World’s Coral Reefs Under Largest Bleaching Event: NOAA
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April 24, 2025 Hour: 9:02 am
Bleaching occurs when rising ocean temperatures expel the algae living within coral tissues.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a report showing that the world’s coral reefs are experiencing the fourth and largest global bleaching event in recorded history.
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Between January 2023 and April 2025, bleaching-level heat stress has impacted 83.7 percent of the world’s coral reef area, with affected reefs spanning at least 83 countries and territories.
The current bleaching event “the biggest to date,” NOAA said, pointing out that the previous record was set during the third bleaching period, which lasted from 2014 to 2017, when 68.2 percent of the world’s reefs were affected.
Bleaching occurs when rising ocean temperatures expel the algae living within coral tissues. However, corals have the potential to recover if the environmental stress is reduced. The first and second global coral bleaching events occurred in 1998 and 2010, respectively.
“We may never see the heat stress that causes bleaching dropping below the threshold that triggers a global event,” said Mark Eakin, corresponding secretary for the International Coral Reef Society and retired chief of the NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program, as recalled by the Associated Press.
“We’re looking at something that’s completely changing the face of our planet and the ability of our oceans to sustain lives and livelihoods,” he warned.
Currently, “efforts are underway to conserve and restore coral. One Dutch lab has worked with coral fragments, including some taken from off the coast of the Seychelles, to propagate them in a zoo so that they might be used someday to repopulate wild coral reefs if needed. Other projects, including one off Florida, have worked to rescue corals endangered by high heat and nurse them back to health before returning them to the ocean, the Associated Press reported.
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Sources: Xinhua – AP – NOAA