The hottest year on record unleashes a mass coral bleaching tragedy

This is from ABC Australia - our version of the BBC so the journalism is tight. Why is coral bleaching important? Well, if the reefs collapse so does the ocean food chain. Worryingly this is not just about the Great Barrier Reef but globally.

 

Awwwweee.... Obviously we're all going to die because of man-made climate change.

The only way we can save ourselves is to give the government massive control over our lives.

Right after we let them emasculate us and take all of our guns.

I'm going to go catch at least a dozen mullet tomorrow and I bet climate change won't even prevent me from doing it.

But if I don't catch any fish I'm sure I can always blame the bad orange man and the governor of Florida.... The bad saltwater would be orange man!

 

Hyperbole ain’t just a word

 

The atmospheric CO2 challenge is an existential threat.

 

Ooh! Oooh! Oooh! But don’t you know they found A (one) paper that says there is no anthropogenic increase in CO2 ?? Seems that all that oil and coal we are burning per day has no effect /sarcasm

https://www.iea.org/reports/co2-emissions-in-2022


https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-global-co2-emissions-from-fossil-fuels-hit-record-high-in-2022/

 

ABC's journalism can only be called "tight" in the sense that word is sometimes used to mean "drunk." The coral bleaching scaremongering is without foundation.

Wrong, Reuters and CNN, Coral Doing Well Amidst Modest Warming, Bleaching ≠ Coral Death
Climate change impacts March 12, 20240
Reuters and CNN each posted stories in the past week warning that a major coral bleaching event may soon appear affecting coral communities in...

 

A wave of anti-science silliness has struck Australia.

The “Great Barrier Reef Is Dying” Scam

By Paul Homewood

It was only a year ago that Australia’s leading reef expert, Dr Peter Ridd, reported that coral cover was at record highs:

. . . Peter Ridd: Coral in a Warming World: Causes for Optimism (pdf)

As Peter Ridd’s report noted, it only in the last two or three decades that the GBR has really been systematically surveyed. Yet there is plenty of evidence that similar bleaching events have frequently occurred in the past, particularly during El Nino events. They were just never observed.

Whereas it was natural to assume that coral reefs would die off after bleaching, Ridd shows that they actually recover very quickly. Bleaching, far from being fatal, is actually a remarkable adaptive response to changing temperature, because having expelled the microscopic algae, which gives it its colour as well as energy, it reabsorbs another strain of algae which thrives in warmer water. The opposite happens when the seas cool. . . .

 

Au contraire - this is from ABC Aus which has a very very good reputation for solid journalism unlike the author of your citation the ABC is independent of dirty money from fossil fuel industry.

Your boy works for the Heartland institute https://climaterealism.com/author/sburnett/

 

More evidence that the coral are doing just fine.
New Studies Suggest Corals Are Rapidly Developing Tolerance To Bleaching, Heat Stress
By Kenneth Richard on 28. August 2023

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Scientists report a surprising coral reef resilience to bleaching, as well as a growing 0.1°C per decade heat stress tolerance.
The Great Barrier Reef region has reportedly warmed by 0.8°C in the last 150 years (Page et al., 2023). This is warming rate of about 0.05°C per decade.

Scientists (Lachs et al., 2023) are now reporting that corals in Palau are rapidly developing an improved capacity to tolerate heat stress, with an estimated tolerance enhancement of about 0.1°C per decade. In other words, corals are quickly adapting to modern warming rates and associated heat-stress-induced bleaching.



Image Source: Lachs et al., 2023
As an example, a marine heatwave bleaching event affected 75-98% of Great Barrier Reef coral cover in April, 2020 (Page et al., 2023).

However, the resilient corals recovered within a span of months. In fact, there was slightly more deep coral coverage in October (65.5%) than before bleaching began in April (62.3%).



Image Source: Page et al., 2023
The warnings peddled by climate alarmists often characterize Earth’s 500 billion corals as critically endangered by modern global warming.

But the science itself says corals have been and continue thriving in the Current Warm Period – just as they have in past warm periods.

Last year Long et al., 2022 squelched at least 4 false climate alarm narratives.

