“World Could Lose Coral Reefs by End of Century, UN Environment Report Warns | | UN News.” United Nations, United Nations, news.un.org/en/story/2020/12/1080582. Accessed 14 Feb. 2021.

In this article, it talks about the importance of coral reefs and what they do for our planet. They also protect coastlines from erosion from large waves and storms that can impact the surface such as homes and buildings, also sink carbon and nitrogen and help recycle nutrients. The decline in coral reefs will affect more than just the marine life, we need them as much as the marine life needs them. Finally the article talks about coral bleaching which plays a huge role in the extinction of coral reefs.   

I think it is very important for articles like this to be out for the public to see. It’s important because the reefs don’t just benefit the ocean but it also benefits us, as stated before it helps with barriers from storms, creates homes for fish, and cleans our carbons sinks. More articles like this to bring awareness to our coral reefs can help people understand the threat that climate change and pollution is causing to our reefs. I believe if more people realize the issues then we can decrease the amount of pollution that goes into the oceans to hurt sea life, and also the pollution that goes into the atmosphere that creates greenhouse gases that cause the waters to warm up. 

American Geophysical Union. “Warming, Acidic Oceans May Nearly Eliminate Coral Reef Habitats by 2100.” Science Daily, 18 Feb. 2020, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200218124358.htm.  Accessed 14 Feb. 2021. 

This article by the American Geophysical Union explains how the sea levels are rising and the temperature and acidic waters could eliminate all coral reefs by 2100. Scientists predict that 70-90% of the coral reefs will be gone in the next 20 years because of climate change and pollution that is ra[idly increasing. Habitat lands are being threatened everyday by climate change effects, but there are many people and companies who are trying to help to slow down the process so they don’t become extinct. Finally, the article stated that coral reefs are going to be the main species to be impacted from climate change are coral reefs. 

In my opinion I thought this article was really sad, it was a tragic realization to know that it’s possible for the majority of our reefs could be gone in the next decade. Although it is very hard to stop the increase in climate change, there are many other ways to slow down the process such as decreasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are warming up the Earth’s surface, also pollution has a big impact in the declining of the coral reefs because it affects the waters and the marine life, which circles back to affecting the health of the reefs. This ongoing cycle will just proceed to get worse and worse if we keep doing what we are doing.

Calvan, Bobby Caina. “Report Sounds an Alarm on Ongoing Decline of US Coral Reefs.” AP News, 10 Nov. 2020, apnews.com/article/science-climate-atlantic-ocean-climate-changeoceans865d4f4a67fb7afe376f3cf39df26390. Accessed 14 Feb. 2021. 

In this article, Bobby Caina Calvan talks about how the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Maryland stated that coral’s health in Florida, and Hawaii are in really bad shape. The reefs are also important in Florida especially because they create a barrier to stop bad storms such as hurricanes. West Florida has been very worried about the decline in reefs, due to the many hurricanes that occur and the high population that lives along the coast that can be impacted by the hurricanes. Finally, there has been an outbursts of algae blooms along coastal waters of Florida due to pollution from people. 

This article did a really good job of explaining the other impacts coral reefs have on our planet besides being a tourist attraction and keeping our ocean life healthy. I never really thought of how they can create barriers to stop hurricanes from coming on land and causing damage to the land and peoples homes and buildings. Also I thought it was interesting that universities do daily studies and tests on the coral reefs to keep track of the health and maintain them when they are struggling to survive.  

Alberts, Elizabeth Claire. “Hawaiian Reefs Lost Almost Half Their Fish to Pollution and Fishing.” Mongabay, Elizabeth Claire Alberts, 21 Sept. 2020, news.mongabay.com/2020/09/hawaiian-reefs-lost-almost-half-their-fish-to-pollution-and-fishig/ Accessed 14 Feb. 2021. 

In this article by Elizabeth Claire Alberts, she talks about how there has been a 45% decline of the fish population in Hawaii due to the coral reefs dying. Each fish has their duty to help keep the coral reefs healthy and if several fish that have impacts on the reefs start to die, then the coral will also die because the fish aren’t maintaining the reefs. More unhealthy algae will start to grow on the croal, to add on, if the coral starts to die rapidly then the fish that are alive have nowhere to hide from predators, and get the food the coral provides. The West Hawaii lands are sectioned off in groups based on areas and are each protected by the state laws. Finally, the Oceans Target program has claimed to fix 30% of Hawaii’s reefs by 2030. 

