CORAL REEFS DAMAGE ... WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?

The world’s coral reefs

“Corals reefs all over the world are in serious trouble” according to the World Atlas of Coral Reefs. The total area of the coral reefs of the world is only about 286,000 square kilometers. During the last 20years, the world has lost more than 25 % of these precious natural resources. Moreover, of the remaining reefs (according to the World Resources Institute) 58 % are in imminent danger due to human activities. This scary state of deterioration is probably the most significant catastrophe facing the diving community, because simply, without reefs there would be a remarkable decrease in the diving activities.
Many of the world’s top reef scientists predicted that coral reefs as we know them today will be destroyed by the middle of this century. That means, the next generation will only enjoy reefs in documentary movies and printed materials!
There are several reasons that coral reefs are dying, probably the top four are:
- Nutrient loading into coastal waters from agriculture and poorly or untreated sewage.
- Heavy sedimentation from large coastal construction and/or poor land-use practices.
- Over fishing or destructive practice such as blast or cyanide fishing.
- Global-scale problems like abnormal atmospheric warming and ozone depletion.

Tourism, diving and the coral reef
Of course we can’t ignore the impact on the coral reefs from tourism, but the fact is that the nature of tourism related damage is not what you might think. Most destruction related to coral reefs’ tourism is not because of scuba diving, but due to improper or irresponsible building design or construction practices and other problems related to infrastructure.
Poor planning and practices result in excessive sedimentation and habitat destruction during construction, and lack of adequate wastewater treatment afterward.
It is clear that there has been some confusion and misconceptions over exactly who has been the main reason for the coral reef degradation. Of course, divers are obvious targets to blame, since our activities are so visible and also because scuba diving and coral reefs are as well-associated as skiing and mountain slopes. That is why the view has been expressed by some that scuba divers represent a major factor in the decline of the coral reefs. There is a single major problem with this argument: It is not true. In fact, the beauty, the value of coral, and the efforts made to protect and preserve them, would have not been even an issue if the scuba diving had not been a common sport practice. Many of the coral reefs all over the world have been, for years, mistreated, misused and in fact destroyed by a variety of ignorant human behavior. In addition, scuba divers are the only known group that receives environmental information and adequate reef protection behavior during their basic training.
Researchers showed that the leading cause for coral reef damage from tourism activities is not diving, but in fact anchoring. Fortunately, the problem of anchoring is easily eliminated by using morning lines and doing drift dives as it is the case in the Egyptian Red Sea.
However, the dive community accepts that divers are responsible for some damage to coral reefs (although both the scale and nature of such damage is not nearly as widespread or devastating as from other sources). Moreover, the dive community has been positive in dealing with this concern through its educational programs and continuous cooperation with the nature protection programs.
Since the mid 80s the effect that divers have on coral reefs has come under the close examination of researchers and resource managers. Unfortunately, based on this research, politicians and government administrators now take important decisions about management of coral reefs with respect to diving activities and often disregard other vital effects.
Although these studies seem to be classic in terms of that the divers can have a significant negative effect on coral reefs within limited areas where diving is especially popular, they do overlook that overall damage caused by diving activity is less than 1% of the damage to coral reef.

