Great Barrier Reef--Problem Solving Essay
The Great Barrier Reef | Koh Yi Shing
2013.03.19 |
The world’s largest coral reef system, The Great Barrier Reef, is shrinking at an incredibly rapid rate (Environmental Threats). Over the past 27 years, it has lost approximately half of its coral (Happening to GBR). This is due to many reasons; it includes oil spills, poor water quality, shipping, climate change etc. (Environmental Threats). One of the main reasons is overfishing (Environmental Threats). For example, the species of Crown-of-thorns Starfish have killed a large portion of the Great Barrier Reef (Happening to GBR). This starfish has few predators because humans are overfishing many of them (Crown-of-thorns Starfish). To prevent future damage, humans must stop overfishing so species that are destroying the reef can be destroyed. Also, the pollution brought by the boats of the fishers is contaminating the reef (Environmental Threats). The reason behind overfishing is people. Therefore, the restriction should be for the people. Solutions that would decrease the shrinking rate of the Great Barrier Reef would be to forbid fishing near the reef, to destroy the species of Crown-of-thorns Starfish, or simply close off the reef until it returns to its original size. To forbid fishing near the reef, the Coral Sea would be guarded and any boaters would be punished. This can be done so by checking individuals when visiting the Great Barrier Reef, and holding on to their identification card until they leave. Those who show any signs of fishing or wanting to fish will be kicked out of the area and will never be able to return. The Crown-of-thorns Starfish is one of the main causes of the decrease in size of the reef. Thus, introducing predators that will prey on the starfish is a solution. Predators such as tritons occasionally eat this species of starfish (Giant Triton). This type of predators should not be introduced because they are a voracious destroyer of the coral reef (Giant Triton). An
2013.03.19 |
The world’s largest coral reef system, The Great Barrier Reef, is shrinking at an incredibly rapid rate (Environmental Threats). Over the past 27 years, it has lost approximately half of its coral (Happening to GBR). This is due to many reasons; it includes oil spills, poor water quality, shipping, climate change etc. (Environmental Threats). One of the main reasons is overfishing (Environmental Threats). For example, the species of Crown-of-thorns Starfish have killed a large portion of the Great Barrier Reef (Happening to GBR). This starfish has few predators because humans are overfishing many of them (Crown-of-thorns Starfish). To prevent future damage, humans must stop overfishing so species that are destroying the reef can be destroyed. Also, the pollution brought by the boats of the fishers is contaminating the reef (Environmental Threats). The reason behind overfishing is people. Therefore, the restriction should be for the people. Solutions that would decrease the shrinking rate of the Great Barrier Reef would be to forbid fishing near the reef, to destroy the species of Crown-of-thorns Starfish, or simply close off the reef until it returns to its original size. To forbid fishing near the reef, the Coral Sea would be guarded and any boaters would be punished. This can be done so by checking individuals when visiting the Great Barrier Reef, and holding on to their identification card until they leave. Those who show any signs of fishing or wanting to fish will be kicked out of the area and will never be able to return. The Crown-of-thorns Starfish is one of the main causes of the decrease in size of the reef. Thus, introducing predators that will prey on the starfish is a solution. Predators such as tritons occasionally eat this species of starfish (Giant Triton). This type of predators should not be introduced because they are a voracious destroyer of the coral reef (Giant Triton). An
Bibliography: 1. “Environmental Threats to the Great Barrier Reef” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_threats_to_the_Great_Barrier_Reef 2. “Giant Triton” http://oceana.org/en/explore/marine-wildlife/giant-triton 3. “Crown-of-thorns Starfish” http://oceana.org/en/explore/marine-wildlife/crown-of-thorns-starfish 4. “Archaeologists Announce Discovery of Underwater Man-made Wall” http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146410806 5. “What’s Happening to the Great Barrier Reef?” http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112704677/great-barrier-reef-coral-cover-loss-100212/