Off the east coast of Florida, coral reefs are suffering yet another plague — white pox. In 1992-93, it was blackband disease. In '94, it was whiteband. In '95, yellowband struck, and in '96, white plague did its damage, according to Craig Quirolo of REEF RELIEF, a coral preservation group in Key West, Fla. Now it is white pox, which marine ecologist James Porter, of the University of Georgia, says has consumed 50- to 80-percent of the elkhorn and staghorn species of coral at two Key West reefs.
Quirolo, who has been photomonitoring changes in the reefs for the past five years, doesn't think it is a disease at all. He thinks a natural coral predator, the coral-eating snail, has been working overtime and in great numbers because its own enemy, the Spiny lobster, has been overfished and therefore can't control the population. He thinks the main problem is water quality.
As if diseases aren't enough, warm water and weather patterns linked to El Nino are blamed (by some scientists) for the bleaching of several kinds of coral from Key Largo to the Dry Tortugas.
Coral reefs are important because they serve as breeding grounds (nurseries) for a million fish and other species, many of which we depend on for food. Reefs also protect coastal areas from storms and wave damage, which erode beaches and other landforms and the coastal forests, mangroves and communities they in turn support.
Coral reefs off the coast of Florida are not the only ones in trouble. In fact, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), declared 1997 the International Year of the Coral Reef (IYOR) to raise awareness. According to NOAA, "U.S. government agencies and more than 50 other organizations from around the globe have sanctioned the 1997 IYOR to raise awareness of the value of coral reefs and the challenges they face."
Reefs, made up of living corals, suffer directly and indirectly because of pollution, overfishing, and damage from boats, anchors and divers. These damage corals directly by breaking them. Divers may collect coral as souvenirs or for sale to tourists. Pollution damages corals by causing disease and by altering the ecosystem so that predators can overwhelm the corals. Overfishing alters the balance of the reef ecosystem so that, again, predators can destroy the coral, while harvesting coral for industry or the tourist trade has a direct physical effect. Reefs, called rain forests of the sea, are important for their potential biomedical resources and are important because they support large sport fishing and tourism industries.
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