Growth and Decay of Coral Reefs: Fifty Years of Learning

This book provides a description of how coral reefs in the Red Sea have flourished and declined over the last 50 years and the reasons behind some of these changes. The study is based on dive surveys of 30 different reef profiles along the Sudanese coast made by the author between 1971 and 1973, on which settled organisms, corals, and fish species were carefully recorded. The ten-year-old structure of Commander Cousteau’s Conshelf 2 underwater project provided an opportunity to measure growth rates of individual coral species. A series of field trips to Suakin Harbour, accompanied by renowned ichthyologist Professor J. E. Randall, added to the scope and accuracy of the fish records of that region. These original records, created by experienced divers and drawn in-situ using waterproof paper notepads, have been preserved in their original form and are invaluable historical records of the ecology of Sudanese coral reefs a half century ago. They were made at a time when the crown-of-thorns starfish was considered the greatest threat to the world’s coral reefs-before concerns of climate change, coral bleaching, and a host of other threats. They also came at a time of rapid increase in coral reef studies and our understanding of the stresses and strains controlling their development. This book is based on the author’s observations of how knowledge and perspectives have changed in the context of the Sudanese Red Sea coral reefs, and lessons learned from historical records that might help maintain and reestablish coral reefs going forward.