OCEAN COMMOTION Kingman Reef, south of , is thriving. But all the world’s coral could be gone by 2050.

2 readersdigest.com 0/09 Undersea coral gardens are in danger of extinction. Steve Chapple takes aplungeoffHawaiitoinvestigate.

BRIAN J. SKERRY/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC STOCK 3 F aig h iapaac fthe of coral. world’s disappearance the the making: in disaster ecological investi- an of undersea gation my begin to I’ve come place the earth—and beauti- on places most ful the of one is Hawaiian) old in God” to (“pathway Kealakekua burp. occasional the with rock, against 4 EDZONE DEAD nreigdee noteclear, the into deeper Snorkeling tsud iesandpaper like sounds It coral. on chewing fish hear can f h oaCat olto skligoc-ooflcoral. once-colorful killing is pollution Coast, Kona the Off i sado aai I Hawaii, of Island Big the off of Bay, surface Kealakekua the on etly otn efcl qui- perfectly loating oysta aeu h jeweled the up make animals—called polyps—that soft the gobble mowers lawn and little They like reefs. algae scrape coral of gardeners are the fish these bottom, the of cushions cave. shallow a in tangs. sleeps shark reef bright-yellow white-tip a a night, swirls 60 Awaiting shore of to school Closer algae. at nibble spots, orange Achilles with of black tangs, couple powerful A coral. lobe with yellow lemon- of fistful a fish on chomps grinders bigheaded parrot a as blue watch I water, warm ln ihsaucis hs pin- those urchins, sea with Along readersdigest.com 8/09

JAMES L. WING colonies in the shallow seas of our to treat cancer, HIV,and other diseases; planet, from Hawaii to , the Red and an estimated $105 billion a year Sea to ’s Great Barrier Reef, from tourist revenue in the Caribbean the world’s largest and most diverse alone. The threat to the world’s coral is ecosystem. Polyps lead a simple athreattoallofus. enough life, taking in calcium and car- bon dioxide from the water to form Adjacent to the City of Refuge Na- their limestone homes, putting up tiny tional Park, the ocean looks as clear tentacles at night to sting and capture as it did at Kealakekua. But 40 feet plankton for their food. Their colors down, a blanket of brown goo the size come from the symbiotic algae that of a football field covers the coral. Re- live within their flesh. These single- sembling a mat of bad Jell-O, it’s algae celled plants photosynthesize and run amok. make sugars from sunlight, giv- ing the corals the energy they need for growth. WHAT’S KILLING Reefs are home to millions of THE CORAL? animals—at least 25 percent of all fish species. These under- WARMER OCEANS When the water heats water worlds are so lush that up above a certain temperature, by even a degree or two, corals expel the colorful algae they’ve become known as the in their bodies, turn white (a process called rain forests of the sea. But just bleaching), and often die. Bleached coral can as rain forests are in trouble on grow back if reef conditions improve, though land, all is not well beneath the it takes at least a decade. waves. Worldwide, half of all reefs have vanished. Half the POLLUTION If too many nutrients get into coral in U.S. waters is in fair to the water, from fertilizer or sewage, the sea- poor health. Stag horn and elk weeds that abound in coral reefs grow too horn coral are now on the U.S. fast and the coral is smothered, unable to feed at night or draw sunlight during the day. endangered species list, the first corals ever. FISHING If the reef’s colorful grazers are If reefs disappear, we lose a taken away, for food or home aquariums, source of extraordinary beauty the seaweeds take over. and biodiversity. We also lose CARBON DIOXIDE The vast amounts we an underwater buffer that holds humans have been emitting into the atmos- back waves during hurricanes; phere since the industrial revolution have anurseryforfishthatnourisha begun to turn the oceans more acidic, which billion people around the world in coming decades will make it harder for and provide 200 million jobs in corals to form their limestone skeletons. the fishing industry; a home for The effect is a bit like putting a tooth plants and animals being used in a glass of lemon juice. REEF RESCUERS (Left to right) Jeremy Jackson, Nancy Knowlton, Ayana Johnson, and Jennifer Smith, all of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, are researching ways to save coral.

