Coral bleaching is occurring in reefs off New Taipei City’s Maoao Village, (卯澳) and Pingtung County’s Wanlitong Village (萬里桐) and Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球), an Ocean Conservation Administration study released on Thursday showed.
The study, conducted with the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium over the past year, was initiated in response to concerns that rising ocean temperatures would worsen coral bleaching around Taiwan, the agency said in a statement.
The researchers found “dysfunctional” meaning bleached coral reefs in seven of 62 locations surveyed, it said.
The health of reefs is gauged by their coral cover and the ratio of coral