Severe coral bleaching

Malaysia: More than half of the reefs affected

(Bild: AP/NOAA/Andrew Ibarra)

Not only Australia, but also Malaysia is now sounding the alarm about massive coral bleaching: more than half of the reefs in the Southeast Asian country are affected by this life-threatening phenomenon for corals, the Ministry of Fisheries in Kuala Lumpur announced on Sunday.

Massive coral bleaching has also been observed in other regions of the world for several months, including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and Thailand. The cause is high temperatures in the oceans. If the water is too warm, the corals expel the colorful algae that live in them, which they need to survive.

Severe heat stress leads to death
As a result, the corals lose their color, strong or prolonged heat stress leads to the death of the corals. When the water temperatures drop and other stress factors such as overfishing and environmental pollution decrease, the corals can recover. However, if the heat lasts too long, they die completely.

The Malaysian Ministry of Fisheries has called on tour operators to limit the number of tourists taking part in diving excursions in the reef, for example. If coral bleaching were to spread to more than 80 percent of the reefs, temporary access restrictions would also have to be expected "to protect the affected reefs".

According to the ministry, it has also set up a committee to protect the corals, which includes researchers and representatives of the federal states on the island of Borneo.

60 countries affected by coral bleaching
According to experts, the warming of the oceans as a result of climate change will lead to increasingly frequent and severe coral bleaching. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), more than 60 countries and territories worldwide are affected by the current bleaching.