Brazil braces for worst coral bleaching ever

STORY: Brazil is bracing for what may be its worst-ever coral bleaching event…

as extremely warm waters damage reefs in the country’s largest marine reserve.

Pedro Pereira is a coordinator for the nonprofit Reef Conservation Project.

“Coral reefs are very sensitive to changes in temperature, we've recorded temperatures of up to 33 degrees here in the region and any small temperature variation already affects the metabolism and causes this bleaching of the corals, which consequently causes, unfortunately, the death of a large number of these species."

Sea temperatures have smashed records in the last year as climate change intensifies the El Nino phenomenon that normally warms the globe every six or seven years.

The world’s corals are now suffering a fourth mass bleaching event in three decades.

Some had hoped Brazil’s reefs would be spared as they were during previous events.

But huge swaths of corals have turned bone white along Brazil’s vast Atlantic coastline including the 75-mile marine park called Coral Coast.

Nearly 100% of the corals in some parts of the marine park have been affected, and some have begun dying, a research director at the Coral Vivo Institute told Reuters.

And the issue is threatening the region’s tourism and fishing revenues.

“Tourism depends on coral reefs, fishing depends on coral reefs. So any alteration or change to this ecosystem will alter an entire production chain, including a community that depends on the resources of the sea for its survival."

Reef tourism generates an estimated $175 million each year for the relevant municipalities, according to the conservation charity Boticario Group Foundation.

Thousands of people also work in small-scale fishing, virtually the only economic alternative to tourism in certain areas.

This year, the catch for octopus, fish and prawns have all declined, according to a Coral Coast fisherman who spoke to Reuters.

The reefs previously have only been hit by one deadly bleaching event in 2019-2020, which killed up to 50% of the region's distinct species of brain corals and 90% of its Branching Fire Coral.

Corals can recover if waters cool in time for them to be repopulated by the microalgae that live in their tissue.

Scientists say that whatever survives should be studied to determine what traits helped make it more resilient.