Forest department,wildlife trust probe bleaching of corals

R D Kamboj,Director,Marine National Park,Jamnagar,said: “The coral reef ecosystems found in tropical seas are calcium carbonate exoskeleton of massive colonies of individual coral polyps which measure about a few millimetres in diameter. The polyps are dependent on photosynthetic unicellular algae — zooxanthellae for nutrition,which also give the corals their colour. Under stress (changes in water temperature,radiation levels,salinity,and sedimentation),the polyps may expel these organisms,resulting in bleaching.”

Coral bleaching was reported from the Mithapur reef and Gulf of Kachchh Marine National Park earlier this year.

The bleaching as well as the ensuing investigations are part of WTI’s Coral Reef Securement Project which assists the state Forest Department in conservation of corals. The project is supported by Tata Chemicals Limited and World Land Trust.

WTI Chief Ecologist Dr Rahul Kaul said: “Bleaching of corals up to a certain extent is fairly common,reversible natural phenomenon and not necessarily alarming. The problem is when the degree is higher than the critical reversible limit which can result in large scale death of colonies. We are monitoring the bleaching and the recovery rate. Preliminary signs are positive and we have seen some signs of recovery in Mithapur. Besides,corals are propagating too.”

He added that bleaching can either lead to the death or recovery of corals and monitoring will help provide more insight on the situation.