'Zero recovery' for corals in back-to-back Australia bleaching

Yahoo – AFP, April 10, 2017

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is suffering a fourth round of coral bleaching
this year, after being hit in 1998, 2002 and 2016 (AFP Photo/Nette WILLIS)

Sydney (AFP) - Coral bleached for two consecutive years at Australia's Great Barrier Reef has "zero prospect" of recovery, scientists warned Monday, as they confirmed the site has again been hit by warming sea temperatures.

Researchers said last month they were detecting another round of mass bleaching this year after a severe event in 2016, and their fears were confirmed after aerial surveys of the entire 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long bio-diverse reef.

Last year, the northern areas of the World Heritage-listed area were hardest hit, with the middle-third now experiencing the worst effects.

"Bleached corals are not necessarily dead corals, but in the severe central region we anticipate high levels of coral loss," said James Kerry, a marine biologist at James Cook University who led the aerial surveys.

"It takes at least a decade for a full recovery of even the fastest growing corals, so mass bleaching events 12 months apart offer zero prospect of recovery for reefs that were damaged in 2016."

It is the fourth time coral bleaching -- where stressed corals expel the algae that live in their tissue and provide them with food -- has hit the reef after previous events in 1998 and 2002.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is suffering a fourth round of coral bleaching 

this year, after being hit in 1998, 2002 and 2016 (AFP Photo/Nette WILLIS)

Record temperatures

"The combined impact of this back-to-back bleaching stretches for 1,500 kilometres, leaving only the southern third unscathed," said Terry Hughes, head of the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, also at James Cook University.

"The bleaching is caused by record-breaking temperatures driven by global warming.

"This year, 2017, we are seeing mass bleaching, even without the assistance of El Nino conditions," he added, referring to the natural climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean.

The Barrier Reef is already under pressure from farming run-off, development and the crown-of-thorns starfish.

It was also recently hammered by category four Cyclone Debbie, which barrelled through the region last month, mostly affecting southern parts around the Whitsunday islands which largely escaped the bleaching.

The extent of the destruction wrought by Debbie is not yet known, although scientists have said damage could range from minor to severe.

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority began a study last week to determine how extensive it might be and have already found extensive pulverised coral at popular snorkeling spots.

"The feedback that's coming back is the more sheltered areas have come out a bit better, but they all seem to have suffered some form of damage," Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators' Brendon Robinson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The Whitsundays is one of the reef's tourist hotspots, attracting more than 40 percent of total visitors to the iconic marine ecosystem.

An aerial view of bleaching in the Cairns-Townsville region of Australia's 

Great Barrier Reef (AFP Photo/Ed ROBERTS)

Multiple impacts

Hughes warned rising temperatures could see more bleaching events.

"Clearly the reef is struggling with multiple impacts. Without a doubt the most pressing of these is global warming," he said.

"As temperatures continue to rise the corals will experience more and more of these events. One degree Celsius of warming so far has already caused four events in the past 19 years.

"Ultimately, we need to cut carbon emissions, and the window to do so is rapidly closing."

The world's nations agreed in Paris in 2015 to limit average warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels, by curbing fossil fuel burning.

Canberra in 2015 narrowly avoided UNESCO putting the reef on its endangered list, and has committed more than Aus$2.0 billion (US$1.5 billion) to protect it over the next decade.

Japan volcanic islands may hold keys to coral survival pic.twitter.com/Ed9QVQEC8n

— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 17, 2017

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“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

"....The Prediction: The Renewal of the Life Cycle

When you change the temperature strata of the oceans of the earth, things start to change, for the life cycle of the food in the ocean depends upon that which is the smallest. The plankton of the planet survive in certain temperatures, and that's changing. Throw away what you think you know about how it's all supposed to work, and instead think "renewal" or "how did it begin." This will serve you to understand what is happening now. This cycle is built to replenish the ocean with life and not always by sustaining the kind that was there.

Let us just talk about the ocean for a moment. We won't even get to what's happening in the air and what mammals might experience. Let's just speak of the ocean. Have you heard about the salmon? What has your science warned you against? You're overfishing! The sea is dying. The coral is dying. The reefs are going away. You're not seeing the food chain that used to be there. You've overfished everything. Fishing quotas have been set up to help this. Oh, all those little people in the red room - they don't know about the purple. Red people only know about the red paradigm.

Did you hear about the salmon recently? There's too many of them! In the very place where quotas are in place so you won't overfish, they're jumping in the boats! Against all odds and any projections from environmentalists or biologists, they're overrunning the oceans in Alaska - way too many fish.

What does that tell you? Is it possible that Gaia takes care of itself? That's what it tells you! Perhaps this alignment is going to keep humanity fed. Did anybody think of this? What if Gaia is in alliance with you? What if the increase in consciousness that raised your DNA vibration has alerted Gaia to change the weather cycle and get ready to feed humanity? Are you looking at the ocean where the oil spill occurred? It's recovering in a way that was not predicted. What's happening?