Research and the outcomes

Some of the best known studies have been conducted on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Virgin Islands of the Caribbean, Florida Keys and of course the Red Sea. A summary of observations and conclusions is presented herein;
- The vast majority of damage is caused by a very small minority of divers. It was found that 84% of divers caused no damage whatsoever, 4% of divers accounted for more than 70% of the damage. In addition, most damage was unintentional and divers who do damage are often unaware that they did.
- Branching corals such as table, Elkhorn and Staghorn (Acropora Sp.) are much more susceptible to divers’ damage than more robust boulder-type corals.
- 6-4% of all corals on a popularly dived reef were touched during a typical week. In addition 90% of all divers make at least one contact to the bottom, however, only 2% of these contacts caused immediate visible damage.
- Most of the researchers agree that divers do not inflict extensive damage comprehensive to the ecological function of a coral reef. However, divers’ damage can degrade the sparkling value of a reef.
- Many researchers concluded that the experience, the advice, and the quality of the briefing given by competent Dive Masters and/or Instructors is important. This is particularly critical since the prime element responsible for divers’ damage is poor buoyancy control.
- Divers tend to be at their clumsiest during the first 10 minutes of a dive. Studies showed that divers’ impact is greatest near moorings where divers arrive to the bottom and take a few minutes to adjust equipment and/or get control of their buoyancy. This has a critical implication for where mooring lines are placed.
- Out of almost every study, researchers found that women impact the coral reef far less than men do. This is not a call to start a gender war, but your explanation for this consistent finding is welcome!
- Another interesting finding is that there is no correlation between one’s level of diving experience and how often that individual contacted the corals (how about that!). In fact some of the researchers offered that “It seemed that inexperienced divers generally had poor buoyancy and finning control, but were more cautious about approaching the bottom, while more experienced divers spent more time exploring close to the terrain and bumping it as a result”.
- On the contrary to the above finding, some other studies showed indications that the more experienced the diver, the less effect she/he has on coral reefs. They note that the number of contacts with corals is remarkably reduced the higher the level of the diver. So these last two findings are still in the debate!
- Finally, carrying a still camera, video camera, being engaged in close up observation of coral reef are all identified as high-risk factors for reef impact.
Zoning and carrying capacity.

Many researchers are convinced that any damage to coral reef as a result of tourism would be likely to remain insignificant if appropriate management systems were implemented. The protected coral reef management plans include:
- The number and type of tourist visits
- Appropriate behavior of visitors
- Ensure that the coral reef has the proper natural surroundings to rapidly recover from any damage.
In addition, many resource managers use or consider the idea known as “zoning”. This is simply assigning special areas as “for research only” or implementing rules such as “take nothing but photos, leave nothing but bubbles”.
Closing areas to allow them to retrieve has been successfully part of the management plan implemented in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Recently, resource managements have defined the new concept of the “carrying capacity”. A carrying capacity is simply “the maximum level of visitor use an area can accommodate so that high levels of satisfaction are gained by visitors with little negative impact on resources.”
Applying the carrying capacity concept to divers as a management strategy is not only a new area of research, but also inflicts several debatable issues that can be summarized in the following;
- Diver carrying capacity is a highly specific and localized measure, rather than a universal number for all coral reefs.
- The number of divers a reef can absorb without negative effect is totally dependant on the behavior of the divers.
- Other factors affecting the reef carrying capacity are hotels and resorts, snorkellers and other beach users. This is especially important in - easy to access from shore - sites such as those in the Red Sea.
Public awareness and education.

One can observe a positive point, that is, a significant change in the attitude of divers has occurred during the last two decades. Divers are definitely considered one of the most environmentally sensitive groups around, not only because they learn in every beginner’s course about the delicacy of the underwater marine life, but also because the environmental resources turns out to be the major attraction for them.
In addition, divers are the first to notice any decay or degradation in the marine environment. This explains why the damage that would have been done by a specific group of divers would be actually eliminated or at least minimized through education.

In a study done by David Medio in the Red Sea, he found out that;
- Uninformed divers – those who received no environmental briefing made contact with the coral reef 8 times per dive.
- 80% of those contacts were damaging.
- Only 35 % of all contacts were unintentional.

The following findings are especially important for dive guides and Instructors to remember. After a short adequate briefing reminding the diver of the following appropriate practice;
1. Controlling buoyancy
2. Maintaining a respectful distance
3. Being cautious about fin kicking
4. Avoid intentionally touching the corals

The following astonishing results were found;
- The impact went down from 8 to only 1.5 per dive
- Less than 30% of those were damaging
- 80% of all contacts were unintentional

This significant change put a lot of responsibility on dive guides and instructors conducting daily or safari diving. More public awareness efforts should be directed to visitors, especially snorkellers, and prior to conducting any activities. In addition, responsibility should also be shared with tour operators, tour guides and hotels to increase public awareness and encourage responsible environmental behavior.
We - the diving community - have always been not only backing up the efforts of preserving and protecting the natural resources but also delighted to take the initiative to do it. It is certainly unfair to accuse divers of being the cause of the significant and implacable damage to the coral reef. On the contrary, it is probably realistic to affirm that divers revealed the secrets of the underwater terrain, explored the magnificent marine life and introduced the submersed beauties to humanity.
Nevertheless, it is also essential that we - the diving community - continue to do our best to preserve the environmental resources through adapting responsible behavior, promote public awareness, emphasize education and above all promote diving activities.

