Biologists exploring ways to save dying Great Barrier Reef

Several biologists are exploring ways to restore the beauty of the world famous Great Barrier Reef, which is dying.

According to Australia's National Coral Bleaching Taskforce, about 93 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef has suffered some degree of bleaching, Xinhua news agency reported.

Biologists have found that an increase of just one or two degrees of the water temperatures can cause coral reefs to reject the colourful algae that reside inside, turning the coral white.

"How much worse that gets will depend on how we deal with global warming," Mark Eakin, Coral Reef Watch coordinator with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said in a statement on Monday.

Besides restraining global warming, several scientists are trying different methods to directly work on the coral, according to recent reports by different newspapers.

Ruth Gates, a coral biologist from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology on Oahu is looking for stress-tolerant corals and breeding them to create a strain of coral that can stand changing water temperature, according to reports by Gloucester Times, a US media group.

Philippe Cousteau, the offspring of a prominent family specialized in environmental and conservation protection career, was reported to be searching techniques for transplanting reef micro fragments to replace the damaged section of the reef.

Meanwhile, in a report by US newspaper Greensburg Daily News, Peter Harrison, scientist from Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia, is using the sperm and eggs of healthy corals to create numerous larvae, and then use the insects on the reefs in the Philippines to restore local marine life.

Although all the above methods have not been massively applied to the Great Barrier Reef, the scientists' efforts offered a glimmer that our descendants may have the day to enjoy the beauty of the reef like us.

--IANS

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