We Must All Help Protect Our Nation’s Coral Reef Resources

Our nation’s coral reef resources are at risk. These “rainforests of the sea” are storehouses of immense biological wealth that provide services worth about $375 billion each year to the U.S. economy for recreation, tourism, food, pharmaceuticals, and other purposes.

Coral reefs also protect our coastlines from wave action and prevent erosion, provide shelter and food for anywhere from one to ten million animals and plants, and are some of the oldest habitats on the planet. But, the same factors that make them so important also make them vulnerable to over exploitation. And that is what is happening in the U.S. and around the world.

The Coral Reef Task Force was established to focus federal, state, and territorial efforts on the threats to the health of the nation’s coral reefs, and how we can stem these threats to protect coral reefs for present and future generations. I chair the Task Force, on behalf of Department of the Interior Secretary Gale Norton, along with Tim Keeney, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere on behalf of the Department of Commerce.

It is appropriate that we are meeting this week in San Juan, Puerto Rico with States and Territories throughout the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean to discuss how we are going to work together to conserve coral reefs. Puerto Rico is home to some of the most important coral reef ecosystems in the U.S. Many of these important resources are managed by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Likewise, many others are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System and the National Park Service. The economy and culture of Puerto Rico and the entire Caribbean are closely linked to coral reefs.

The Task Force is committed to taking action.

We are galvanizing scientists from Federal and State agencies, universities, and private organizations to study these little understood ecosystems and the causes of their decline. Understanding them is the key to sustaining them for future generations. In fact, the National Academy of Sciences is considering a study to take a comprehensive look at the state of the nation’s coral reef resources and provide objective suggestions on how we can better conserve them.

We need to develop an inventory of coral reef resources, conduct an assessment of the state of reefs, and monitor their health over the long-term. We need to focus our scientific research to learn more about coral reefs, including how they function, what is causing the rapid spread of disease, and how they can be restored and protected. But, research alone is not enough.

We need to take action now to reduce pollutants and sedimentation on reefs. We need to stop the over harvesting on coral reefs and the fish and animals that depend on them.

The illegal trade in coral reefs and reef-dependent species are hastening their destruction. The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Fauna and Flora (CITES), the largest international treaty in the world next to the United Nation’s charter, regulates the trade in all species of hard corals.

I will be leading the U.S. delegation to the 12th Convention of the Parties in Santiago, Chile next month. The U.S. is proposing to add two reef-dependent species, seahorses and a large reef fish called Humphead or Maori wrasse, to the list of species protected from commercial exploitation. In addition, the U.S. is also proposing to discuss trade in sea cucumbers and stony corals. The U.S. will continue to work with other countries to regulate the commercial trade of coral reefs and the animals and plants that depend on them for survival.

Government agencies can only do so much, it is up to every American to also do their part. Americans can learn more about the importance of coral reefs to products that they value in their lives. The next time you purchase salt water fish for your aquarium, buy yellowfin tuna for dinner, or purchase a coral necklace for a loved one, think about where these resources originated. Buy products that were harvested in a responsible manner. Learn about what coral reef products are protected by international trade laws and don’t bring those products back into the U.S. from vacation.

Visit the Coral Reef Task Force website at http://coralreef.gov. Or attend the public meeting at the Caribe Hilton hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on October 2 and 3.

Let’s protect these rich and diverse resources for our children and generations to come.