I tread water above three research “It had been a very happy reef for divers from state and federal agencies decades,” Bill Walsh, head of the state who are taking time-lapse pictures and Division of Aquatic Resources for the snipping algae samples to study later. Big Island of Hawaii, tells me after- Looking at the mess, they guess what ward. “Then, overnight, it’s in a state happened: A torrential rain passed of red alert.” through local septic tanks and fertil- Nearby, down slope from a devel- ized farm soil on its way to the ocean. opment of million-dollar vacation This added nitrogen to the reef and homes, it’s the same story. During con- made the algae bloom, just as fertil- struction, runoff containing tons of izer boosts your lawn. dirt and silt down a canyon has made

6 readersdigest.com 8/09 its way onto the reef. It’s a coral grave- double invasion of nasty macro algae. yard now, brown and black with mud. At times in recent years, the algae has Itakeaquickflightacrossthe caused the nearby beaches of Kihei to Alenuihaha Channel to Maui, where reek. Tourists have been leaving the an hour later I’m snorkeling off the fa- area, and beachgoers and divers are mous Maui Ocean Center, in Ma’alaea reluctant to go into the murky water. Harbor. Underwater here, it looks like In Maui, the problem was once the so- arottentossedsalad.Iseeacresof lution: injection wells. Sewage from what resembles butter lettuce, punc- homes and hotels was gathered and tuated by thousands of heads of forced down pipe wells. This is a twisted dark hair, an out-of-control clean, intelligent idea on the mainland,

PHOTOGRAPHED BY CHRIS HARTLOVE 7 but in Hawaii’s porous volcanic soil, pound, smoking couch the waste seeps back up at the edge potato.” of the sea, where it causes riotous The couple met at Ja- algae growth. maica’s Discovery Bay research station, and ext I fly to Califor- over three decades they nia to meet with witnessed the demise of Nancy Knowlton the island’s reefs, from a and her husband, Je- coral playground alive remy Jackson, two with polyps and parrot scientists on a fish to a warm soup of shared mission to save the world’s tiny fish and dead rub- Noceans. Nicknamed Drs. Doom and ble. In 2003, Knowlton Gloom, they don’t hesitate to make founded the Center for dire predictions about coral. Marine Biodiversity “As long as we continue to dump and Conservation at greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, Scripps, where they overfish, and contaminate our water both conduct research, supplies, we are heading for an envi- to inspire a new gener- ronmental train wreck as far as corals ation of scientists to are concerned,” Knowlton tells me in look at reefs and oceans her office at the Scripps Institution of as interconnected sys- Oceanography in La Jolla. One of the tems. In this view, par- world’s leading coral experts, she also rot fish are vital to reef holds an endowed chair in marine health because they eat science at the Smithsonian, in Wash- the algae that kills the ington, D.C. coral. So is the white- “Coral, worldwide, is like a blighted tipped cave-dweller, city,” Jackson says. “Some buildings which weeds out fish are going up, but more are being taken that might eat too much coral. down by the wrecking ball. So while Their mission now is to get people to

the city persists, it’s still dying.” realize that while the reef situation is JAMES WATT Discussing the multitide of reasons dire, it’s not hopeless. “There’s a decade for reef destruction, Knowlton makes to go before true catastrophe strikes,” acomparisontopeoplewhosuffer Knowlton says. “We can buy time by heart attacks: “It’s not one thing in par- treating coral ecosystems right on the ticular that kills them. They’re over- local level.” weight, they smoke, they don’t Scripps assistant professor Jennifer exercise, they eat a high-cholesterol Smith, the first to discover that bad diet. That’s what coral reefs are fac- Jell-O back on the Big Island of ing. We’ve turned them into a 400- Hawaii, is buying time by finding ways

8 readersdigest.com 8/09 SAFE HAVEN Coral reefs are protected in \Hawaii’s Marine National Monument.

