Seventy per cent of Japan’s biggest coral reef, the Sekisei Lagoon in Okinawa, has been destroyed by bleaching, and 90% of it has been affected, according to Japan’s Environment Ministry.
The Sekisei reef, which covers 150sq miles between the islands of Iriomote and Ishigaki in southern Japan, attracts local and visiting divers.
The ministry’s report, based on a survey carried out at 35 sites in the final months of 2016, says that increased sea temperatures caused by global warming were responsible for the devastation, which it described as “an extremely serious situation”.
The Sekisei reef has been suffering from a degree of bleaching for many years, but particularly high water temperatures recently appear to have accelerated the process.
As reported in the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s meteorological agency found that the average sea surface temperature at Sekisei last summer was the highest since records began in 1982, at just over 30°C. This was more than a degree warmer than usual for the time of year. Such temperatures can be a trigger level for bleaching if sustained for any length of time.
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20-Jan-17
