Travel promoters suggesting visits to coral reefs often exaggerate and fib, says a leading scientist.

“Coral reefs are the most sensitive of all ecosystems to global warming,” said marine biologist Dr Thomas J. Goreau, president of the Global Coral Reef Alliance, who often travels to preservation projects in Asia.

“Almost every tropical country stakes its future on the tourism of white-sand beaches, diving and things related to coral reefs. They say, ‘Come see our pristine reefs.’ And they do this in places where the coral is totally dead. People who haven’t seen coral reefs before often can’t tell the difference.”

What’s the visual distinction between a vibrant reef and a dead one? “It’s like a tropical rainforest versus a parking lot.”

Dr Goreau has dived the longest and in the most places among active marine scientists. He also has the world’s largest collection of coral-reef photos, taken by his grandfather and father during the 1940s and 1950s.

“When we go to the same places in the photos, there’s hardly anything left. Even in the best locations, most of the coral has died. It’s frightening how fast it vanishes. Most of the world’s coral has died in the past decade. Not reefs, but coral. The reef is a framework made of dead coral. People talk very loosely with those terms. We don’t lose reefs, but we’ve lost nearly all the coral.”

In Australian waters, “There’s only 20 per cent live coral covering the Great Barrier Reef. It’s collapsing,” said Dr Goreau.

“At the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, people will tell you, ‘Oh, these dead reefs covered with algae were always that way.’ It’s a lie. I’ve spoken to the aboriginals who have photographs of their grandparents who relied entirely on reefs right next to the shore.

“The Australians are in denial, and so is every country. In fact, Indonesia and the Philippines have the most coral and far and away the highest biodiversity.”

Global warming inflicts massive damage on coral reefs. So do emerging diseases and destructive fishing with cyanide or explosives. “The cyanide kills every coral it touches, leaving a wasteland behind,” Dr Goreau said.

Raised mainly in Jamaica, Dr Goreau lives in Cambridge, Massachussetts, and travels to Global Coral Reef Alliance projects overseas. Starting in the 1940s, his father, Thomas, also a marine biologist, pioneered “diving as a research tool”, departing from previous studies that relied on samples lifted to the surface.

The Alliance, a 17-year-old network of volunteers dedicated to saving and restoring coral reefs, promotes restoration using a “biorock process” invented by a German architect named Wolf Hilbertz. The technique sends measured doses of electricity through metal-rod frames underwater. Within hours, mineral accretion begins. Hydrogen bubbles appear, then rust converts back to iron and limestone coats the frames, creating a platform on which coral thrives. It grows up to five times faster than normal and endures unhealthy water or unusual temperatures.

Hilbertz died recently. “He was an inspiring pioneer and innovator,” Dr Goreau said.

The Alliance has coral-restoration projects in Maldives, Thailand, Indonesia, Panama, the Philippines, the Marshall Islands, French Polynesia, St Maarten, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Palau, the US and elsewhere.

“What we’re doing works so remarkably well that nobody believes us unless they see it for themselves in their own waters,” Dr Goreau said. “Often dive operators and hotels have the only money in coastal areas, so many of our projects are done for ecotourism – to give the tourists something to see.”

For more information: www.globalcoral.org.

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