Global Coral Bleaching Has Now Hit 84% Of Ocean’s Reefs

Harmful bleaching of the world’s coral has grown to include 84% of the ocean’s reefs in the most intense event of its kind in recorded history, the International Coral Reef Initiative announced, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Corals are key to seafood production, tourism, and protecting coastlines from erosion and storms.

The bleaching event has been so severe that the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch program has had to add levels to its bleaching alert scale to account for the growing risk of coral death.

It’s not clear when the current crisis, which began in 2023 and is blamed on warming oceans, will end.

Last year was Earth’s hottest year on record, and much of that heat is going into the oceans. The average annual sea surface temperature of oceans away from the poles was a record 20.87 degrees Celsius (69.57 degrees Fahrenheit).

Corals are key to seafood production, tourism, and protecting coastlines from erosion and storms.

Coral reefs are sometimes dubbed “rainforests of the sea” because they support high levels of biodiversity — approximately 25% of all marine species can be found in, on, and around coral reefs.