Careless recreation Careless boating, diving, fishing, and other recreational uses of coral reef areas can cause damage to coral reefs. Dropping anchors onto reefs can crush or break coral. When people grab, kick, walk on, or collect coral, they also contribute to coral reef destruction. Human Run-off Fertilizers and sewage dumped into coastal waters encourage rapid algae growth which chokes coral polyps, cutting off their supply of light and oxygen. Over-fishing makes this problem even worse because the fish that would normally eat the algae have been captured and killed.
Coral reefs are some of the most valuable and spectacular places on earth.
Coral reefs are valuable assets providing food, jobs, protection from storms and billions of dollars in revenues each year to local communities and national economies. Coral reefs are in crisis. Reef ecosystems are now being rapidly degraded and destroyed worldwide by a variety of human activities. The coral reef crisis threatens the survival of these valuable and ancient marine ecosystems, and the communities and economies that depend on them. Coral reefs are some of the most valuable and spectacular places on earth.