By: Zeyad M. El Bassel

Red Sea Shells

Few are the people who know that regardless of what type they are, shells serve the same purpose all around the world: they clean out impurities and make the water cleaner. In this sense we can say that shells do a lot more good living than as an ashtray or a side lamp in the corner of a restaurant.

Shell shapes often have more than one purpose. Some are streamlined to make burrowing through mud or sand easier. Some bivalves are heavily ridged to help them stay anchored. Still other shells grow long spines to catch seaweed and coral for camouflage. Mollusks are the scientific name of the soft bodied creatures that make their shells from calcium they get from either their food or the water they dwell in. When a tiny mollusk hatches from its egg, it comes into the world a homeowner: a tiny shell that grows with it as it grows. Each different species of mollusk makes a shell that's unique. Within a species, there can be distinct differences in shells. Things like food, climate, environment and genetics all play a part in making each shell somewhat different in size, colour, or shape.
Shell trade has been banned in many countries around the world. Law Number 102 for preserving the Egyptian Environment in article # 2 states: Damaging or removing any living organisms or natural features and resources, such as shells, corals, rocks, or soil for any purpose is forbidden. HE the Governor of the Red Sea has issued a local decree regarding the same subject which prohibits selling, buying and trafficking shells within the boundaries of the Red Sea Governorate. Some tourists and visitors are not aware of the fact that carrying shells in their suit cases while traveling back to their countries can lead to unnecessary delay and inconveniences. Confiscating the shells would be the minimum action taken against them by the airport police.

As a tourist or as a resident in the Red Sea you might encounter shells or stuffed marine animals displayed on the pavements. If you admire the beauties and the natural resources of the Red Sea then it would be your obligation to express your discontent to the person who is committing such a violation. Furthermore, you could assist in stopping this illegal trade by notifying the Rangers of the Red Sea by calling them on # 548339.

Most divers have collected some shells at a certain time in their past and this is a fact that is hard to deny. In the last few years, and after learning the negative aspects of such actions a lot of divers are becoming environmentally aware. Most of the dive training organizations are educating the new generation of divers about the environment and how to preserve the natural resources. Personally, and since I used to work for an environmental NGO, I cannot but pull over the car upon seeing any of the shell sellers and take all that they display and hand it to the Rangers.
What you see in the picture is what has been collected by an individual from the streets of Hurghada during the past two months. I believe it is up to you and me to stop or even assist in stopping this negative trade. If however nothing is done and shell sellers are left in the streets, we will all be speaking about the beautiful shells that we used to see while diving in the Red Sea and this is a very real possibility.

Though some of the Red Sea Shells are now hard to see underwater and they are nearly extinct, the situation now is way better than what it used to be 6 or 7 years ago. For those who do not know, there used to be specialized shops in the Red Sea that sold shells and stuffed marine life. Thanks to the laws and the support of both the local government and caring individuals this has stopped.

This is a call for you all to assist in stopping this trade by reporting the violators in order to preserve the natural resources of the Red Sea.

By: Hesham Tomoum

What is Coral?

What we commonly call corals includes a variety of types of organisms that biologists refer to as coelenterates or cnidarians. One of the main physical characteristics of this group is that they all have a single body cavity and opening, a coelenteron, that doubles both for the ingestion of food and for the release of digested wastes.

Another characteristic is that corals and other coelenterates have stinging cells, or nematocysts, that are normally carried within special cells on the animal's surface. When potential food prey is present in the water, the coral ejects these stinging cells to entangle or poison the prey, which the coral can then consume.

Although the term "coral" is often used in a general sense, it usually refers to reef or hard corals, which are more formally called scleractinians.

These are the corals that may form large coral heads and which are the primary building blocks of coral reefs in tropical oceans.
The common characteristic of this group is the secretion of a basal skeleton of calcium carbonate as the mineral aragonite.

The livng portion of this group usually has its radial symmetry divided into multtiples of six, which is most apparent in the numbers of tentacles that surround each polyp. This pattern is also shown in the pattern of the calyx, (plural=calyces) or cup, which is secreted by each polyp, and which remains after the live tissue is cleaned from a coral skeleton.

