MPAs: Our Best Chance to Save Coral Reefs

Julie Bennett
Source: Alert Diver
Fall, 2009

Coral reefs have thrived for 250 million years, but today they are on the brink of collapse. They are overfished by commercial conglomerates, overheated by rising ocean temperatures and overlooked by ambitious developers and marine recreation operators.

Making necessary changes to protect an entire ecosystem may sound like a daunting effort, but given that roughly one in 13 people on the planet depend on coral reefs for food, coastal protection and income, we can’t afford not to act.

According to the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network’s 2008 Status of Coral Reefs of the World, our best chance to save coral reefs is to “establish more marine protected areas (MPAs) that are linked into networks and managed by all stakeholders, especially user communities.” These areas preserve our valuable marine environments from threats such as pollution, coastal development, sedimentation and overfishing.

To read the full text of the article, click here.