22/05/2021
Coral bleaching at Heron Island, February 2016. Photo: stopadani/Flickr, CC BY 2.0
While coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific region have been bleaching in response to rising sea temperatures, the reefs around Marovo Lagoon in the Solomon Islands have mostly kept their color. But in March 2021, that all changed: the lagoon’s once-healthy reefs turned ghostly white as the water temperature rose to new highs, much to the distress of conservationists.
Coral bleaching – when rising temperatures push corals to expel their life-sustaining algae – has become a problem in just about every part of the world. Some models predict that 70% to 90% of the world’s coral reefs will be lost in a mere 30 years if action isn’t taken to mitigate the effects of climate change and other anthropogenic pressures on the ocean, such as coastal development and unsustainable fishing practices.
While coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific region have been bleaching in response to rising sea temperatures, the reefs around Marovo Lagoon in the Solomon Islands have mostly kept their color. But in March 2021, that all changed: the lagoon’s once-healthy reefs turned ghostly white as the water temperature rose to new highs, much to the […]