Importance Of Conserving Our Reefs * Coral reefs buffer adjacent shorelines from wave action and prevent erosion, property damage and loss of life. * Coral reefs provide a habitat for marine creatures. These marine animals eg. fishes serve as a source of income since we catch and sell them. * Coral reefs also provides for the country’s economy as the tourism industry brings in a lot of revenue.WAYS TO PREVENT CORAL REEF DESTRUCTION * Reduce or eliminate fertilizers and pesticides from your life. No matter how far from the ocean environment you are, the residues will make their way back to the ocean. * Dispose of the bottles and cans from herbicides, pesticides and insecticides properly and not in the ocean. * Do not practice deforestation. | | If we don’t take careOf our reefs, they will not take care of us. | | | | | Farmers, Help Us To Protect Our Coral Reefs | | | By: Leighton Thompson and Romae Darmand | |

How Your Actions Harm The Reefs

For all the framers who plant on steep slopes, you are a part of the process which is killing the coral reefs because silts and sediments wash into the rivers them into the sea. These silts and sediments kills the coral polyps which the kills the coral reefs.
Overuse of pesticides and herbicides lead to excess nutrients which result in poor water quality, leading to decreased oxygen and increased nutrients in the water (eutrophication). This can lead to enhanced algal growth on reefs, crowding out corals and significantly degrading the ecosystem.
When farmers use wrong farming techniques such as deforestation, excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere results in increase in ocean temperatures. A change as little as 1 0 C – 2 0 C in temperatures which stresses the