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SCIENCEMonday 14 September 2015

Scientists expect Hawaii’s worst coral bleaching ever

AUDREY McAVOY

Associated Press

KANEOHE, Hawaii (AP)

— Warmer-than-normal

ocean temperatures

around Hawaii this year will

likely lead to the worst coral

bleaching the islands have

ever seen, scientists said Fri-

day.

Many corals are only just

recovering from last year’s

bleaching, which occurs

when warm waters prompt

coral to expel the algae

they rely on for food, said

Ruth Gates, the director of

the Hawaii Institute of Ma-

rine Biology. The phenome-

non is called bleaching be-

cause coral lose their color

when they push out algae.

The island chain experi-

enced a mass bleaching

event in 1996, and an-

other one last year. This

year, ocean temperatures

around Hawaii are about

3 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit

(2 degrees Celsius) warm- This Sept. 10, 2015, photo provided by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources shows partially bleached coral in
Kaneohe, Hawaii.
er than normal, said Chris
Associated Press
Brenchley, meteorologist

for the National Weather ment that’s covered with temperatures two years side of Lisianski Island was Brenchley, from the Nation-
brown or green algae,” in a row. “You can’t stress essentially dead. Coral fur- al Weather Service, said
Service in Honolulu. said Gates. “That is a re- an individual, an organism, ther out from the atoll han- it’s not known why waters
ally doom-and-gloom out- once and then hit it again dled the warm tempera- around Hawaii and other
Bleaching makes coral come but that is the reality very, very quickly and hope tures better, she said. parts of the northeast Pacif-
that we face with extremely they will recover as quick- Brian Neilson, an aquatic ic are warmer than normal
more susceptible to disease severe bleaching events.” ly,” she said. biologist with the state De- this year. This warm water
Gates said 30 to 40 per- Scientists have reports of partment of Land and Nat- — nicknamed “The Blob”
and increases the risk they cent of the world’s reefs bleaching in Kaneohe Bay ural Resources, said people — is coinciding with El Nino,
have died from bleaching and Waimanalo on Oahu could help by not adding which is a general warming
will die. This is a troubling events over the years. Ha- and Olowalu on Maui. For to the coral’s problems. of parts of the Pacific that
waii’s reefs generally have the Big Island, reports of That means avoiding fer- changes weather world-
for fish and other species been spared such large bleaching have come in tilizing lawns and wash- wide. But Brenchley said it
scale die-offs until now. from Kawaihae to South ing cars with soap so con- isn’t the result of El Nino.
that spawn and live in coral Most corals bleached last Kona on the leeward side taminants don’t flow into Hawaii is home to 85 per-
year bounced back, for and Kapoho in the south- the ocean. People should cent of the coral under U.S.
reefs. It’s also a concern for example. But Gates said it east. avoid walking on coral and jurisdiction, including 69
will be harder for these cor- Scientists on an expedition boaters should make sure percent within the mostly
Hawaii’s tourism-depen- als to tolerate the warmer to the remote, mostly un- they don’t drop anchor on uninhabited islands of the
inhabited islands in the far coral. Fishermen should fish Papahanaumokuakea Ma-
dent economy because northeastern end of the is- responsibly, he said. rine National Monument.
land chain reported some Scientists have also asked Another 15 percent of U.S.
many travelers come to the coral died after last year’s people to help them keep coral lies among the Main
bleaching event. Courtney track of bleached coral by Hawaiian Islands — from Ni-
islands to enjoy marine life. Couch, a researcher at the reporting sightings to the ihau in the north to the Big
Hawaii Institute of Marine state’s “Eyes on the Reef” Island in the south — where
Gates compared dead Biology, said a mile and a website at www.eorhawaii. the state’s 1.4 million peo-
half of reef on the eastern org . ple live.q
coral reef to a city laid to

rubble.

“You go from a vibrant,

three-dimensional structure

teeming with life, teeming

with color, to a flat pave-