Emergency Response to Mass Coral Bleaching

As all grassroots GlobalGiving organizations enter the Thanksgiving Season, Corals for Conservation wishes to pause and not only thank you, but also to take a moment to share the contributions from two of our special members.  All of our members, without exception, possess a passion for preserving coral reef habitat.  Many of our members come with an existing knowledge of what conditions help reefs thrive.  We're becoming increasingly aware that our loyal supporters either have careers which mirror their devotion to saving ocean biodiversity or have stepped forward by publication, photography, voicing concerns and asking questions on social media and even speaking on our behalf at world climate conferences -- in other words, they are much appreciated environmental activists!

Meet Robert from Ontario Canada, who has earned the title of Youth Ambassador for Corals for Conservation/ Reefs of Hope.  Robert began interviewing scientists engaged in research to help slow the frightening pace of Global Warming during the Covid global pandemic.  He used this period of isolation as a time to educate himself and so many others through his interviews posted on Children's Climate Championship.  Yes, he even interviewed C4C founder and lead corals scientist Austin Bowden-Kerby, Phd. about why it was necessary to diverge from restocking and replanting coral reefs to a strategy of identifying heat-resistant corals and moving them to cooler waters.

Here's Robert inviting organizations to make a place for youth voices at the emergency climate conference COP16 held in October at Cali, Columbia South America.

Leona Kustra, a Canadian from British Columbia, had visited the South Pacific before the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea last year where she photographed many species of reef inhabitants.  She had the opportunity to co-edit and contributed photos to a new “Field guide to fishes of the Coral Sea Marine Park, Queensland, Australia”.  Now she and her husband Dave are traveling from Kiribati on the equator, one of the remotest parts of the planet, with stops in Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia.  She is equipped with GPS and cameras. Her (very amateur) underwater photography contributes to documenting reef health through iNaturalist.  Leona will also scope out possible contacts in the French Polynesia for C4C to expand community involvement in the UNESCO recognized Reefs of Hope program with guidelines set and supervised by Austin and field trained indigenous people often with marine academic background.

Field Notes from Leona:

Sadly my camera ran out of batteries underwater before we met the two lovely Fijian girls on Dravuni Island.  I will try to get you some great underwater pictures today from “Split Rock” near Savusavu – the coral and fish there were amazing!  Its funny, we saw a green sea turtle in the coral near the tip of Dravuni Island and once he saw us, he scurried off so quickly, I’m not sure we’ve ever seen a turtle move so fast. Later when talking to Esther and Hope, they mentioned they eat sea turtles, I guess that’s why that poor turtle was so skittish!