A ‘first aid kit’ for the world’s coral reefs?

Battered by overfishing, local weather change and air pollution, the world’s coral reefs are struggling to outlive.

Now, one group of scientists is sketching out a new blueprint to avoid wasting them.  

Their findings, summarized in the present day in an op-ed for CNN, quantity to a survival information for the world’s remaining reefs.  

“Those of us working to save reefs have a few different strategies we can implement,” explains Jack Kittinger, the writer of the op-ed and head of Conservation Worldwide’s international fisheries and aquaculture work. “The two most fundamental ones involve putting in place strong fishing regulations or creating a marine protected area.”

These two methods mix to create what he calls a “coral reef first aid kit.”

The scientists, together with Kittinger, studied using these first help kits in 1,800 coral reefs around the globe. What they discovered is that the locations the place we are able to make the most important potential conservation good points are those which have skilled comparatively little stress from human exercise.   

“The less stress a reef is under, the greater the conservation potential,” Kittinger writes. “Reefs in this category exist in all the oceans — they aren’t in just one country, or one region. Some of these reefs are fairly degraded. Others are fairly healthy. But they all have the potential for significant conservation gains.”

In accordance with Kittinger, these are the reefs that governments and conservationists ought to prioritize for defense and restoration shifting ahead. 

“If we do nothing, these reefs may eventually become highly degraded and beyond our ability to help,” Kittinger says. “But if we invest intensively now, we can help these areas join their healthiest and most vibrant peers.”

Jack Kittinger is the senior director of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture Program in Conservation Worldwide’s Middle for Oceans. Raul Quintana is a senior author at Conservation Worldwide. Wish to learn extra tales like this? Join e-mail updates right here. Donate to Conservation Worldwide right here.

Cowl picture: A coral reef in Timor Leste (© Cristina Mittermeier/sealegacy)

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