The Underwater Christmas Tree is underwater artificial reef  (Christmas tree module) that is formed from coral transplantation. Formation of this Christmas tree decorated from several of coral species (mostly Acropora) with different in colour.   Profile or shape of this Christmas tree is the world’s first and largest, also the highest compared with the ceremonial Christmas tree made before in various places which are generally taken from the usual Christmas trees made from plastic that certainly does not fit with marine lifes.  Plastic- certainly be a waste at sea and from ordinary trees into organic waste-not environmentally friendly.   Christmas tree underwater from corals was install 12 December 2010 in the reef of  ‘Napo Kranjang Manado’ (Mega Mas Dive Spot) has a total height of 460 cm, from the base of the tree to the top as high as 360 cm and a total of 3600 coral fragments transplanted to the formation of the tree as decorations.   Score 360 with the sense ‘full circle’ of hope for the survival of Coral / Coral with a full circle-of-a determined effort to preserve marine life for our future.  The estimated weight of this module 700kg was  plugged in to the depth of 10 meters in MM dive spot 1’28’59 10 “N – 124’49’56 70″ E.

Design and inspiration: the application of rehabilitation techniques on the program module ‘CORAL HOST’ in Bunaken National Park…..  JR Pahlano Daud for everyone,  Special thanx to  Mr. Willem Rampangiley – Mrs.Patricia Paago, Amelia Tungka (PT.Megamas Nusalestari) and always KPL (Community Care of the Sea – coord Terry Sawotong) as the executor. – ‘Protect the Reef’ – ‘Save the Ocean’ -

Bunaken reef, North Sulawesi - Indonesia

Over-fishing, land based pollution and climate change have all contributed to a general decline in coral reefs. Bellwood et al summarize the nature of human disturbances to coral reefs and identify critical functional group of fishes and corals that underpin reef resilience. If coral reefs are to survive, we need to manage reef resilience, not just exploitable stocks. Suggested actions include: expansion of ‘no-take’ areas; local stewardship of reef resilience in the vast areas of reef where humans are an important part of the ecosystem; and economic incentives to prevent exploitation of critical fish and coral species (Nature, 24 June 2004).

GLOBAL THREATS:

Bioerosion (coral damage) such as this may be caused by coral bleaching.[10]Human activity may represent the greatest threat to coral reefs living in Earth’s oceans. In particular, pollution and over-fishing are the most serious threats to these ecosystems. Physical destruction of reefs due to boat and shipping traffic is also a problem. The live food fish trade has been implicated as a driver of decline due to the use of cyanide and disaster for peoples living in the tropics. Hughes, et al, (2003), writes that “with increased human population and improved storage and transport systems, the scale of human impacts on reefs has grown exponentially. For example, markets for fishes and other natural resources have become global, supplying demand for reef resources far removed from their tropical sources.”[11]

Currently researchers are working to determine the degree various factors impact the reef systems. The list of factors is long but includes the oceans acting as a carbon dioxide sink, changes in Earth’s atmosphere, ultraviolet light, ocean acidification, biological virus, impacts of dust storms carrying agents to far flung reef systems, various pollutants, impacts of algal blooms and others. Reefs are threatened well beyond coastal areas and so the problem is broader than factors from land development and pollution though those are too causing considerable damage.

Land development and pollution
Extensive and poorly managed land development can threaten the survival of coral reefs. Within the last 20 years, once prolific mangrove forests, which absorb massive amounts of nutrients and sediment from runoff caused by farming and construction of roads, buildings, ports, channels, and harbors, are being destroyed. Nutrient-rich water causes fleshy algae and phytoplankton to thrive in coastal areas in suffocating amounts known as algal blooms. Coral reefs are biological assemblages adapted to waters with low nutrient content, and the addition of nutrients favors species that disrupt the balance of the reef communities. Both the loss of wetlands and mangrove habitats are considered to be significant factors affecting water quality on inshore reefs.[12]

