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Grounded ship brings grief to reef

18 Apr 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The "living creatures," including those in the sea, "were countless in number" in the vision recounted in this Sunday's second reading. Australia's Great Barrier Reef will need decades to recover from the damage caused by a grounded Chinese coal carrier that spent nine days gouging a three mile zone of the treasured reef, said experts. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called the accident, which also leaked about two tons of fuel oil into the pristine seas, an "absolute outrage." He added, "We will leave no stone unturned when it comes to finding out how that happened." Officials have promised to investigate allegations that ships have been taking short-cuts through the world's biggest reef, which covers 137,600 square miles off the east coast of Australia. David Wachenfeld, chief scientist at the body overseeing the heritage-listed marine park, said the Shen Neng 1 coal carrier had been grinding against and crushing the reef after it veered off course and smashed into it on April 3. The reef was also left plastered with toxic anti-fouling paint from the ship's hull. Divers "have found significant scarring and coral damage. They've also found quite a lot of anti-fouling [paint] spread across the reef," said Russell Reichelt, chairman of the marine park authority. "It is a concern because it's designed to be toxic and stop things growing on ships. We've already seen observations where anti-fouling paint that's been scraped off onto the reef is killing corals in its vicinity." Conservationists say the incidents highlight the risk to Australia's environment posed by rocketing resource exports to Asia, which are fuelling a strong recovery from the global financial crisis. The reef, which is visible from space and is one of the world's foremost ecological treasures, has already come under pressure from rising sea temperatures and pollution. Source: An article by Talek Harris Agence France Presse

accident kevin rudd australia great barrier reef david wachenfeld shen neng 1 russell reichelt coral anti-fouling paint

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Oceans away?

26 Jun 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The divine word and law have been entrusted to Israel as a blessing, the psalmist reminds the people this Sunday. From the moment God first separated land from sea and entrusted the oceans to humanity, they have blessed us with abundance. But a new study warns of the imminent and catastrophic extinctions of sea life--the worst collapse of life in millions of years--because of climate change and overfishing. Time is running short to counter hazards such as the collapse of coral reefs or the spread of low-oxygen "dead zones," according to the study led by the International Program on the State of the Ocean (IPSO). "We now face losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, within a single generation," said the expert study which will be presented to the United Nations. "The findings are shocking," Alex Rogers, scientific director of IPSO, wrote of the conclusions from a 2011 workshop of ocean experts staged by IPSO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature at Oxford University. Jelle Bijma, of the Alfred Wegener Institute, said the seas faced a "deadly trio" of threats: higher temperatures, acidification, and lack of oxygen known as anoxia that also have factored in several past mass extinctions. A buildup of carbon dioxide, blamed by the U.N. panel of climate scientists on human use of fossil fuels, is heating the planet. Absorbed into the oceans, it causes acidification, while runoff of fertilizers and pollution stokes anoxia. Fish are the main source of protein for a fifth of the world's population, and the seas cycle oxygen and help absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from human activities. The study said that overfishing is the easiest contributing factor for governments to reverse, while countering global warming will require a major shift away from fossil fuels toward cleaner energies such as wind and solar power. Source: An article by Jan Harvey for Reuters

global warming oceans overfishing ipso coral reefs alex rogers jelle bijma acidification anoxia fertilizers extinction climate change pollution fossil fuels

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Ruining our reefs

01 Mar 2015 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John, his clothes bleached a dazzling white. The world’s coral reefs are being transfigured as well, but not in a good way. Bleached by the effects of global warming, they are now being plagued by the growing presence of microplastics—the miniscule balls of synthetic material found in toothpaste, liquid soaps, creams, and cosmetics—in our seas. Researchers have found that corals are capable of inadvertently eating the tiny balls of plastic, which clogs their digestion and starves them of nutrients. Homily hint: The oceans are a living barometer of the pace and gravity of the ecological challenges facing humanity. Microplastics need to be phased out of production as quickly as possible. Do your part by recycling, conserving energy, and minimizing as much as possible your “ecological footprint.” For more about coral damage from microplastics, see: Tiny Bits of Plastic May Be Clogging Up Corals; Corals face 'slow starvation' from ingesting plastics pollution, experts find

pollution coral reef plastics

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