CORAL reefs are a major part of the coastal economy. Fishermen harvest corals for ornamental trade. But, reefs are at risk and there is very little data on what factors put them in the high-risk category. Listing some of the possibilities, Naveen Namboodiri, post-doctoral fellow at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment in Bangalore, said,

R. PRASAD

The effects of global warming have shown up in a definite way in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

A paper in the latest issue of the Science journal notes unprecedented effects of increased CO{-2} on the Great Barrier Reef. Scientists found the rate at which corals were able to build skeletons dropped by 14 per cent during the p eriod of study

With coral reefs as their tea leaves, scientists are forecasting that in the next several decades there will be another major earthquake along the Sunda fault off Sumatra like the one that spawned the catastrophic tsunami of December 26, 2004.

Rameswaram

The stones being sold are actually coral rocks, an official of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park says
RAM Sethu the mythical bridge which got embroiled in a controversy over the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project is back in the news. This time for the trade of coral rocks considered to be a part of the holy structure.

S Raja, Ramnad: MARINE scientists and experts have expressed concern over the spreading of a species of seaweed, which may endanger coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar.

The seaweed identified as