Emergency Response to Mass Coral Bleaching

Dear All, 

A condition 5 hurricane has just plowed through Fiji, killing at least 42 people and destroying thousands of homes in nearly a hundred village communities, with over 50 thousand homeless people.  The coral reef conservation site on Morutiki Island that we have worked with snce 2004 was very badly hit, with 90% of the houses destroyed by the winds and a two? meter storm surge that swept into the communities.   This is the most powerful storm ever to hit the South Pacific region, and was only 5km/hr weaker than Typhoon Hainan that hit the Philippines a couple of years ago.  Some scientists say that this cyclone being so strong for so many days is related to the hottest oceean temperatures ever recorded for the region- yet more evidence of climate change?

While we have yet to survey the coral reefs, based on satellite data, the extremly hot water that leads to major bleaching has suddenly been cooled off by the massive hurricane.  A bit of a silver lining to this black cloud!   The bleaching that was becoming severe on the Coral Coast and in other areas is still a very real problem, but this hurricane has saved many reef areas!   

We have recently partnered with Global Vision International on the bleaching resonse and now for cyclone relief, and we are making plans for creation of a coral nursery at Moturiki of bleaching resistant corals for repanting to dead areas of the reefs. We will be letting you know in the coming weeks how the reefs have fared, but we do expect some severe damage to corals from the waves that crashed into the communities.  GVI has a grup of international volunteers who will work with local counterparts to do the work of simple reef repairs and coral nursery creation under our guidance.

We will launch a  Cyclone Thomas Moturiki Appeal tomorrow on Global Giving, so please consider giving to these communities that have been leaders in community-based coral reef conservation over the past decade.  

Thanks for your support,

Austin and the Corals for Conservation Board