Indonesian conservationist Nyoman Sugiarto has been working for 16 years to preserve coral on the reefs of Bali, but the frequency of mass coral bleachings he says is now devastating.
Ninety percent of the corals Sugiarto had nurtured on the reefs near his village in Bondalem, in northern shore of Bali, lost their colour last December.
“It was all white. We were shocked and of course, it also negatively affected the coral we planted. It’s not just the natural ones,” 51-year-old Sugiarto told Reuters.
When Sugiarto began coral conservation projects in 2008 he was told that coral could retain the living algae which gives it colour for 10 to 20 years.
Yet, the coral reefs off Bondalem were bleached in less than 10 years, he says, blaming warmer sea temperatures triggered by climate change.
Coral bleaching occurs when coral expels the colourful algae living in its tissues. Without the algae the coral becomes pale and vulnerable to starvation, disease or death.