Make it go away…

Today, I stumbled upon these two pictures I took back a year ago (2017) at the Norman Reef (part of northern Great Barrier Reef in Australia).

It simply makes me sad watching them as it just throughs it right at my face how sensitive this great ecosystem is. It suffers from heating ocean temperatures and rising acidity levels. Look at how the degeneration of the coral is underway. The few remaining coral is slowing turning white (bleaching) and the turf algae has taken over where the the once healthy algae lived, making it all look filthy and grassy.

I sincerely do not hope that we have passed the point of no return yet for rescuing our coral reefs around the world.

Healthy corals are the cornerstone of all other life in these waters. Both the algae that live on the coral and serve a nutrition for the coral themselves, but also the fish that live off and in the coral, a healthy environment is required for them to survive. If the coral disappear, it is not only a disaster to something so beautiful and astonishing, but also to the fish and animal life that live among it. Also many people on the local tropical islands make their existence from fishing which also will be threatened if the coral reefs should die around us.

Finally, I would love to show my kids the Great Barrier Reef, like I also hope for their children and so on to experience and enjoy this fabulous wonder of the world.

Make a GREEN and SUSTAINABLE living as we all need healthy oceans to survive.

Dying coral reefs in Australia

I recently visited the Great Barrier Reef in the northern Australia. I did three dives on various reefs and all of the dives were ‘sad’ dives. I was in the same area three years ago where everything bloomed and had lots of color and life but this time around many (most) corals were bleached or bleaching or had died already. Over the past recent year the water has been very hot and the cloud cover minimal. The type of coral living here (northern Australia) is not used to +30C at 20m depth – it is way too warm so they slowly turn white and after 12-14 weeks under this condition they simply die. And keep in mind that corals are not plants but animals.

Global warming and rising sea temperatures need to taken seriously and dealt with so wonders like the Great Barrier Reef also can be enjoyed by our children.

(Photo: TUSA dive, Cairns, Australia)