1. Coral reefs “develop rapidly in the warm period” (Roman, Medieval), and “coral reefs develop slowly in the cold period” (Little Ice Age, the Dark Ages Cold Period). Why? Because “warm periods are conducive to coral growth.”
2. Coral reef growth rates have rapidly accelerated in the last 300 years, or since the industrial revolution commenced.
3. Sea levels were 2 meters higher than they are today ~4,000 years ago, and still about 1 meter higher than today 1,000 years ago, or during the Medieval Warm Period. Lower sea levels produce a “decline in the coral reef development rate”.
4. The South China Sea surface temperatures were “3 to 6°C higher than today” from about 5,000 to 4,000 years ago; coral reefs developed rapidly in that warmth.

Image Source: Long et al., 2022

 

Your Parliament disagrees.
The ABC has regularly been the subject of criticism from a number of quarters; there have been frequent allegations of bias in reporting, inappropriate programming, political appointments to the ABC Board and mismanagement of funds.

The ABC: an overview - Parliament of Australia

 

Your link doesn’t work and Ridd is a disgraced former employee of JCU and BTW his background is not as a marine biologist or a climatologist

 

Alarmist claims are refuted by science.
2 More New Studies Undermine Alarmist Claims That Corals Are Harmed By Warming
By Kenneth Richard on 21. December 2023

Warmer sea surface temperatures are associated with coral growth, not decline.
According to a new study, coral growth was slow during the ~1°C colder Little Ice Age (LIA), but grew rapidly as sea surface temperatures (SSTs) warmed after 1850. Warmth is associated with coral growth, whereas colder SSTs are linked to growth rate decline.

“The average growth rate of four colonies living in the LIA is 0.87 ± 0.11 cm/yr, which is significantly (t-test, p < 0.0001) lower than the colonies in the 20th century [1.23 ± 0.22 cm/yr].”

“The observed low average growth rates during the LIA can be explained by the ~1°C lower temperature.”

Ocean pH levels were as low or lower (more “acidified”) than recent decades during the LIA (e.g., 1500s to 1700s CE), suggesting that the atmospheric CO2 levels are not an ocean pH variability determinant. In fact, the authors point out that anthropogenic CO2 can only ever affect pH variability by 0.05 of a unit over centuries, whereas natural variations in pH units can reach 0.1 to 0.3 within a decade or less.



Image Source: Liu et al., 2023
Another new study (Gischler et al., 2023) also indicates that falling temperatures and declining sea level rise rates in the last few millennia after the warmer early- to mid-Holocene is “responsible for reef decline” in Beliz and south Florida.

“A decline in the rate of sea-level rise, as observed after 6 ka BP, has diminished accommodation space and, hence, reef accretion. Rate of rise in Holocene sea level and reef accretion rate indeed exhibit a positive correlation (Fig. 3B). Likewise, a mid-to-late Holocene temperature fall has been suggested to be responsible for reef decline in Beliz, as well as south Florida.”

“Coral sclerochronology and vegetation data from offshore Belize suggest also that warm and wet conditions during early Holocene times were followed by cooler and drier conditions in the mid-late Holocene. The results of the present study suggest that there are gaps in the Holocene A. palmata record, and, that A. cervicornis was twice as abundant during the early as compared to the mid and late Holocene (13.1 ± 1.7% vs. 6.7 ± 1.4% and 6.3 ± 1.7%, respectively), suggesting a deterioration in the environmental conditions for reef development over time.”

 

Hardly disgraced, and well-published.
Ridd-State-of-Coral-Reefs.pdf

The Global Warming Policy Foundation
https://www.thegwpf.org › uploads › 2023/09

PDF
Peter Ridd is a physicist. He has researched the Great Barrier Reef since 1984, and has published over 100 scientific publications. A former head of the ...

Missing: cv ‎| Show results with: cv

Controversial Queensland scientist Peter Ridd has lost a ...

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
https://www.abc.net.au › news › qld-controversial-quee...

Oct 12, 2021 — Peter Ridd challenged his dismissal from James Cook University in the High Court of Australia. Dr Ridd won an initial Federal Circuit Court case ...

 

When I have to solve a problem with a biological system, I focus first on the metrics I have most control of and that have the most immediate effect. I focus less on things I have no or little control of. It’s surprisingly effective.

As hard as ya’ll are trying, you aren’t going to cool the oceans. Certainly not by reducing CO2 emissions. Not this century anyway.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/152519/emissions-from-fossil-fuels-continue-to-rise

So if you are REALLY concerned about coral, why not focus on more controllable metrics that can help protect coral and reefs? Why focus only on the least controllable and slowest acting “solution”? Just a suggestion from someone with a bit of experience with solving problems with biological systems….