I really liked this article because it gave me insight and educated me on the different projects that are being performed in Hawaii in order to protect their reefs from collapsing. I found it really sad how the fish are declining as well, which can really impact humans and the reefs, as the article stated, fish helps keep the coral alive and healthy and the coral provides shelter, protection, and food for the fish. So without the balance both populations will decline. Hawaii has many coral reefs that are attractions to tourists which means that many humans who visit these reefs have an impact on the pollution so the protection acts are good because it gives limits on what tourists can and can’t which leads to healthier coral. 

Fritts, Rachel. “US Plans to Protect Thousands of Miles of Coral Reefs in Pacific and Caribbean.” The Guardian, Rachel Fritts, 4 Dec. 2020, www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/04/us-pitches-coral-protections-thousands-miles-climate-change-threat. Accessed 14 Feb. 2021. 

In this article by Rachel Fritts, talks about how the US plans to protect over 6,000 sq miles of coral reefs habitat around the US. Climate change has been the most severe threat to the coral reefs so far, it has threatened about 12 species of coral across their range. Climate change has caused ocean acidification which has caused the growing to stop growing, coral bleaching increasingly caused by warmer water, and also overpopulation, bad fishing tactics and a significant amount of pollution has all had an impact on the species declining. Today Florida has only 2% of the original coral cover, along with the Carribean that contains most of the rest. The new habit protection act is trying to help save these reefs from the damage caused by climate change and pollution. The Center for Biological Diversity sued Trump’s admissions for the lack of the protection on the reef species. Finally, the US is trying hard to slow down the process of the reefs declining by putting them under the Endangered Species Act. 

In my opinion, I think this is a great article and shows how people are trying to save the reefs. If our reefs start to rapidly decline then it will impact our oceans severely, and it would also affect us because our marine life provides a majority of the world’s food. I think more people should be aware of the issue and more people try to help. The population can help by picking up their trash so it doesn’t go into the ocean. Also I was happy to read how the US has acknowledged the problem and are partnering up in more protection acts with other states and countries. This could really have a good impact on our reefs and hopefully keep our reefs from declining. 

Gray, J. (2020, June 7). Reef A palooza california 2020 postponed until next year. Marine Depot. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://blog.marinedepot.com/2020/06/reef-a-palooza-california-2020-postponed-until-next-year.ht 

This article demonstrates an organized program that highlights the importance of marine life, and ways to keep the environment safe and healthy. The organization allows people to educate a bunch of people on ways to keep the coral reefs bright and healthy. An advantage of why people should be educated about the effects of the coral reefs dying is because people can then take more action to try and save the reefs from going extinct. Also one program that is colliding with the reefapalooza organization is SCAMS which helps encourage many advantages and allure for coral reef protection. Due to the recent global pandemic, this event has been postponed, but there are still a bunch of acts being taken care of to provide information and to spread awareness for the coral reefs.   

In my opinion I think it’s important that there are companies that are taking action on the effects of the loss in coral reefs. With more people educated on the horrific events happening for the coral reefs because more people will be aware and will help contribute to the regrowth of the reefs to keep them from going extinct.  

Oceana. (August, 2020) Corals of the pacific. Oceana Protecting the World’s Oceans. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://usa.oceana.org/corals-pacific 

Although California isn’t home to many shore coral reefs, it is home to thousands of deep-sea coral reefs. California’s deep-sea coral can live up to hundreds of thousands of years, similar to the redwood tree in California. In San Francisco, Monterey, and Channel Islands are populated with many different types of deep-sea coral such as hydrocoral, sea fans, and black coral. These types of coral are very large and can live for a long time. People who dive in southern California see a lot of Hydrocorals and gorgonian sea fans when diving around the coast. Scientists have also recently found a new species of coral called the Christmas Tree coral. The coral got its name from being able to grow 6ft tall and has a light pink, red and white flocked that resembles a Christmas tree. With new discoveries being found in California it shows  the importance the procession laws need to be on the deep waters of California. Finally, divers and scitneset have only discovered 1% of California’s ocean grounds.  

In my opinion, I think it’s great we are finding more and more new species of coral reefs in the deep coast of california because it shows there are still productions of coral and most of them aren’t rapidly dying from climate change. Also it’s crazy to me how we have only explored 1% of California’s deep ocean barriers, I can’t imagine what other exotic species and creatures that live in the unexplored waters. I got the opportunity to see hydrocoral and sea fans during my scuba diving experience, so I think it’s great that more and more divers are starting to dive in the Marine to find new species of coral.  

