The Ocean, Coral Reefs and Ted Lord

Ted Lord developed his passion for saving the coral reefs from developmental and environmental damage while on vacation in the Caribbean fifteen years ago. It is a well documented fact that coral reefs have suffered more damage since the 1970s than at any time in the preceding 220,000 years. This fact overwhelmed Lord when he first heard it and spurred him to get involved in the effort to protect the world’s coral reefs. An avid diver, Lord has seen firsthand the damage done to and dying off of coral reefs in different areas of the world. Even a reef he had seen a decade ago off the coast of Antigua was remarkably more deteriorated than the first time he saw it when he recently revisited the West Indies island.

Lord is actively involved with Safe the Reefs, an organization that recognizes some of the biggest dangers to coral reefs come from humans. A combination of pollution, destructive fishing and global warming have combined to cause the greatest damage at any time in recorded history. One of the worst dangers is bleaching which happens when the plant-like organisms that make up coral die and leave behind their white limestone skeleton on the reef. Lord remembers seeing this during his 2006 dive in Antigua—how bleached and dead the coral appeared compared to his dive in the early 1990s.

“Coastal populations have risen in recent decades, putting pressures on coastal resources,” Lord told us. “This has created a whole host of problems for coral reefs.” Lord explained that piers and other structures are constructed right on top of coral reefs in many areas. It was not all that long ago that Honolulu had a thriving coral reef, but tourism and development did their damage in killing it off. “Now coral reefs in other areas that have seen a rise in population and tourism in recent decades are seeing the same kind of damage done to their coral reefs,” Lord said. In fact, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has been experiencing decay at an alarming rate. Scientists have been studying it and trying to halt it and even try and reverse it.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef system and a huge draw for tourists and seasoned divers alike. It is the world’s largest reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 1,600 miles in the Coral Sea of the coast of Queensland, Australia. A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use like fishing and tourism. Climate change and fish such as crown-of-thorns starfish are also big problems for the Great Barrier Reef.

Ted Lord has been an avid diver and hobbyist oceanographer for decades and he feels he owes a duty to the coral reef and to the overall ocean ecosystem to help preserve and restore its beauty for generations of fish to enjoy in the future. I hope you have enjoyed this article as it shows my true passion for all things ocean related.