The Relationship between Humans and the Coral Reefs

There are many benefits that the coral reefs offer humans living around the Red Sea. Particularly, the Red Sea and its coral reefs support several industries that people depend on for their economic livelihood. For example, the Red Sea serves as one of the major shipping routes for countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, with the main commodity being transported being oil (Gladstone et al.,  1999). In 1996, over 100 million tons of oil was reported being transported from the Red Sea through the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb (World Bank, 1996). Other maritime activities that take place in the Red Sea include fishing and coral harvesting.

Tourism is also a very large industry in this area, playing a major role in increasing the economic status of the countries bordering the Red Sea. The unique conditions that exist in the region makes it a major attraction for tourists, and the popularity of the Red Sea continues to grow annually (Hawkins and Roberts, 1994). From the Red Sea itself, humans also benefit from from using it as a source of water. Due to the shortage of water in the area, there are many desalination plants set up along the coast of the Red Sea to convert salt water into fresh water (Hoepner and Lattemann, 2003). This water is then used to replenish neighboring towns and agriculture.  

Yet, while humans benefit from this ecosystem, the benefits are not easily returned. Often, these human activities damage the vulnerable coral reefs that live in this environment. For example, tourism may bring in a lot of money for the economy and area, but it also comes with a lot of negative impacts on the ecosystem. When too many people pollute the water or too many snorkelers and scuba divers adjust their equipment by standing on the reefs, serious damage can be done to the corals (Gray, 1997; Zakai and Chadwick-Furman, 2002). The graph below demonstrates how sites with higher uses of scuba divers and snorkelers tend to have greater numbers of loose and broken fragments.

Source: Zakai and Chadwick-Furman, 2002

In addition to tourism, coastal development projects of urban centers near the Red Sea can have devastating impacts as well. Besides the typical pollution problem, higher populations increase the demand for drinkable water, which results in desalination plants along the coast. These plants often pollute and can change the chemical composition of the Red Sea (Fishelson, 1973; Hoepner and Lattemann, 2003). Additional issues arise with the various maritime activities that takes place in the Red Sea, which includes not only fishing, but also coral harvesting, and industrial trade activity, can all lead to more water pollution, direct disruption of the ecosystem, and even oil spills, like the one that recently occured off the coast of Egypt in June 2010 (Abdellatif, 2010).

Source: http://seeker401.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/egypt-oil-spill-threatens-red-sea-marine-life/

Finally, a problem that almost every ecosystem faces is climate change. Average global temperatures are rising rapidly due to human activity and thus, sea surface temperatures are also rising. In some cases, the rising temperatures may be too warm for certain marine species (Hoegh-Guldberg, 1999). Additionally, since the ocean is known as a carbon sink, absorption of carbon dioxide can lead to a change in chemical composition of the ocean, also disturbing the marine ecosystem (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007). Coral reefs serve as a perfect example of species sensitive to these global changes, because they are sensitive to temperature and chemical changes in the ocean. This can change the growth rates of coral, and even lead to coral bleaching (Cantin et al., 2010). 

Source: Cantin et al., 2010

The graph above illustrates how an increase in ocean temperatures results in a decrease or slowing of coral growth in the central Red Sea. If temperatures continue to increase, the growth of flourishing coral reefs in the Red Sea may come to a halt.