Nearly two-thirds of the world's coral reefs have been subjected to heat stress bad enough to trigger bleaching over the past year, the leading agency monitoring coral reefs said on Thursday. Now, the agency reports some 60.5% of the world's reef area has been affected and that number is still rising. "I am very worried about the state of the world's coral reefs," NOAA's Coral Reef Watch coordinator Derek Manzello said in a monthly briefing. Triggered by heat stress, coral bleaching occurs when corals expel the colourful algae living in their tissues. The situation is likely to worsen this summer, as heat stress is once again accumulating in the Southern Caribbean.

Source: The Hindu May 18, 2024 03:09 UTC