Coral Reefs - The end is in sight

I've been an avid scuba diver since 1987. I learned to dive on the Great Barrier Reef and have had the great privilege to dive the same reefs numerous times in Hawaii, the Caribbean and the Great Barrier Reef over the last 23 years. 

The changes that I have observed in just the last 23 years have been astonishing. I've seen coral reefs dying before my own eyes. 

This isn't an isolated instance. All the reefs where I've dived, whether in Australia, Hawaii or the Caribbean are becoming bleached and lifeless. Where before there was miraculous beauty beyond words. I was diving in the Grand Caymans a little less than a year ago and I came home from our family vacation - mourning. The devastation of these once beautiful reefs, is now beyond words in another way. 

Here are some thoughts from someone who has spent his life studying coral reefs. 

"Unless we change the way we live, the Earth's coral reefs will be utterly destroyed within our children's lifetimes. Reefs are the ocean's canaries and we must hear their call. This call is not just for themselves, for the other great ecosystems of the ocean stand behind reefs like a row of dominoes. If coral reefs fail, the rest will follow in rapid succession, and the Sixth Mass Extinction will be upon us — and will be of our making." - J.E.N. Vernon

Veron is the former chief scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science.  He is principal author of 8 monographs and more than 70 scientific articles on the taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, and the fossil record of corals.  His books include the three-volume Corals of the World and A Reef in Time: The Great Barrier Reef from Beginning to End (2008).  His research has taken him to all the major coral reef regions of the world during 66 expeditions.

When reefs have disappeared after previous mass extinctions it has taken millions of years for them to reappear. There is no technology that can recreate a reef after it is gone.