Global warming starving Great Barrier reef fish species to death

Sydney, Dec 28: Fish species in the Great Barrier Reef are starving to death because climate change is killing off their food source, an environmental study conducted over five years by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) has revealed.

The study found that rising sea temperatures had bleached more than 30 per cent of the world's coral reefs, as a result of which, smaller fish which normally feeds on live coral are dying off.

This could throw the fish food chain out of balance, and consequently hinder local fishing and tourism operations, the study said.

According to CoECRS senior researcher Morgan Pratchett, this is only a glimpse of the larger to coral reef due to rising temperature.

If sea temperatures continue their warming patters, the coral damage could double by 2030, he said.
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Warming seas wreak havoc on reef fish

Fish species on the Great Barrier Reef are starving to death because climate change is killing off their food source, an environmental study has found.

Rising sea temperatures have bleached more than 30 per cent of the world's coral reefs, a five-year study by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) has found.

As a result, smaller fish which would normally feed on live coral are dying off, which could throw the fish food chain out of balance, and consequently hinder local fishing and tourism operations.

The coral damage is predicted to double by 2030 if sea temperatures continue their warming patterns, CoECRS senior researcher Morgan Pratchett said.

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Study: Batfish protect reef in Australia

BANGKOK, Thailand -- When it comes to protecting Australia's Great Barrier Reef, it is hard to beat the batfish. A study by researchers at the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies found that the rare pancake-like white fish with brown stripes was the only one of 27 species that successfully removed the forest of algae that can otherwise overwhelm and kill off the reef.

The study, which appeared in this week's edition of the journal Current Biology, not only raised the profile of the largely overlooked batfish but also showed the importance of protecting key algae-eating fish on reefs across the Pacific that are subject to overfishing, researchers said Wednesday
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Racing rate of reef decay

THE world's reefs are suffering from more frequent periods of coral die-off than at any time in the past 11,000 years, Australian scientists have warned.

Human activity, including development, overfishing and pollution, has been blamed for episodes of coral death that have damaged reefs in recent decades.

Researchers from the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and the University of Queensland went to the Huon Peninsula, on Papua New Guinea's northern coast, to study reef fossils.

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