Reef Stories
Reef Stories
Help save our reefs!
The organisations that work to protect coral reefs and our oceans need as much support as they can get (not just money). Check out:
If you are a diver, and especially if you are an underwater photographer, donate. If you do nothing, there will be nothing to dive on and nothing to photograph.
About Reef Stories
Reef Image Stories aims to show some of the huge diversity of life in reefs through images and short stories related to the images. The impact of human pressure on these fragile environments will also be highlighted.
If, like so many of us, you feel the human race cannot afford to loose the diversity of life that provides us with oxygen, food, new medicines and a richness of life, then there IS something you can do. Support the organisations that truly work to protect our fragile planet. They are featured throughout Image Stories.
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Reef Threats
The oceans of our planet are under ever increasing threat.
◦ Dynamite fishing on reefs has destroyed most reefs in SE Asia.
◦ Cyanide is used extensively to catch fish for the aquarium trade. 80% die in transit and most of the rest die in aquariums of liver damage. All the nudibranchs and many other invertebrates die in where cyanide has been used.
◦ Fertilizer run-off from massively over-fertilised fields causes algal blooms on reefs, eventually suffocating the corals.
◦ Huge sediment loads running off coastal plains and hills
denuded of natural vegetation cover reefs in fine silt, suffocating reefs.
◦ Global warming is causing bleaching events so severe that even the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is threatened.
The window to save coral reefs is closing rapidly
Sitting On A Knife-Edge
New fish, nudibranchs, crabs, octopus and other invertebrates are being continuously found. The rate of extinction is also increasing. Nature supplies us with new medicines, technologies, the oxygen we breath, manages the carbon dioxide we produce, and enriches our lives. We are now loosing these valuable resources through the activities of man.
Microplastics are ingested by invertebrates, and fill their digestive tracts so they cannot intake enough plankton to survive. For now this is not known to have caused extinctions, but populations of some species are falling, and those of some species are starting to collapse. It only takes a small push to drive them to extinction.
We are sitting on the knife edge of survival.
Reefs
A commented image-rich review of reef life
Reefs
Reviews and links to key charities, books and apps related to life on reefs.
Blogs
Critical articles about mans impact on the reef world.
Stories
Short illustrated stories about the colourful life on reefs.