Beach Trading Blog

While climate change alone could wipe out coral reefs globally by the year 2100, it’s pollution that is an even more immediate threat to our reef systems.

Scientists in the Caribbean area report that human pollution from farm run-off and sewage spills along with threats from overfishing could wipe out our coral populations decades before global warming does.

Coral in areas near the northern tip of a Caribbean reef chain stretching from Mexico to Honduras, are dying as people and cities put more stress on the environment.

Tourists may want to snorkel and dive to view the reefs but the strain they are putting on the ecosystem is hurting the very reefs they came to see. Some scuba instructors around Cancun are worried about the future of their trade. Jorge Olivieri, who has been taking tourists out diving in the area for the past 16 years, says some reefs are so damaged he would not take an experienced diver to see them.