Off the coast of Egypt, a long coral reef glows with a thousand colors. Here in the Red Sea stretches what could be “the last refuge for corals,” say researchers cited by Agence France-Presse.
“We have strong evidence that this coral reef is humanity’s hope for the preservation of the coral ecosystem,” said Mahmoud Hanafi, a marine environmental specialist at Suez Canal University.
The reason is that the huge Red Sea reef, which makes up 5 percent of the planet’s corals, is very tolerant of warming water, the scientist explains. This advantage for this coast, familiar to divers around the world, while global warming and pollution have already destroyed 14 percent of the planet’s coral between 2009 and 2018.
However, off the coast of Egypt, the coral reef faces another threat: humans with their mass tourism, overfishing and concrete pouring, the BTA adds.
Doom until the end of the century
Corals occupy only 0.2 percent of the world’s seabed. However, they are home to at least a quarter of the marine fauna and flora, and more than 500 million people directly depend on them for fishing, attracting tourists or simply continuing to live on their territory, as the coral reef protects against erosion.
However, if warming continues, corals at the shallowest depths “will not survive until the end of the century,” warn UN climate experts.
Even if global warming is limited to plus 1.5 degrees Celsius in 2100 compared to the pre-industrial era – a goal set in the 2015 Paris Agreement but currently out of reach – 99 percent of corals will not be able to survive increasingly frequent marine heat waves.
This summer, one such heat wave again bleached 91 percent of Australia’s 2,300-kilometer Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Bleached corals can recover if weather conditions improve, except for those that have suffered significant damage or experienced repeated heat waves.
Memory of the Ice Age
Corals in Egypt do not seem to obey this rule. Reason? “Biological memory developed in the course of evolution,” explains Eslam Osman of King Abdullah University in Saudi Arabia.
Along with other researchers, Osman discovered that coral larvae in the Red Sea arrived from the Indian Ocean via the Gulf of Aden at the end of the last ice age, 12,000 years ago.
Arriving from the southern part of the Red Sea, these larvae had to pass through very warm waters, which acted as a filter and allowed only species that could survive at temperatures up to 32 degrees, the researcher explains.
Further south, in Sudan, where the water is warmer, marine heat waves have caused bleaching episodes.
On the other hand, in the northern part of the Red Sea, where the temperature is milder, “corals can still withstand a temperature increase of one, two or even three degrees,” Osman notes.
Protected area
Such resilience of coral reefs implies “responsibility”, warns Mahmoud Hanafi. Those involved in the Red Sea tourism business, which accounts for 65% of this vital sector for the Egyptian economy at the height of the crisis, should be aware of this, he continues.
The scientist is calling on the Ministry of Environment to declare the entire 400 square kilometer coral reef, which practically borders the coast, protected.
This, he said, will increase the tolerance and resilience of corals by regulating the activities of divers and fishermen and eliminating sources of pollution.
Currently, only half of the reef is protected, and some dive sites are 10-40 times over the recommended capacity. On the other hand, to ensure the sustainability of fishing, it must be reduced by six times, the expert adds.
“It is crucial to preserve the northern part of the Red Sea as one of the last coral refuges, as this area can serve as a nursery for future coral restoration projects,” says Eslam Osman.
In both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the scientist witnessed the damage caused by construction: sewage and sedimentation of particles from construction sites suffocate corals.
According to the scientist, this is a vicious circle – the stability of corals and thousands of colors attract tourists, for whom infrastructure is built, which damages the coral reef.