A recently published study by the Imperial College London showed that environmental education could be passed between generations and affect behavior. No breakthrough you might think; my parents taught me plenty about how to behave.
Surprisingly, in
this study it was school children who taught and changed the behavior of their
parents. The results published February 13, 2013 in Environmental Research Letters describe a
study on Mahé Island in the Republic of Seychelles
Through wildlife club activities in schools, the
kids learned about wetland conservation. The big surprise came when parents
were given questionnaires. The adults had dramatically changed their attitude
to the wetlands over a short 12 month period. They had become much more
environmentally responsible falling in line with their kids.
'Ghost fishing' by discarded nets can kill marine life for decades.
In a far more dramatic way the youth of Malaysia’s Pulau Pangkor have
‘rocked the local fishermen’s boats’ and made them think again. “Some of the older
generation were overfishing the reef and damaging the coral habitat” says reef
ecologist Kee Alfian, of Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia.
“It was the young reef guides who finally said
enough is enough and closed off the area in October, 2011. They didn’t apply to
the government for the closure but instead took matters into their own hands
and forged an agreement within their community. The area was only about 5,000
square metres ( a football field). No fishing, no collecting, no diving.”
Incredibly, the closed area began to change almost
immediately. From an environmental wasteland to noticeably healthier
environment in just a little less than 2 years. But the young people went a
step farther and have kept the area closed. In the months that followed, fish
that had grown large enough spawned in the protected area and were joined by
their offspring. As the population grew, fish began to emigrate to the fishing
grounds; but they were larger than those that made up the usual small catch of
juveniles. Even sea cucumbers that were not being fished increased in numbers.
The entire process has been overseen by Kee Alfian of
UKM and REEFCHECK Malaysia who have assisted through transplanting small
propagated corals to the area. Stage two of the rehabilitation is being planned
and will be implemented in the near future.
But what brought on the initial changes in Pulau
Pangkor’s coral reefs? Was it global warming and coral bleaching, coral
disease, or yet another new problem upsetting the nature’s delicate balances?
The answer is that the reefs were literally being
‘loved’ to death. People loved to snorkel there, they loved to fish there, to
anchor their boats there, they loved to collect the shells, and they loved to
dump their waste into the sea so it wouldn’t be a problem on land anymore. The
relatively slow rate of recovery of coral reefs is geared to occasional natural
disasters, not to prolonged over-use. The reef couldn’t repair itself quickly
enough to cope with all the attention it was getting.
Crown of thorns starfish are coral predators. Normally rare, their numbers can increase to plague proportions when the ecology is out of balance.
Once a popular venue for tourists eager to become
underwater explorers, pollution and silt from the land, coupled with overuse had robbed Pulau
Pangkor of the treasure that brought that very popularity. The absence of
marine park status meant that tourist use and fishing pressure grew unchecked
to destructive levels.
By comparison, Pulau Sembilan is located only 18 km to the south and
yet a recent survey uncovered hidden beauty and diversity including carpets of
anemone and beds of corals.
“I’m amazed as the
water visibility is low yet the coral cover is in the same state as in the East
Coast where the water is a lot clearer,” says Kee Alfian. The reefs are
generally in “fair” condition, with average live coral cover (of both hard and
soft corals) of 29% (the average for Malaysia
Much has been said
about the global decline of coral reefs and my own 1982 work first suggested
that there were ‘points’ that if passed
might become points of no return. Coral reefs as we know them could simply disappear.
Dr. Martin
Scheffer (Sept., 2009)of Wageningen University in The Netherlands wrote of
these ‘points’, "It's increasingly clear that many complex systems have
critical thresholds -- 'tipping points' -- at which these systems shift abruptly
from one state to another."
In February, 2010
the American Association for the Advancement of Science held a conference to
look at this frightening possibility. Titled “Will Coral Reefs Disappear?” Dr. Simon Donner, an assistant professor in the department
of geography at the University
of British Columbia
“Given
the hundreds of millions of people living in the tropics who depend on coral reefs
for food, income, tourism and shoreline protection, the loss of reefs is a
serious issue”, says Dr. Donner
Dr.
Donner says that he is not predicting that coral reefs will go extinct; they
will continue to survive, but only in a few habitats, where they are protected
from too much change. The reality is that a general loss of live coral cover
and a breakdown of the physical structure of reefs will happen on a large scale.
Let’s
think again of the wonderful success of the young people of Mahé Island
We must stop loving our reefs to
death and instead learn a little respect and moderation. We are the only
species on this planet that has the power to change the direction we are moving
in and there is so little time.
Let our legacy to our children be
that we learned from them and made their futures brighter in the process.
http://youngmarinescientist.blogspot.com/
http://geraldgoeden.blogspot.com/
http://goedensnews.blogspot.com/
http://goedenquotes.blogspot.com/
http://goedenscience.blogspot.com/
http://goedenmarineecology.blogspot.com/
http://gerryquotes.blogspot.com/
http://einsteinsnature.blogspot.com/
http://drgerrygoeden.blogspot.com/
http://underwaterinternet.blogspot.com/
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