NOAA's Reporter's Coral Reef Tip Sheet
August 18, 1997 - Week 33

The degradation of coral reefs in the United States could create a serious problem for the U.S. fishing industry, with possible annual losses of several hundred million dollars.
Conservative estimates indicate that 10% of the Earth’s coral reefs are seriously degraded. U.S. coral reefs in the Florida Keys, Caribbean, Flower Garden Banks, and the western Pacific are no exception. A much larger percentage of coral reefs worldwide are threatened by the impact of human activities and inputs such as: reef-destructive fishing; sedimentation caused by inappropriate land use practices; raw sewage; nutrients and pesticides from agricultural activities; oil from ships and land-based sources; damage from boat anchors and ship groundings; and uninformed scuba divers. Additionally, several mysterious diseases have recently been discovered attacking corals around the world. It is possible that the multitude of anthropogenic stresses have weakened coral so that they are now unable to fend off diseases that they have fought off in the past.

There are approximately 500 federally managed species of fish and marine invertebrates that depend on coral reefs during part of their life cycle. Red snapper, vermillion snapper, yellowtail snapper, Nassau grouper, red grouper, amberjack, and spiny lobster are just some of the important commercial species that may not survive, and will certainly not thrive, without healthy coral reefs.

The estimated commercial ex-vessel value (how much fishermen get for their catch) of federally managed coral reef-dependent species in the United States is approximately $75 million. This amount does not take into account the value of state managed reef-dependent fisheries, the value of recreational fisheries that target coral reef-dependent species (estimated to be as valuable as the commercial fisheries), or the value added to seafood products before they reach the final retail consumer. Nor does it include the economic benefits accrued by peripheral sectors of the fishing industry such as shipyards and processing plants.

Without help, increasingly unhealthy coral reefs will lead to biologically and economically degraded coral reef-dependent fisheries.

Related Item

The Coral Reef Conservation Act of 1997 (H.R. 2233) is making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives. The purposes of this act are the following:

(1) To preserve, sustain, and restore the health of coral reef ecosystems.

(2) To assist in the conservation and protection of coral reefs by supporting conservation programs.

(3) To provide financial resources for those programs.

(4) To establish a formal mechanism for collecting and allocating monetary donations from the private sector to be used for coral reef conservation projects.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE REEF, PLEASE CONTACT:

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CORAL-DEPENDENT FISHERIES IN THE U.S., PLEASE CONTACT:

National Marine Fisheries Service web site: http://kingfish.ssp.nmfs.gov/

National Marine Fisheries Service
Southeast Fisheries Science Center
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami, FL 33149
tel: (305) 361-5761

National Marine Fisheries Service
Southwest Fisheries Science Center
P.O. Box 271
8604 La Jolla Shores Drive
La Jolla, CA 92038
tel: (619) 546-7000

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CORAL REEF CONSERVATION ACT OF 1997, PLEASE CONTACT:

Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans
805 O’Neill House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
tel: (202) 226-0200
fax: (202) 225-1542