The life cycle itself is being altered by the temperature change of the ocean and much of what you have believed is the paradigm of life in the sea is slowly changing. A new system of life is appearing, as it has before, and is upon you in your lifetime. It will compliment what you know and expose you to a new concept: Gaia regularly refreshes the life cycle on Earth.

Within this process, there will be the extinction of certain plants and animals, birds and fish. My advice to you, especially to those environmentalists, is to understand the cycle of life so that you may relax with what nature has always done. It puts life on the planet to serve the planet for a time. When certain life no longer serves the planet in the ways it used to, it takes it away. The extinction of life, especially through weather change, is normal for Gaia. It is honored, appropriate and normal, even if you don't think so. Don't try to save all the disappearing animals, fish and birds! Some are supposed to go away. And, dear ones, don't assign all this activity to something you did to cause it!

The red people are stressing. The purple is here, and they are trying to figure out what they did wrong. They don't know they are in the Rainbow Room. They think they are in the RED ROOM. This is what the Rainbow Room does; it changes colors. So as the room does what it has always done, the red people are sitting there in fear trying to figure out what it is that they did that possibly could have caused the purple to appear.

The Rainbow Room is beautiful. The color purple is significant. Going from red to purple has metaphysical significance within this parable, but I'll let you figure it out. For those who are into colors, there's a reason why I gave those two. The earth is becoming more sacred than it's ever been before. Gaia is with you in this. It's cooperating in ways you never thought it could, in the way biologists said it would not. You think you're killing it? Instead, it's giving birth to an altered ecological system. ...."

Disaster-fatigue and the importance of a Plan B

Manggi Habir, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Within a relatively brief period, we have witnessed a series of tragic disasters, both natural and man-made. This has ranged from the Aceh tsunami to the Adam Air plane crash and more recently to the Jakarta floods. This begs the question as to what we have learned from these painful experiences?

Unfortunately, we must admit not much. With limited resources and awareness, we have often ignored disaster prevention measures in our everyday routines. One notable trend, however, is that with a weak first line of defense, there is a growing importance of contingency disaster plans, or what companies often refer to as plan B (as opposed to the normal operating plan A). And with bird flu just around the corner, our plan B abilities will be truly put to test.

Preventive measures are, in the long run, more cost effective than remedial measures that kick in during and after a disaster. This is intuitive and common sense. On an individual level, better to buy and wear a motorcycle helmet than pay a brain surgeon to reassemble your head. For an airline, better to spend on safety measures than damage your reputation and forego potential revenue from customers switching to safer airlines.

For an oil company, it is better to ensure that safety standards are adhered to (especially when drilling in close proximity to heavily populated areas and public transportation facilities), than to have to pay for damages and compensation. For a provincial government, it better spending on early warning systems and going through practice runs, rather than having to relive another Aceh tsunami or Yogyakarta earthquake tragedy.

And for a municipal governor, better to spend on improving urban canals and drainage systems rather than losing political capital because of floods, should one have further political ambitions.

But, unfortunately, preventive measures are not without cost, while it is always hoped disasters will happen to somebody else, and thus are not a certainty. And with the lack of awareness of the need for preventive measures, even periodic building evacuation exercises remain a rarity.

Companies with the resources normally incorporate preventive measures in their business plans. They do this by identifying critical risk areas in their businesses, and correspondingly install ways to address and minimize these risks. In the absence of insurance, losses are quantified, should mishaps occur, and funds are set aside to cover these potential losses.

Minimum industry safety standards are set and adhered to with proper government or industry enforcement carrying sufficient penalties for non-compliance. Not easy in a developing environment, and to be fair even developed ones find this difficult.

It is like having to exercise, eat a balanced diet and have regular medical check-ups to avoid paying huge hospital bills later on. We know it is good for us, but never have the urgency or time, until unfortunately it is too late. Human nature is such that we tend to ignore the negatives and instead focus on the positives. It must be our survival instinct.

Indeed, it is our weakness in implementing and enforcing preventive measures in our daily routine that leads to the prominence of plan Bs. This is inevitable in an increasingly riskier world, with increased volatility brought about by, among other things, globalization, more frequent and extreme climatic changes and technological innovations. So what constitutes a credible plan B?

This column is not meant to be a treatise on how to do a plan B. Suffice to say that a plan B should have adequate funding, a realistic action plan, an organization with a credible chain of command to the very top (to get visibility, a buy-in from everyone and decisive decision making) and a focal point of communication to ensure accurate and consistent information is made public.

But a plan means nothing if it is not practiced. So it is vital that we do periodic practice runs. Plan B's ideally should remain a work in progress and, after each practice run, constantly fine-tuned to ensure credibility and effectiveness. Tsunami and earthquake practice runs are important exercises to go through. It is sort of like having an army in peacetime. We want them to be battle-ready and continually practice for a war, which we hope will never happen.