 

If she thinks it's great that only means that it's left-wing biased as hell

 

I'm going swimming in the Gulf of Mexico today and it's still a bit nippy, do you reckon you could make the water 81° Fahrenheit for me? Lol

77 is still a bit cold.

I will report back on all of the sea life I see that is surprisingly still living despite man's best efforts to kill the entire planet. I'm hoping for a dozen to 20 large mullet.

 

Well the day is not over yet and so far I have eight mullet of a decent size. Just pulled up to this new spot to check out some more.

It appears that despite man's best efforts to destroy the planet, there are still plenty of fish in this neck of the woods.

We don't have coral reefs right around here that I know of but if we do I'm pretty sure they're not bleached

 

Mmmm. When we lived in Greece we were introduced to barbounia, fried mullet. One of my favorite dishes.

 

One of the best food fish on earth. Also known as chicken of the sea. They actually do have a gizzard just like a bird and their gizzard is every bit as edible.

Very popular food fish that was once pretty inexpensive due to their ubiquitous nature in all coastal regions, they also travel far distances up rivers and inland to include pure fresh water. here in Florida there is no season or size limit and the daily bag limit is 50 fish per person which is very liberal.

They have a somewhat strong and oily fish taste that some people don't really like but if you don't like to taste of fish you should probably just eat chicken. Their roe is very much prized.

It doesn't appear that climate change has made the remotest dent in their population

 

Greeks gut 'em and fry 'em whole. Greeks eat heads and all; Americans generally remove the head. I went either way, depending on who I was dining with.

 

Much like people from the Caribbean.
And Hispanic people. I now have 11 mullet.

We are going to smoke them tomorrow and I think I might just leave the heads on mine.
I was really hoping for upwards of 20 of them ( it's a hundred mile round trip for me to get over here to the Gulf, just imagine my ginormous carbon footprint...) but at least I'm not going home empty-handed.

Now it's time to swim in the Gulf of Mexico even though climate change is destroying it from what I understand... It still looks pretty much like the Gulf of Mexico to me.

That's the way I grill or smoke them... I just scale them and gut them and cut the heads off and wrap them in foil with some butter and spices

Life is good even though we're supposed to be screaming Chicken Little about the planet being destroyed

 

This report was originally from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. It was widely reported by other sources beside ABC Australia. Here's the BBC link:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-60870239

8 March 2024
Great Barrier Reef: New mass bleaching event hits World Heritage site

Bleaching occurs when heat-stressed corals expel the algae that gives them life and colour.

It is the fifth time in eight years widespread damage has been detected at the Unesco World Heritage site.
...
"The frequency and scale at which these mass bleaching events are now occurring is frightening - every summer we're holding our breath," said Greenpeace Australia's David Ritter.
...
An aerial survey of 320 reefs - from the tip of Australia to the city of Bundaberg - showed most are experiencing prevalent bleaching, after a summer of heightened sea temperatures.
...
Calling climate change "the biggest threat to coral reefs worldwide", Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said her government has increased funding for reef conservation and introduced stronger emissions-reduction targets.

 

This is not merely propaganda; it is shameless lying propaganda from the BBC.
BBC’s Coral Propaganda
By Paul Homewood
The BBC is corrupt, and this report is fraudulent:

For a start, there has been no “devastating toll”, as the BBC pretends, from the possibility that the world is slightly warmer than a few years ago. (Given margins of error, there is no certainty about this.)

But more importantly, Rannard grossly misrepresents the science. Coral does not “turn white” because the water is too hot. Nor is this is a rare occurrence, as the “fourth global mass coral bleaching event” implies.

On the contrary, bleaching is a common event, which can take place for all sorts of reasons, including when the water gets too cold.

As the leading coral reef expert Dr Peter Ridd has explained, “bleaching” is merely part of a natural process, when coral expels algae in order to switch to a different type which is more suitable adapted to new conditions.

According to Ridd, coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef last year reached record levels, despite four supposedly catastrophic bleaching events in the six years prior to 2022. Neither has there been any significant change in corals worldwide.

Rannard’s article has nothing to do with science; it is just more scaremongering propaganda.

This interview with Peter Ridd which followed his annual review on corals last year is worth watching: . . .

 

The report was put together by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. But I suppose you know better.

 

I don't, but those I've cited do.