Coral Reef Adventure Page #2

threaten this partnership

time-up photography can show us how

and just one week

that changed two centigrade drives the alga out

without its main food source

the coral bleaches as ghostly white

if the alga don't return

the corals starves

here in Australia we went to some places that

we have been to 22 years before

and we are surprise to see that

some of the reefs so damaged by ocean warming

part Australian survey give us a baseline

for understanding what was going wrong

at Russy's reefs

when we got to Fuji

it didn't take five minutes to reconnect with Russy

Howard makes me smile again

Micheal and I were eager to help Russy

but first

we have to pay our respect to local tradition

before outsiders can direct my home island

the elders must grant permission

my people have always limited fishing

this tradition of reef conservation

has worked well for centuries

till now

first I wanted Howard to see village reef

as it used to be

the reef looks great with plenty of small fish

but we didn't see many big fish

as we did in Australia

and that worried me

but time had come

I took Howard and Michael further down the reef

I wonder where all the animals gone

these reefs are dying

and all just makes me very sad

seeing so much of these reef destroyed

we realized that

Russy's reef may be what all coral reefs look like

in thirty years

our reef was to be home of so many creatures

but now they almost all gone

after seen all these destruction though

I saw an octopus

octopus is made like a tent with the body

they put up their eight arms and

actually traps shrimps and crabs live on the reef

here octopus figure out

how to survive

not many reef to do that

for islander survive by fishing

the death of the reef is really hit us hard

especially when you have children to feed

but what kills Russy's reef?

Foreign fishing fleets have overfished this water

and thermometer tells us that

the ocean is two degrees warmer than normal

I found more bleached coral and no big fish

but I had a hunch that

ocean warming and overfishing

were not the only problems

ten mile inland

when tropical rain forest were cut down

the river turn muddy with silt

two rivers merged

one with logging upstream

one without

there was only place for all that settlement to go

at the mouth of the river

silt block the sun light that the coral needs to growth

Russy's reef had been hit

by a combination of stresses

ocean warming overfishing and siltation

corals may fight off one threat

but three at once proved too much

now I understand the problem better

but what could I do

Howard thought a healthier reef

might give us some answers

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