Harmful bleaching of the world's coral has grown to include 84% of the ocean's reefs in the most intense event of its kind in recorded history, the announced Wednesday.
It's the fourth global bleaching event since 1998, and has now surpassed bleaching from 2014-17 that hit some two-thirds of reefs, said the ICRI, a mix of more than 100 governments, non-governmental organizations and others. And it's not clear when , which began in 2023 and is blamed on warming oceans, will end.
鈥淲e may never see the heat stress that causes bleaching dropping below the threshold that triggers a global event,鈥� said Mark Eakin, executive secretary for the International Coral Reef Society and retired coral monitoring chief for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at something that鈥檚 completely changing the face of our planet and the ability of our oceans to sustain lives and livelihoods,鈥� Eakin said.
Last year was , and much of that is going into oceans. The average annual sea surface temperature of oceans away from the poles was a record 20.87 degrees Celsius (69.57 degrees Fahrenheit).
That's deadly to corals, which are key to seafood production, tourism and protecting coastlines from erosion and storms. Coral reefs are sometimes dubbed 鈥渞ainforests of the sea鈥� because they support high levels of biodiversity 鈥� approximately of all marine species can be found in, on and around coral reefs.
Coral get their bright colors from the colorful algae that live inside them and are a food source for the corals. Prolonged warmth causes the algae to release toxic compounds, and the coral eject them. A stark white skeleton is left behind, and the weakened coral is at heightened risk of dying.
The bleaching event has been so severe that NOAA鈥檚 Coral Reef Watch program has had to add levels to its bleaching alert scale to account for the growing risk of coral death.
Efforts are underway to conserve and . One Dutch lab has worked with coral fragments, including some taken from off the coast of the Seychelles, to so that they might be used someday to repopulate wild coral reefs if needed. Other projects, including one off Florida, have worked to and nurse them back to health before returning them to the ocean.
But scientists say it's essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet, such as carbon dioxide and methane.
鈥淭he best way to protect coral reefs is to address the root cause of climate change. And that means reducing the human emissions that are mostly from burning of fossil fuels 鈥� everything else is looking more like a Band-Aid rather than a solution,鈥� Eakin said.
鈥淚 think people really need to recognize what they鈥檙e doing 鈥� inaction is the kiss of death for coral reefs,鈥� said Melanie McField, co-chair of the Caribbean Steering Committee for the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, a network of scientists that monitors reefs throughout the world.
The group's update comes as President Donald Trump has moved aggressively in his second term to boost fossil fuels and roll back clean energy programs, which he says is necessary for economic growth.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a government right now that is working very hard to destroy all of these ecosystems ... removing these protections is going to have devastating consequences," Eakin said.
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Isabella O'malley, The Associated Press