This brings me to bird flu, which has already claimed lives and could escalate further into a more deadly pandemic. Experts all agree it is just a matter of time before we have a pandemic. So, in this case, the early warning systems have already been switched on, flashing yellow warning lights. Unlike the recent tsunami and earthquakes, we have the luxury of a bit more time and thus both preventive and contingency plans need to be reviewed and put into action simultaneously.

Preventive measures include ensuring we are vigilant and report any dead birds to the authorities, and when the virus is identified ensuring we cull all fowl and animals (with proper compensation) that could transmit the disease within the surrounding area.

Identify key areas where the deadly virus can breed, like crowded wet markets where people and animals converge and try to ensure as clean an environment as possible. There has been heartening news of a bird flu vaccine being developed in Australia with some success. Although it remains to be seen how soon it can be safely used.

On the plan B remedial side, hospitals have been designated to cater for bird flu patients and isolation wards have been established. Aside from the hardware, it is important to coordinate the dissemination of information to ensure the public is made more aware about bird flu, the symptoms, the dangers and where to go for help should they identify it in their respective communities. Ways to deal with affected relatives and communities to ensure that the disease is isolated and contained is also important.

With all that has happened, it is no wonder we are suffering from a bit of disaster-fatigue. And it is now that our leaders, instead of pointing fingers at each other, should start showing real leadership. It is an opportune time, especially with the general elections only two years away.

The writer is a financial and business analyst and a lecturer at Tarumanegara University in West Jakarta.

Provinces 'better prepared' for disaster than Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Several provinces are better prepared to deal with natural disasters than Jakarta, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) said Friday.

"There are six provincial administrations that are the most concerned with weather changes as well as natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis," agency head Sri Woro B. Harijono said during a meeting with members of the Regional Representatives Council.

She said the provinces of West Sumatra, Lampung, Banten, Central Java, Maluku and Gorontalo were all well prepared for any disaster.

"For instance, Gorontalo provincial administration was the first to request the agency install a server to detect earthquakes and tsunamis," Sri told reporters.

The server is equipped with software that will automatically alert local citizens with sirens whenever an earthquake is detected.

The Gorontalo administration, she said, paid to have one installed in the middle of last year. West Sumatra then followed suit.

"Meanwhile, Central Java and Lampung have provided, respectively, a building for a climatology monitoring station and a plot of land for a weather radar tower," she said.

The Jakarta administration, however, is notable only for its lack of action, she said.

"The Jakarta administration has yet to take such action as the other six provinces," Sri said.

"May be the administration thinks that the city is not on the continental plate that might cause earthquakes and tsunamis," she added.

She said that her agency had sent a prediction for torrential rain to the administration on Feb. 1 at 00:20 a.m., a day before the floods hit Jakarta.

"Concerned institutions that receive data sent by the agency should take follow-up action," Sri said.

The Jakarta Public Works Agency's water resources development division said it had acted after receiving the forecast.

"We disseminated the information to related institutions. We also began operating flood posts for victims, shortly after we received the information," the head of the division, I Gede Nyoman Soewandi, told The Jakarta Post.

"We did not, however, predict that the heavy rain would cause this much damage," he added.

So far the flooding in Greater Jakarta has killed 54 people, forced at least 340,000 from their homes, and left more than 200,000 homeless.

Prih Harjadi, deputy for data systems and information at the BMG, said the dissemination of such information needed to be comprehensive and support public awareness and preparedness for natural disasters.

"Sophisticated technology to disseminate information swiftly will not be useful should the people be unaware and unprepared," said Prih.

"Local administrations should also take part in increasing public awareness and preparedness for natural disasters. The administrations should make a plan to help residents evacuate when a natural disaster occurs," he added.

Toxic planktons kill thousands of fishes in Bali: official

Denpasar (ANTARA News) - Toxic planktons are to blame for the mass death of thousands of fishes on some beaches of Tabanan district in Bali, an official said here Thursday.

"The fishes` mass death is a natural phenomenon caused by the El-Nino-induced storm which moved from the Pacific Ocean to the Indonesian waters. The El-Nino-induced storm triggered the growth of toxic planktons called red tide," head of the Bali Fisheries and Marine Resources Office Ida Bagus Putu Wisnawa Manuaba said.

The planktons had contaminated sea water adjacent to the areas stretching from Nyanyi to Selabih beaches where the dead fishes were found, he said.

Wisnawa said the sea water`s color turned to red and yellow due to the toxic red tide.

He said his office had warned the people living near the two beaches against eating the dead fishes and swimming in the waters where the dead fishes were found.

Meanwhile, experts from the Southeast Asia Center for Ocean Research and Monitoring (SEACORM) on Thursday conducted a research to look into the cause of the fishes` mass death on the beaches along 35 km of coastline.

They collected dead fishes of various kinds, sea water and planktons for laboratory tests.

The number of dead fishes which have already decayed continues to increase after the phenomenon was for the first time found on Monday.