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Coral Reefs Tropical rainforests of the sea
Home to more than 25 percent of all marine life, coral reefs are among the oldest and most fragile ecosystems in the world. Today, around the world, coral reefs and the abundant life they support are in jeopardy.
Coral reefs can be found in 13 of our national parks, including:
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Biscayne, Florida
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Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix
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Dry Tortugas, Florida
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Haleakala, Hawaii
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Hawaii Volcanoes
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Kalaupapa National Historical Park, Hawaii
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Kaloko-Honokohau Park, Hawaii
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National Park of American Samoa
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Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, Hawaii
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Salt River Bay National Historical Park, St. Croix
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Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument, St. John
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Virgin Islands, St. John
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War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Guam
Known for the colorful fish and marine life that live within them, the reefs themselves are actually made up of tiny animals called polyps, which create cup-like limestone skeletons around themselves using calcium from seawater. Reefs form as generation after generation of coral polyps live, build, and die, creating vast strongholds for themselves and many other plants and animals.
Coral reefs may take hundreds, even thousands, of years to form, typically growing as slowly as 5 millimeters and no more than 20 centimeters per year. Coral reefs evolved some 200 million years ago, and today, most reefs age between 5,000 and 10,000 years old. But what has taken centuries to build can be destroyed instantly.
 Threats to Coral Reefs
Human activity has destroyed more than 35 million acres of coral reefs. Despite their protection in national parks, coral reefs in the United States face many of the threats suffered by reef ecosystems worldwide.
Touching, kicking, walking on, or collecting coral when snorkeling or diving; dropping anchor on reefs when boating; or fishing in reef areas cause serious damage to reef ecosystems and devastate coral.
In Florida, Biscayne and Dry Tortugas National Parks are suffering from overdevelopment of nearby lands, water pollution, boating, recreational and commercial fishing, and more than 3 million tourists yearly. Since 1930, Florida's population has increased four-fold. Mangrove trees and seagrasses that normally act as filters for coral reefs are being rapidly destroyed as development increases, leading to heightened soil erosion. Soil, fertilizers, and sewage being dumped into Florida waters smothers corals and prevents them from obtaining enough light and oxygen to survive. Other forms of pollution, such as petroleum products and chemicals dumped near coastal waters, eventually will find their way to coral reefs as well, poisoning coral polyps and other marine life.
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Make a Difference! |
- When diving or snorkeling near coral reefs, DO NOT touch, stand or walk on, kick, or collect coral. Make sure none of your equipment bumps into the coral.
- Don't purchase items made from coral or other threatened marine life. Avoid coral jewelry or other marine souvenirs unless you are certain that they were farmed or produced in aquaculture operations.
- If you own a tropical aquarium, demand that your aquarium store purchase only fish that have been certified "cyanide free." In many areas of the world, tropical fish are collected from coral reefs by releasing cyanide poison into the water, which kills the reef and many other marine species and stuns valuable fish for easy collection. Don't purchase coral pieces or "live rock" for your tank unless there is proof they were not removed from the wild.
Be very careful to collect all trash from beaches when you visit. Sea turtles have evolved to eat anything in the oceans, even poisonous Portuguese Man-of-War, but when turtles and other marine life eat plastics and other garbage, they risk fatal blockage of their digestive tracts. Trash also can cover coral reefs and block the sunlight they need to survive.
- Don't order turtle, shark fin, or other restaurant dishes made from threatened wildlife.
- If you operate a boat, navigate carefully to avoid contact with coral reefs, never drop anchor onto a reef, and never dump trash or sewage into the water.
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