to combat algae. In an ambitious proj- market,” says Smith. ect she’s launching this year off the “Working with local fishermen is of Caribbean island of Curaçao, divers paramount importance,” adds Ayana will enclose 20-meter sections of hairy, Johnson, a Scripps PhD candidate who seaweed-infested reef under circular is researching ways to stop the over- cage nets. The local gardeners—par- fishing that’s destroying so much rot fish and tang—will then be intro- coral—while still allowing fishermen duced, along with a scattering of sea to earn a living. She’s developed an ar- urchins for bottom cleanup. “We’ll buy rowhead-shaped fish trap that allows the parrot fish from local fishermen, young snappers, groupers, and tangs who would otherwise kill and sell to escape. A normal trap kills an aver- them for a dollar a pound in the local age of 12 fish; Johnson’s traps let six of 9 at saving the corals: reseeding them. DO MORE Scientists and students are here for How you can help save the reefs. the annual spawning of the coral, which takes place two to three days Snorkeling or scuba diving Don’t touch the coral. It’s alive, and you’ll after the August or September full crush the polyps. moon. The event is as giddy and wild for Swimming Apply a biodegradable visiting researchers as it may be for sunscreen, then wait at least 15 min- utes before you jump into the water. the coral. Scientists and students boat Some 20,000 tons of suntan lotion out to the reef at sunset, to be in place washes off beachgoers each year; by midnight. Egg or sperm pops out the chemicals boost viruses in of each polyp’s calcareous skeleton seawater and block the sun corals until the surrounding sea looks as need to grow. milky white as an underwater snow- Sailing Use moorings, not anchor storm. Divers (sometimes accompa- chains, which break coral branches. nied by thousands of hungry fish) gather up bundles of fertilized eggs, Eating Avoid fish, like grouper and remove them from the water, and shark, that are caught in ways that place them in collecting tanks. harm other . (Get a pocket “It’s super-fun, a magical event,” says guide on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Tali Vardi, a graduate student in coral website; click on Seafood Watch.) reef ecology—“the synchronicity of all Jewelry Don’t buy anything made these creatures knowing when is the from endangered coral. right time to release their gametes. It’s Golfing Tell the club manager a real spectacle of nature.” The re- that pesticides and fertilizers, good searchers sort the eggs by species, a for fairways, are bad for coral. What task that can go on all night. Although happens on land does not stay these baby corals will be taken to a lab on land. for research, similar ones can be nursed along like seedlings and planted on those go. “If 100 traps are in use on rocks, where they can begin to secrete the island 100 days a year,” says John- new homes. son, “that’s 60,000 fish left alive to to graze seaweeds and algae off coral Athousandmilesto the north and west reefs and to reproduce. That’s a lot of of where I first slipped into Hawaiian fish, and it’s a lot better than telling waters is the Papahanaumokuakea Ma- fishermen to quit fishing and go get a rine National Monument, established job in a hotel.” by President Bush in 2006. A pro- tected area the size of , it’s In Key Largo, Florida, researchers are a haven for rare species such as involved in another hopeful attempt Hawaiian monk seals and green tur-

10 readersdigest.com 0/09 tles, as well as for corals. beauty of reefs. Before the Northwest Marine parks are important because Hawaiian protected area was desig- they allow coral and fish to avoid the nated, Australia had set aside one- ravages of pollution and overfishing. third of its Great Barrier Reef, creat- Fish are allowed to grow, fertile fe- ing a no-take zone that saved millions males are not caught for food, and del- of reef fish. After Australia, the island icate reefs are not crushed. Size nation of outlawed exploita- matters in marine parks, since coral tion around the in the babies can drift some distance before Central Pacific, creating the world’s replanting themselves. Overly small newest, largest sanctuary, only to be parks result in too many fish being topped by Papahanaumokuakea—at caught just outside their boundaries. 140,000 square miles, now the largest. The creation of marine protected These gargantuan preserves buy areas, dozens in the and time, just as Knowlton and Jackson hundreds around the world, may be advise, for our planet’s coral reefs. As the friendliest development to hit more and more of us discover their corals since Jacques Cousteau in- beauty and sensitivity, we can work vented the Aqua-Lung, strapped on an to change our ways on land so that underwater camera, and introduced these beautiful stony creatures may millions of landlubbers to the tranquil survive under the sea.

PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT 11