Coral reefs are like beautiful, natural gardens. They’re a lot more important than you may think. They house many animals and plant lives, and keep the ocean clean. 

Why You Want to Save Coral Reefs 

Coral reefs not only protect ocean life, but they also keep humans safe. The reefs protect beaches from erosion, and can also prevent floods, storms, and can prevent communities from being damaged by the sea.¹ Another important part of coral reefs is the live rocks. Live rocks are covered with sea invertebrates, and they filtrate out poisons and wastes which makes the water much cleaner and healthier for the water and everything in it. ² There are also gardeners of coral reefs: sea urchins. Sea urchins control the algae that can be bad for the reefs if it gets out of hand.³ Without them, coral reefs can collapse. Roughly 25% of the whole world’s fish are dependent on clean and healthy coral reefs, and many sea lives live, reproduce, and hunt in coral reefs. ⁴ As you can see, these gardens are much more than just a sight-seeing location. 

What is Causing Coral Reefs to Crumble 

Coral reefs aren’t dying because of the fish or the plants or the ocean. They’re dying because of humans. Some of the things that people do that destroy the reefs are overfishing, ocean acidification, (which is when carbon dioxide is absorbed into the water ⁵ ) and people destroying corals, like breaking pieces of coral off of the rocks or their colony. ⁶

What We Can Do to Save the Reefs 

To save the reefs, we need to identify the problem. Ocean acidification is entirely pollution so anything we do to stop polluting will benefit the coral reefs. You can try not to drive as much or carpool more! It is really hard not to drive or pollute as much but we need to try. You can donate to clean organizations trying to stop this problem, like Greenpeace or Ocean Conservancy. You can also support people who are trying to make a change in the environment, for example, Greta Thunberg. Last, with physical destruction, we just can’t break the corals. We should let them be the way they are and not damage them. If you live in places that have dying coral reefs, you can sign up for programs that can help save them, like the Coral Restoration Foundation. The coral reefs can be saved, and we can make a change if we go for it. 🐠🐚🐡 ⁷

1. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_protect.html
2. The Brilliant Deep Rebuilding the World’s Coral Reefs by Kate Messner and Matthew Forsythe 
3. The Brilliant Deep Rebuilding the World’s Coral Reefs by Kate Messner and Matthew Forsythe 
4. https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/marine-life/coral-reef-ecosystems#:~:text=Benefits%20of%20coral%20reef%20ecosystems,food%2C%20income%2C%20and%20protection.
5. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/acidification.html#:~:text=Ocean%20acidification%20refers%20to%20a,CO2)%20from%20the%20atmosphere.&text=These%20changes%20in%20ocean%20chemistry,non%2Dcalcifying%20organisms%20as%20well.
6. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/06/scientists-work-to-save-coral-reefs-climate-change-marine-parks/#:~:text=Despite%20their%20importance%2C%20warming%20waters,coral%20reefs%20around%20the%20world.
7. https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=885