Kuwait’s reefs bleached

KUWAIT: Kuwait Dive Team announced yesterday that they have identified bleaching problems affecting more than 80 percent of Kuwait’s coral reefs. The bleaching problems began in early September, and the dive team monitored the situation after conducting several dives at Kuwait’s south sea, the team’s leader Waleed Al-Fadel said.

Fadel added that the timing of the bleaching problem is late this year where usually it appears between 15-25 August where the temperature of Kuwait’s water is high to its peak, stating that the team will release a documented statement related to that matter, in coordination with Queens Land University in Australia.

A number of international organizations had forecast the coral reefs’ problems in the northern Gulf, he said, indicating the extent of the problem is the widest since six years ago and noting that the proportion of the effects reached 90 percent in the Kuwaiti sea waters in 2010.

Moreover, the reasons for the bleaching problems affecting coral reefs are the deterioration of the surrounding environment and the huge change of the sea temperature or the pollution affecting the sea caused by the oil and others. The Kuwait Dive Team is affiliated to the Environmental Voluntary Foundation (EVF). — KUNA