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."