Poor water quality has also been shown to encourage the spread of infectious diseases among corals.[13]

Copper, a common industrial pollutant, has been shown to interfere with the life history and development of coral polyps.[14] Fish Trade The hobby of keeping saltwater aquaria has experienced an increase in world popularity since the 1990s. Beyond sales of aquaria, air pumps, food, medications and other supplies, the primary product of the aquarium industry is fish. However, the world market is limited in the diversity of collected species. For example, among 4000 coral reef fish species, only 200–300 are exploited. Selection of species results from a demand for fish being highly colorful and being able to be maintained and fed in aquaria. The last point is very important in the choice of imported species.

Although a few fish species (e.g. Pomacentridae) can be reproduced in aquaria, 95% of exploited fish are directly collected in the coral environment. Intense sampling of coral reef fish, especially in South-East Asia (including Indonesia and the Philippines), has caused great damage to the environment. A major catalyst of cyanide fishing is poverty within fishing communities. In areas like the Philippines where cyanide is regularly used to catch live aquarium fish, the percentage of the population below the poverty line is 40%.[15] In such developing countries, a fisherman might resort to such unethical practices in order to prevent his or her family from starving.

Most, 80–90%, of aquarium fish exported from the Philippines are captured with sodium cyanide. This toxic chemical is dissolved in sea water and released into fish shelters. It has a rapid narcotic effect on fish, which are then easily captured. However, most fish collected with cyanide die a few months after capture from extensive liver damage. Moreover, other fish species that are not interesting for the aquarium market also die in the field.[16]

Dynamite fishing
Dynamite fishing is another extremely destructive method that fishermen use to harvest small fish. Sticks of dynamite, grenades, or home-made explosives are lit or activated and thrown in the water. Once the dynamite goes off the explosion brings about an underwater shockwave, causing the internal organs of fish to liquefy, killing them almost instantly. A second blast is often set off after the first to kill any larger predators that are attracted to the initial kill of the smaller fish. This method of fishing not only kills the fish within the main blast area, but also takes the lives of many reef animals that are not edible or wanted. Also, many of the fish do not float to the surface to be collected, but sink to the bottom. The blast also kills the corals in the area, eliminating the very structure of the reef, destroying the habitat for fish and other animals important for the maintenance of a healthy reef. Areas that used to be full of coral become deserts, full of coral rubble, dead fish and little else after dynamite fishing. With dynamite fishing especially around the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, have caused a vast majority of problems. With the rising sea level already the coral reefs act as a natural defence against flooding. With the dynamite fishing, the coral reefs are destroyed making the islands more vulnerable to flooding.

Bleaching,
Main article: Coral bleaching

During the 1998 and 2004 El Niño weather phenomena, in which sea surface temperatures rose well above normal, many tropical coral reefs were bleached or killed. Some recovery has been noted in more remote locations, but global warming could negate some of this recovery in the future. High seas surface temperature (SSTs) coupled with high irradiance (light intensity), triggers the loss of zooxanthellae, a symbiotic algae, and its dinoflagellate pigmentation in corals causing coral bleaching. Zooxanthellae provide 95% of the energy to the coral host. Refer to Hoegh-Guldberg 1999 for more information.

Ocean acidification
Main article: Ocean acidification

The decreasing ocean surface pH is of increasing long-term concern for coral reefs.[17] Increased atmospheric CO2 increases the amount of CO2 dissolved in the oceans.[18] Carbon dioxide gas dissolved in the ocean reacts with water to form carbonic acid, resulting in ocean acidification. Ocean surface pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14 since the beginning of the industrial era,[19] and it is estimated that it will drop by a further 0.3 – 0.4 units by 2100 as the ocean absorbs more anthropogenic CO2.[20] Under normal conditions, the conditions for calcium carbonate production are stable in surface waters since the carbonate ion is at supersaturating concentrations. However, as ocean pH falls, so does the concentration of this ion, and when carbonate becomes under-saturated, structures made of calcium carbonate are vulnerable to dissolution. Research has already found that corals experience reduced calcification or enhanced dissolution when exposed to elevated CO2.[21]

