AR-News: (Lebanon) Dying sea: Corals in peril

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

Md Asadullah Khan

Within the past decade, whole species of marine life have been depleted to 
the edge of extinction. Pollutants from oil to plutonium foul the deep blue 
seas. Many of the billion or so people whose life depends on the bounty of the sea 
face severe privation. This human assault upon the sea, devastating though it 
may be, goes largely unnoticed. With the exception of the occasional 
oil-covered shore bird or plastic debris at the tide line, the injuries lie hidden. 
"You can see a forest fire, but you can't see a damaged reef," says Rilli Hawari 
Diohani, an Indonesian marine biologist who is assistant director of the U.S. 
based Nature Conservancy. Visible or not, the damage is there, it is 
increasing, and in many cases it may be beyond control or recovery. Noticeably, as 
much as 10 percent of the world's coral reefs have been wiped out, largely by 
pollution and destructive fishing methods. At the present rate of devastation, 
another 60 percent will be destroyed in 20 to 40 years. 
Of the world's 15 major ocean fisheries, 13 are being exploited at a rate 
that challenges their ability to sustain fish populations. World food experts 
predict steadily declining catches in the coming years. 
"Dead zones" cause similar havoc. Reports have it that huge chunks of reef in 
western New Guinea and off Zambales in the Philippines have been blown apart 
by dynamite charges used to kill targeted fish (along with young fingerlings, 
plankton, larva, eggs and the reef itself). Traditional fishermen say the 
practice has brought an eerie stillness to waters that once teemed with sea life. 
"In the past, flying fish jumped over the prow of fishing boats heading out to 
sea," say Jun Filoteo, a deep-sea fisherman from Zambales. "Now there is no 
longer such a spectacle. Aside from the motion of the waves, the sea appears so 
calm that it is almost scary."



full story:
http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/01/23/d401231801106.htm



"The world is a dangerous place,
not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing.",
Albert Einstein

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