Pacreef: The Coral Reef Lovers

Coral reefs are critical to the health of our oceans; any scuba diver can tell you how much marine life there is around them. The reason for this is that they are a place where the food supply comes together. However reefs have a much bigger impact than just on marine life, they actually play a role in protecting us as well. This is why it is so important that we make sure that we take care of our coral reefs.

A coral reef is one often described as the world's largest living organism; in reality this is not entirely true. While a coral reef is certainly alive it is actually made up of billions of tiny creatures. Coral are small sea creatures that live together in what are called polyps. The coral is rather unique in that it has its skeleton on the outside. This is done both for protection and support. The reef is developed because the skeletons of all that coral get merged into one large structure. In some cases a coral reef can be thousands of miles long.

Coral reefs are important to health of our oceans because they support so much sea life. Coral is a food source for a number of small sea creatures which in turns attracts larger sea creatures that eat those ones and so on. Despite the fact that coral reefs make up just a tiny percentage of the world's oceans they support nearly a quarter of all the sea life. This makes them probably the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. This is why reefs are so popular with divers; there is lots to see when you dive on reef.

Coral reefs are important for people as well as fish. The main reason that they benefit us is as a food supply, since coral reefs are where the fish are it is a good place to go fishing. As long as the fishery is well managed this should be a sustainable supply of food. In addition coral reefs protect our shore line from the damage that waves can do, if it weren't for coral reefs a lot of our shoreline would have eroded away. It has been estimated that the worldwide economic impact of coral reefs is more than three hundred billion dollars.

While coral reefs are critical to the health of our oceans there is a great danger that we will lose them. The threats range from overfishing to global warming, although agriculture may be the biggest threat. The combination of deforestation and excessive use of fertilizer has increased the sediment and the nutrients in our rivers which eventually makes its way to the oceans and ultimately damages the reefs. Over the years we have tried to fix some of the damage by building artificial reefs however this is a poor substitute for protecting the real thing.