June 1 is World Reef Day. Why do we need a special day for reefs?
That question is easily answered if you’ve ever been snorkelling on a reef, or even just sailed past one on a glass-bottom boat. Reefs are gorgeous.
But there’s a bigger answer. A much, much bigger answer. Reefs are a beautiful, synchronised, co-ordinated ecosystem. Nature, when we leave it alone, works itself out.
In your garden, if you plant flowering plants, the bees will come. Insects and arthropods, like spiders, will come. Birds and lizards will come. As the system fills out, a whole food chain will appear, with pollination creating more abundance, including populations of some creatures getting out of control which then attract predators to get the population back into control.
It’s all magic. Only it’s not. It’s an ecosystem.
Reefs are no different. If we look after our reefs, a whole ecosystem will function around them. This is critical for the health of the ocean, something I will blog more about in coming days.
My local ocean has just had a lesson handed to it, by way of an algal bloom, which meant the death of many of our beloved marine animals. It’s been a wake-up call of massive proportions.
So South Australia is doing something special. We are working hard to replace the oyster reefs that had been destroyed by previous generations, who didn’t know better.
I’ll blog more about this in the coming days, too, so you can easily understand the process. You’ll also find out why part-proceeds of my book are focussing on this area of support.
And so June1 is World Reef Day. You can find out more at https://worldreefday.org.
All hail the mighty reefs!
Joni Page 