more content…
With the reef once containing 25 percent of the biosphere’s fish species, many being market species, humans will be negatively affected as well as anything that would consume those certain fish species. Chemical bleaching needs to be cut from reef restoration programs, especially on the Great Barrier Reef. This practice should be replaced with a live coral farming and restoration program that can help build the reef over the next few decades. The worlds reefs are under attack from manmade chemicals and with the Great Barrier Reef being already 22 percent dead there is no place on this planet for the bleaching of the world’s reefs. Toxins are putting the planets ecosystems at risk and the human population may not see the once thriving reefs in the next 30 years. Something that has been alive for millions of years may be dead because of two years of chemical bleaching. The Great Barrier reef needs help. The human population needs