Desk, News Partner, P. R. (2020, October 7). Unsubstantiated coral ‘reef safe’ claims en joined in california. Patch. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from

https://patch.com/california/sonomavalley/unsubstantiated-coral-reef-safe-claims-enjoined-california 

California’s district Attorney Jill Ravitch announced that Tropical Seas has announced that the environmental enforcement has regulated more laws to protect the coral reefs. There have been maybe outbreaks of false advertising laws, and unlawful business practices from how some people wanted to protect the coral reefs. As the 21 districts of attorney for the Tropical seas in California have tried to come up with many ways to protect the reefs, not only in the pacific but also other coastal states, California has created the best environment safe sunscreen. These sunscreens are produced in different parts of California and are biodegradable and safe for newby coral reefs. Although recently the Attorney district found out the frad products being sold to customers, and the sunscreen was not necessarily biodegradable nor safe for the environment. There has been many law enforcement during this event. The Tropical Seas program had to pay $50,000 to the National fish and wildlife foundation for the amount of damage they caused to the customers and potentially the coral reefs as well. 

Reading this article, I thought it was good how even though California’s coast isn’t home to many coral reefs, it still provides the production of safe products for coral reefs in other states. Reading more into the article I was disappointed to see that one of the biggest “biodegradable” products wasn’t as good as the advertisements made it. In my perspective I think these types of products should go through measures of safety and efficentness tests to be sure they are beneficial for the environment and humans to use.  

Glasgow, L. (2020, February 6). Southern California’s underwater world of artificial reefs. The Log, California’s Boating & Fishing News. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.thelog.com/local/southern-californias-underwater-world-of-artificial-reefs/ 

This article talks about artificial reefs, which were brought as an idea to produce more reefs in the late 1950s. These artificial reefs were popular in southern California, these artificial reefs were mainly used for the study of new automobiles if they would be able to be dropped in these types of conditions. This was used for future fishing in the harbors and for small boats to cross. Not only were they used for fishing habits but also scientists wanted to see what type of kelp would grow and what type of fish that these artificial reefs could bring. In 91995 there were 29 dives in just 5 months there was a discovery for 24,000 semi-resident fish that were counted. After this study different places with deep-sea reefs that are harder to access were starting to use the method of artificial reefs to see which types of fish and sea kelp would grow and live in these reefs. In recent times the building of artificial reefs are used for restoration from storm damage, diving, kelp harvesting, oyster beds and dampening impacts from marine protected areas. Now these artificial reefs are not necessarily used for fishing, but more for maintaining a consistent level of fish population, kelp, and the water levels at a constant level to make the water healthy. 

In my opinion, I think that this is a good way to help restore reefs and marine life. I also think it’s good that people have been doing this type of study and research for many years. It has been effeint since the start. It’s extremely hard to study the different types of fish in Southern California because most of the reefs are in the deep sea and we’ve only explored around 1% of the ocean. So with this study I think it’s good because we are able to capture and learn new things about different species of sea plants and fish in the ocean that aren’t really able to see anywhere else. 

University of Edinburgh (Trans.). (2020, September 17). Ocean acidification puts deep-sea coral reefs at risk of collapse. Science Daily. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200917105321.htm  

California is home to a significant amount of deep sea coral reefs. Although these reefs are being affected by the water temperatures, and changes to ocean chemistry mostly caused by climate change. Many marine life that rely on these coral reefs are being affected due to the coral reef consuming too much carbon dioxide that is increasing in the waters. Researchers show that the water in Southern California has reached the highest level of pH levels ever. Scientists have taken some of these samples to test why most of the coral reefs are dying, they found that the skeletons of dead corals (which is what supports the coral) has become porous due to the high levels of ocean acidification and having a harder time supporting the weight of the reef above. Moreover, scientists have been doing many studies on the reason why our deep sea reefs are rapidly decreasing, most of the studies show it’s the cause of climate change. As stated above, Southern California has been recorded for the highest levels of pH in the waters, scientists are saying other reefs will soon reach as high levels of ocean acidifications as Southern California. 

This article is very concerning because even our deep sea coral reefs are being affected. Although climate change is a normal thing to occur, I think there should be ways to slow it down, or find a way to regrow the deep-sea corals just as quickly. Our deep sea marine life needs the reef as much as our tropical marine life closer to shore do. I think it’s very beneficial that scientists are testing out the waters and studying the dead coral to find the reason why they are dying so fast. With a solid answer to the reason they are dying we can then find a way to slow down the process and help keep them alive.