Corals Are Being Cooked : A Third Of Taiwan s Reefs Are Dying
01/13/21 AT 3:35 AM
Nearly a third of Taiwan s corals are dying from bleaching caused by warming oceans in an alarming phenomenon that poses a severe threat to the island s delicate underwater ecosystem, conservationists warned Wednesday.
An investigation conducted last year in 62 locations around the island by the Taiwan Coral Bleaching Observation Network (TCBON) showed bleaching had reached its worst recorded levels.
Half of Taiwan s reefs have been hit by bleaching with 31 percent so badly impacted that they are dying and probably beyond saving. It s like the corals are being cooked, said Kuo Chao-yang, a postdoctoral scholar at the Biodiversity Research Center at Taiwan s leading research institute, Academia Sinica.
One-third of Taiwan s corals dying due to bleaching: researchers
01/12/2021 04:24 PM
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In the water near Xiaoliaoqiu Island off the coast of southwestern Taiwan, August 2020. Photo courtesy of Su Huai (蘇淮)
Taipei, Jan. 12 (CNA) At least 31 percent of the coral reefs in waters around Taiwan are dying as a result of bleaching, which is now the worst in the country s recorded history, researchers said Tuesday.
According to the Taiwan Coral Bleaching Observation Network (TCBON), 52 percent of the coral in Taiwan is under different levels of heat stress, while 31 percent is in an irreversible process of dying due to high water temperatures.
Bleaching killing at least 31% of Taiwan’s reefs
Staff writer, with CNA
At least 31 percent of the coral reefs in waters around Taiwan are dying as a result of bleaching, which is now the worst in its recorded history, researchers from Academia Sinica and the Taiwan Coral Bleaching Observation Network (TCBON) said yesterday, echoing warnings first delivered in September.
The network said that 52 percent of the coral in the nation’s waters is under different levels of heat stress, while 31 percent is in an irreversible process of dying due to high water temperatures.
The coral reefs would not recover, even if the water temperatures fall, said Kuo Chao-yang (郭兆揚), a postdoctoral research associate at Academia Sinica’s Biodiversity Research Center and a TCBON member.