On December 6, 2004, the results of co-ordinated efforts of 240 experts from 96 countries was released. The report of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network is comprehensive and offers an in-depth look at where coral reefs lie in the scheme of things. As well, it examines the plight of people inhabiting coral reef atoll environments.
Reef Check runs the monitoring program of the GCRMN. Reef Check's monitoring protocol is the only standardized method used on a global basis. This allows for comparison between different regions over time. Having surveyed over 750 coral reefs in 2003, Reef Check teams reported that reefs are probably the most endangered marine ecosystem on the planet. A diverse population, equivalent to about 40% of the people presently inhabiting China, depends on coral reefs for food, coastal protection and tourism income.
The general consensus of the Reef Check report was that most coral reefs have been over-exploited and damaged by pollution, excess sediment and inappropriate development. During the next decade, massive destruction of coral reefs caused by the vagaries of global warming are bound to occur. In turn global warming will inevitably result in sea level rising, which will not harm the reefs per se but will cause devastation for human populations residing on atolls in the Indian and the Pacific oceans. However global warming is undoubtedly responsible for coral bleaching, which results in destruction of coral communities due to elevated sea surface temperatures.
The coral bleaching event of 2000 resulted in up to 80% reef mortality in the Mamanucas Islands which lie a few miles to the west of Nadi International Airport, the main gateway to the Fijis. Between 2001 and 2002, the coral reefs of the Mamanucas progressed from poor to fair (Reef Check).
The extent of reef damage varies greatly. In the south west Pacific Islands, about 18% of the reefs are considered either damaged or vulnerable. In the Polynesian Islands of Tonga, the Cooks, Samoa and American Samoa, as well as the French controlled Society Islands, the damage is about 2%, about the same as in the Hawaiian Islands. In the Micronesian Islands the damage is thought to be about 3%(Reef Check).
Pollution is not always a local affair. Due to ocean currents and prevailing winds, ships with dirty hulls and illegal discharges of bilges at sea, as well as fish factory ships provide pollutants, which can end up on reefs thousands of miles distant from the occurrence. Jean-Michele Cousteau illustrates this in his August 2003 expedition to the 1,200 mile long string of coral islands and atolls which comprise the northwestern part of the Hawaiian archipelago, an oceanic convergence zone and one of the most remote areas on the planet.