Each calyx is divided by a number of septa, again usually in multiples of six, which look like sharp ridges radiating from the center of the calyx.

In life, however, this coral shows the white colouration of its polyps and feathery tentacles, which resemble thousands of small white flowers.
The term "corals" often includes other varieties of coelenterates that have somewhat different characteristics than scleractinian corals.

The largest of these groups are the octocorals which includes both hard and soft forms and the gorgonians or horny corals. Their common characteristic is that, instead of being in multiples of six like the hard corals, the structures of their polyps, such as tentacles, grow in multiples of eight. The tentacles of these octocoral polyps are pinnate or feather-like.

The most common hard octocoral is the organ pipe coral, which grows from a deep red skeleton which is formed by parallel rows of tubes. In life, however, this coral shows the white coloration of its polyps and feathery tentacles, which resemble thousands of small white flowers.

The soft octocorals have many features in common with the hard corals. Most grow as upwardly facing polyps, contain symbiotic zooxanthellae and have tentacles and nematocysts that may be used in food capture. The primary difference is that the soft corals do not lay down an external hard skeleton that remains as a permanent structure after the coral dies.

Instead, the soft corals get their structure and body support from calcium carbonate spicules that are deposited within their body walls. These corals may look like quite drab leather-like gray-green sheets on the reef surface, or they can be very colorful and beautiful, such as the dendronepthid or ‘teddy bear’ corals which have a crown of red to orange tentacles on a translucent white stalk.

A reef coral can be a single polyp and calyx, but in most cases reef corals grow as colonies with hundreds, even thousands of polyps and calyces on the same coral skeleton. The variety of forms that are created by this colonial growth make up some of the most beautiful structures to be found in nature. These structures can range from delicate, branching bushes and arbors, to robust tables, intricate flower-like leaves, multiple starbursts, branching fingers and massive boulders that have brain-Iike fissures on their surface. The variety of shapes is determined by the pattern of budding of new polyps from older polyps as the coral grows, and whether the polyps become separated or continue to share a common mouth within the original ring of tentacles.

The calcium carbonate skeleton also varies substantially in density and strength according to the coral species. Some corals have very dense skeletons and can resist a great deal of wave disturbance, while others are light and porous and are restricted to the calm waters of embayments. However, these porous corals have the advantage of having faster growth rates and may have live tissue penetrating the coral skeleton. This tissue within the skeleton gives these corals a greater ability to recover from stresses which may kill off the coral surface tissue.

Because of their flower-like appearance, corals were classically referred to as "zoophytes", indicating that they were recognized as animals, but had many external characteristics of plants in their patterns of growth. Now we know that this original descriptive term was quite valid, but for a different reason.

Coral biologists have long recognized that all hard corals with rapid growth rates contain massive numbers of single celled algae called zooxanthellae within the cells of the coral tissue. These algal cells appear under the microscope as yellowish-brown spheres, and they are extremely abundant in the coral tissue, normally numbering millions of cells per square centimeter of coral surface.
The zooxanthellae provide the major colouration of most living hard corals and many soft corals, which usually appears as shades of brown or green. The actual functional relationship of these internal algae to the coral has been studied intensively and was a subject of controversy for many years. Coral biologists always recognized that the presence of the intracellular algae was necessary for hard corals to achieve the rapid growth rates which enable them to reach massive sizes and form coral reefs. Most non-reef forming or solitary corals, although they have similar calcium carbonate skeletons, do not contain zooxanthellae and do not grow to large sizes.

The question remained as to how the association between the corals and their zooxanthellae might aid or benefit either of the partners? When rapid growth occurs, an animal produces metabolic carbon, phosphorus and nitrogen wastes that must be removed or they will poison the growth process. Corals, being very simple organisms, have no specialized structures for such waste removal. However, the abundant zooxanthellae within the coral tissue provide a mechanism for removing wastes and therefore permit rapid coral growth. The waste products produced by the coral tissue are the raw materials used for photosynthesis by the zooxanthellae and thus are kept from rising to toxic concentrations.

The zooxanthellae, on the other hand, benefit by having a ready supply of nutrients for photosynthesis. This is an example of what is termed mutualistic symbiosis, where both partners benefit from being joined in a close association.

By: Mohamed Habib