There has been much news about the stress and difficulties experienced by Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the largest of our planet’s coral reefs.   The Government of Australia produced in September of 2016 its Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan.  “The plan responds to the challenges facing the Reef and presents actions to protect its values, health and resilience while allowing ecologically sustainable use,” the government’s website states.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites.  UNESCO seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.

UNESCO has been monitoring the environmental situation with regard to the Great Barrier Reef, and has posted reports on the coral reef.  The last UNESCO monitoring mission was in 2012.

Foureye Butterfly Fish with Sponge and Star Coral, Caribbean

The island of Kiribati is near the equator in the middle and southernmost point of the northern Pacific Ocean. Click here to view on Google Maps.  

http://www.livescience.com/6560-world-pristine-coral-reefs-revealed.html

Pillar coral, Caribbean.

Spotfin Butterfly fish among coral, Bahamas or U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Schoolmaster Snapper is found along the coasts of Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean.

John Turner, Ph.D has been collecting fecal samples from the parrotfish to study stress in this species of reef fish, and thus to determine whether the entire reef is experiencing stress.  This photo of a Queen Parrotfish was taken among the coral reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands.