Coral is dying: Expert

Coral is dying: Expert

VICTORIA (AFP): Coral is dying at massive rates around the world as a result of global warming, U.S. expert warned.

He said 80 percent of the corals in the Seychelles and 90 percent of those in Indonesia were already dead, and that the worst was yet to come because sea temperatures were expected to soar to record heights next year.

Thomas Goreau, the president of the U.S.-based Global Coral Reef Alliance, said the dying corals could have serious repercussions on the food chain, the economy and the environment.

In the Indian Ocean around the Seychelles, the normal sea temperature was 29 degrees Celsius, but at some points it had been recorded at 33 degrees Celsius.

That was resulting in bleaching of the coral on a scale never seen before, he said. "When they are bleached, they are not dead yet, but they are starving and don't reproduce -- and this is followed by death if the conditions continue."