User:Gingerbmichigan/Southeast Asia coral reefs

Lead
Southeast Asian coral reefs have the highest levels of biodiversity for the world's marine ecosystems. They serve many functions, such as forming the livelihood for subsistence fishermen and even function as jewelry and construction materials. Corals inhabit coastal waters off of every continent except Antarctica with an abundance of reefs residing along Southeast Asian coastline in several countries including Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Coral reefs are developed by the carbonate-based skeletons of a variety of animals and algae. Slowly and overtime, the reefs build up to the surface in oceans. Coral reefs are found in shallow, warm salt water. The sunlight filters through clear water and allows microscopic organisms to live and reproduce. Coral reefs are actually composed of tiny, fragile animals known as coral polyps. Coral reefs are significantly important because of the biodiversity. Although the number of fish are decreasing, the remaining coral reefs contain more unique sea creatures. The variety of species living on a coral reef is greater than anywhere else in the world. An estimation of 70-90% of fish caught are dependent on coral reefs in Southeast Asia and reefs support over 25% of all known marine species. However, those sensitive coral reefs are facing detrimental effects on them due to variety of factors: overfishing, sedimentation and pollution, bleaching, and even tourist-related damage.

Thailand
Thailand's coastline and 300 small islands are home to 153 square kilometers of coral. Large bleaching events in 1998 and 2010 resulted in the massive loss of corals in the Gulf of Thailand, but some corals showed resilience to the events and displayed a lower mortality. Bleaching events such as these are just one of many threats that face corals in Thailand. Expansion of coastal tourism in Thailand has resulted in both a rise of coral damage and increased economic incentive to preserve and rebuild coral reefs. Tourist activities, such as diving, have become so popular in locations like the Similan Islands and Phi Phi Islands that they threaten to overwhelm and destroy protected marine areas unless new measures are taken to limit visitors and revitalize coral conservation efforts.

Recognition of both the economic and ecological value of Thailand’s coral reefs and their rapid degradation due to tourism has led to consideration of new ways to protect reefs. For instance, Thailand has attempted to limit the number of tourists that can visit certain islands in a year or has implemented fees that would go towards counteracting the environmental damage on corals caused by tourism. Efforts in Thailand to rebuild reefs is part of a larger economic movement that attempts to preserve natural beauty in order to continue a lucrative tourism industry, a significant source of revenue for Thai islands. Coral restoration efforts, like the New Heaven Reef Conservation Program on the Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, often incorporate the local community creating positive social change as well as ecological change. While these efforts seek to address some local concerns, technical limitations are a barrier that prevent further coral restoration, and the continuation of worldwide trends like ocean warming and acidification will have further negative impacts on Thailand's coral reefs.