Massive bleaching event on Great Barrier Reef

[Tillikum]

Most of the posts in this thread have nothing to do with sailing or cruising and yet they are not deleted; or is it just posts that question the narrative that are deleted?

[Alan Mighty]

The Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP) in the Philippines is suffering from coral bleaching due to prolonged and extreme heat associated with the El Niño phenomenon in May 2024, according to the TRNP managers.

The park’s South Park dive site has been identified by TRNP as affected by bleaching in patches, especially of branched corals.

See: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/194749...o-extreme-heat

The Tubbataha Reefs are one of the top cruising and diving sites in the Coral Triangle and the Philippines, including for charters and cruisers sailing their own boats.

See: https://y.co/yacht-charter/itinerary...cruising-guide

[Alan Mighty]

The Malaysian government Department of Fisheries reports significant mass coral bleaching taking place due to high sea surface temperature at several sites.

One site is Pulau Payar, about 19 nmiles SE of the port of Kuah on Langkawi. Langkawi is a major cruising destination in South East Asia, with cruiser-friendly marinas and boat yards. Not a few cruisers stop by Pulau Payar on their way from Penang to Langkawi, to dive or snorkel on the coral.

Other sites in Malaysia with coral bleaching include Pulau Perhentian, Pulau Redang, Pulau Tenggol, Pulau Tioman, and Pulau Pemanggil.

See: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malay...versity/141124

On Pulau Payar:
https://www.langkawi-insight.com/langkawi_000048.htm
https://langkawiguide.com/marine-park/

[Alan Mighty]

Parts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffered mass bleaching in March to June 2024. One scientist reported 97 per cent of corals had died in those three months.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...eaching-events

Scientist taking a longer view, looking at 131 reefs over more than 30 years, wrote that the proportion of reefs hit by disturbances had gone up from 6 per cent in the 1980s to 44 per cent in the 2010s.

The researchers wrote that the frequency of coral bleaching had increased between 19 per cent and 38 per cent a year, and cyclone damage had also risen, allowing less time for recovery between disruptive events.

“These results confirm that climate change is contributing to ecosystem-wide changes in the ability of coral reefs to recover.”

See that published research, in the Ecological Monographs of the Ecological Society of America, at: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wi....1002/ecm.1619