But today, the corals and tropical fish are slowly reappearing, thanks in part to a series of careful interventions.
The delicate labor of the coral gardener is only one part of restoring a reef — and for all its intricacy, it’s actually the most straightforward part. Convincing lifelong fishermen to curtail when and where they fish and controlling the surging waste dumped into the ocean are trickier endeavors.
Still, slowly, the comeback effort is gaining momentum.
Growing corals can be big business, the cool looking ones can be highly valued for people’s fish tanks and harvesting is very sustainable if done correctly. If ocean acidification accelerates though it won’t matter, most corals are very sensitive to ph and water temperature. If the water gets too acidic or too hot most will die out and in general low ph significantly reduces growth.