Sea Turtle Sanctuary Has Survived 40 Years. Climate Change May Kill It. (nytimes.com) 14
Against long odds and initially strong opposition, a pristine marine preserve in the Philippines has thrived for decades under the care of local fishermen. Warming waters threaten the achievement. From a report: The large green sea turtles used to be terrified of humans, scuttling away as fast as they could. "When the turtles saw people, it was like they saw a ghost," said Mario Pascobello, a resident of Apo Island in the Philippines. "In the old days, they were being slaughtered here," he added, with the island's fishermen feasting on their flesh and their eggs. Now, the endangered green turtles, largely herbivorous, peacefully graze in the shallows off Apo's coast, unbothered by the fishermen, who share the waters with them. But if the turtles are no longer menaced by the fishermen here, they do face another man-made threat: climate change.
"Climate change increasing the temperatures of coastal areas will kill corals and fish larvae," said Angel Alcala, a marine biologist who started visiting the island in the 1970s. "Typhoons usually reached the Negros area only once in 10 to 15 years before, but now every four or five years a typhoon hits Apo." The community is still rehabilitating from the last typhoon, and in recent years it has had to restore parts of its reef damaged in bleaching events, when overheated seawater causes coral to expel the plantlike organism that live inside them, which causes the corals to not only turn white but also puts them at greater risk of death. Apo, a tiny volcanic speck roughly in the center of the Philippines archipelago, is home to a pristine marine sanctuary in an area known as the Amazon of the Sea because of its biodiversity. The waters around the tiny island are thought to be home to around 400 species of coral.
"Climate change increasing the temperatures of coastal areas will kill corals and fish larvae," said Angel Alcala, a marine biologist who started visiting the island in the 1970s. "Typhoons usually reached the Negros area only once in 10 to 15 years before, but now every four or five years a typhoon hits Apo." The community is still rehabilitating from the last typhoon, and in recent years it has had to restore parts of its reef damaged in bleaching events, when overheated seawater causes coral to expel the plantlike organism that live inside them, which causes the corals to not only turn white but also puts them at greater risk of death. Apo, a tiny volcanic speck roughly in the center of the Philippines archipelago, is home to a pristine marine sanctuary in an area known as the Amazon of the Sea because of its biodiversity. The waters around the tiny island are thought to be home to around 400 species of coral.
Perhaps (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Bleaching events still happen, but the coral reefs around the world are pretty resilient. This year, the Great Barrier Reef recorded the highest coral cover in the past 36 years that records have been kept. Right now, the crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks are a bigger threat to the GBR than the bleaching. Hopefully the turtles in the marine sanctuary can weather typhoons and bleaching events with the help of the local fishermen.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/0... [cnbc.com]
Money! (Score:1, Informative)
I just want to say thanks to all of you peasants( idiots/suckers ), that are new to this scam. By the time you figure out out lies, we'll just call you a denier and throw you in the tra
Re: (Score:3)
We're all gonna die!
Well, yes.
sea turtles are awesome! (Score:5, Interesting)
I had the chance to see wild sea turtles up close when I visited the Virgin Islands a few years ago. It was one of the coolest experiences in my life. They're like gentle giants in the water and seem majestic, like sting rays, except without giving off any sense of danger. If you're ever in a place where you can swim with the turtles, do it!
Re: (Score:3)
they're also one of the few animals that will feed on jellyfish.
Climate change has lead to a population explosion of jellyfish, so animals that consume them on a regulat basis is appreciated.
Climate change or El Nino or both? (Score:1)
Following the 1997-98 El Niño event, 15 percent of the world's coral reefs died.
I think there may be many stress factors here
Re: (Score:2)
No one is saying change didn't happen. 20,000 years ago where I'm sitting right now as under hundreds of feet of glacial ice.
What *is* different now is the *rate* of warming. What used to take millennia is now taking decades - And the rate of change is accelerating. That is what is different.
Ecosystems aren't equipped to deal with change at this pace.
Why is that so hard to grasp?
free link (Score:2)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/1... [nytimes.com]
May (Score:2)
May. Or may not.