Hope Wilkos
Source: Pure Fame Media [1]
November 16, 2011

"One of the great aspects of the recent DEMA Dive Show 2011 was the awareness that it brought to life through organizations fighting to save our marine ecosystems.

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) is a non-profit organization working diligently to save our coral reef communities. Most of us take the splendor of our oceans for granted but some well-known facts are not always evident. Coral reefs are Earth's largest biological structures. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is visible from space. Reefs are formed very slowly over a long period of time and live in groups called colonies. Today's reefs are 5,000 to 10,000 years old. You can find them in over 100 countries around the world. There is an amazing biodiversity held in coral reefs. Surprisingly enough, even though they cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, they support 25% of our marine life. They are a source of food, income and coastal protection for a billion people as well as supply chemical compounds that give us life-saving medicines."

To see photos and read the full text of the article, click here [2].