African and Asian dust outbreaks

Dust from the Sahara moving around the southern periphery of the subtropical ridge moves into the Caribbean and Florida during the warm season as the ridge builds and moves northward through the subtropical Atlantic. Dust can also be attributed to a global transport from the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts across Korea, Japan, and the Northern Pacific to the Hawaiian Islands.[22] Since 1970, dust outbreaks have worsened due to periods of drought in Africa. There is a large variability in the dust transport to the Caribbean and Florida from year to year;[23] however, the flux of dust is greater during positive phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation.[24] Dust events have been linked to a decline in the health of coral reefs across the Caribbean and Florida, primarily since the 1970s.[25] Studies have shown that corals can incorporate dust into their skeletons as identified from dust from the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia in the annular bands of the reef-building coral Montastraea annularis from the Florida reef tract.[26] The relative abundance of chemical elements, particularly metals, has been used to distinguish soil derived from volcanic dust from mineral dust.[27]

Destruction worldwide

Coral reefs and fishes in Papua New GuineaSoutheast Asian coral reefs are at risk from damaging fishing practices (such as cyanide and blast fishing), overfishing, sedimentation, pollution and bleaching. A variety of activities, including education, regulation, and the establishment of marine protected areas are under way to protect these reefs. Indonesia, for example has nearly 33,000 square miles (85,000 km²) of coral reefs. Its waters are home to a third of the world’s total corals and a quarter of its fish species. Indonesia’s coral reefs are located in the heart of the Coral Triangle and have been victim to destructive fishing, unregulated tourism, and bleaching due to climatic changes. Data from 414 reef monitoring stations throughout Indonesia in 2000 found that only 6% of Indonesia’s coral reefs are in excellent condition, while 24% are in good condition, and approximately 70% are in poor to fair condition (2003 The Johns Hopkins University).

On September 24, 2007, Reef Check (the world’s largest reef conservation organization) stated that only 5% of Philippines 27,000 square-kilometers of coral reef are in “excellent condition” : Tubbataha Reef, Marine Park in Palawan, Apo Island in Negros Oriental, Apo Reef in Puerto Galera, Mindoro, and Verde Island Passage off Batangas. Philippine coral reefs is 2nd largest in Asia.[28]

General estimates show approximately 10% of the coral reefs around the world are already dead.[29][30]Problems range from environmental effects of fishing techniques, described above, to ocean acidification.[31] Coral bleaching is another manifestation of the problem and is showing up in reefs across the planet.
ref.from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reef#cite_note-gatt98-20

NO-TAKE zones” might protect coral reefs against overfishing, but no signpost can counter the effects of global warming.

Photo: J.R.Pahlano Daud (Bunaken Reef)
Interest topic about Coral related to Global Warming see Coral Bleaching (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_bleaching) and Ocean Acidification (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_acidification)

Does corals role (barol) in reducing the global warming? – (claimed that coral reef act as sink for Carbon dioxide – lead to some people in to the misunderstanding-misperception).

Related with bleaching (increase in temperature) no doubt the answer is ‘NO’.  Nor with ocean acidification (CO2 emmisions) the future answer will be worse if we combine it, all show a symptom of degradation. There is no doubt that reefs, as well as other calcifying systems, were sources of CO2 over geological time (reefs are essentially balanced ecosystems) and the coral reefs are the first and WORST VICTIMS of GLOBAL WARMING not ‘barol’ (in Manadonese)…. se more discussion here http://pahlano.multiply.com/reviews/item/33. Indeed we must save them for their biodiversity, fisheries, shore protection, and tourism services not because of false and misguided.

“We don’t inherit our resources from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4226917.stm