Coral reefs are useful

The coral reefs are an unbelievably valuable ecosystem, for humans and nature. It provides humans with work and food and it keeps the cost from erosion. What makes coral reefs so valuable is its productivity. It is the home for millions of organisms.

	The important reef

Fishing: 

Humans have in thousands of years been depending on coral reefs. About 50% of all fishing in tropical oceans occurs around coral reefs. A Coral reef is an unique environment for marine organisms. Humans have used this variety for fishing and have done so for thousands of years. A square kilometer can provide hundreds of people with food for a whole year. Some islands like the Maldives and Tuvalu consume about 100kg of fish per person and year.

Tourism:

Coral reefs have since the 50’s been a popular tourist attraction. When diving became more popular so did coral reefs. The number of visitors has been big during the last decades. 1985 1.1million people visited the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, 10 years later the number had almost dabbled tenfold and the reef had almost 10 million visitors. 1997 the value of the tourism on the Great Barrier Reef counted almost 700 million USA-dollar

Coast protection:

Coral reefs that are located outside coasts are very important protection of the coast. Mostly smaller islands needs the coral reefs to protect it from waves and storms and this reduces erosion. Two islands between India and Sri Lanka have been washed away after the coral reefs outside the cost have disappeared. The coral reefs also help rebuilding islands since dead coral is washed up on the island shore.

Could future medicine be found in coral reefs?

Besides the biological variety there is also a genetic variety. The evolutional process has genetically made coral reefs to a possibly even more valuable ecosystem. The evolution has made some species develop toxics as defense or weapon. The toxics are of big interest for the medicine research. The stonefish, box jellyfish and the seasnake are examples of animals with the most dangerous toxics in the world. In the future maybe these toxics will help produce new and better medicines.