{"id":6758,"date":"2023-08-11T10:26:36","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T17:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coral.org\/?page_id=6758"},"modified":"2026-06-12T15:00:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:00:48","slug":"coral-bleaching","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/coral-bleaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Coral Bleaching: Toolkit &#038; Comprehensive Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"hero-section alignfull wp-block-coral-hero\" role=\"banner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2023\/08\/OceanImageBank_TheOceanAgency_BeforeAfter_03-dark.jpg\" class=\"hero-background\" alt=\"bleached reef next to a healthy reef\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2023\/08\/OceanImageBank_TheOceanAgency_BeforeAfter_03-dark.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2023\/08\/OceanImageBank_TheOceanAgency_BeforeAfter_03-dark-796x531.jpg 796w, https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2023\/08\/OceanImageBank_TheOceanAgency_BeforeAfter_03-dark-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2023\/08\/OceanImageBank_TheOceanAgency_BeforeAfter_03-dark-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2023\/08\/OceanImageBank_TheOceanAgency_BeforeAfter_03-dark-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/>\t\t\t\n\t\n\t<div class=\"hero-section__inner-container\">\n\t\t\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center hero-subtitle\"><\/p>\n\n\n<h1 class=\"has-text-align-center hero-title wp-block-post-title\">Coral Bleaching: Toolkit &#038; Comprehensive Guide<\/h1>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns coral-reefs-101-container is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-14cf5ab5 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:320px\"><nav style=\"font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-weight:600;\" class=\"wp-block-coral-classic-menu-1 has-active-indicator has-submenu-indent coral-101-menu wp-block-coral-classic-menu\" aria-label=\"Coral Bleaching\">\n\t<ul id=\"menu-coral-bleaching\" class=\"menu\"><li id=\"menu-item-6828\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-has-children menu-item-6828\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/coral-bleaching\/\">Introduction<\/a>\n<ul class=\"sub-menu\">\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-6831\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-6831\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/coral-bleaching\/overview\/\">Overview of Coral Bleaching<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-6830\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-6830\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/coral-bleaching\/remote-sensing-tools\/\">Remote Sensing Tools<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-6829\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-6829\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/coral-bleaching\/on-site-monitoring-tools\/\">On-Site Monitoring Tools<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-7466\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7466\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/coral-bleaching\/online-apps-for-coral-bleaching\/\">Online Apps for Coral Bleaching<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-6836\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-6836\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/coral-bleaching\/how-to-mobilize-and-protect\/\">CHECKLIST: How to Mobilize and Protect<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-6837\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-6837\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/coral-bleaching\/the-future-of-corals\/\">The Future of Coral Reefs<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-6897\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-6897\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/coral-bleaching\/ways-you-can-help\/\">Other Ways You Can Help<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/nav>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An Intro from CORAL&#8217;s Conservation Science Director<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"340\" height=\"340\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/helen-fox.png\" alt=\"Dr. Helen Fox, Conservation Science Director\" class=\"wp-image-1177\" style=\"width:269px;height:269px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Hello!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may have noticed what a hot summer it has been and seen the news that this is a record-breaking hot year around the world. <strong>Indeed we are approaching a global marine heatwave<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/psl.noaa.gov\/marine-heatwaves\/#report\">(source)<\/a>, and it&#8217;s expected to get worse by the end of this calendar year. Marine heatwaves can cause mass coral bleaching, a stress response in which corals expel the colorful algae living in their tissue, revealing the white calcium carbonate skeleton underneath, hence the term &#8220;bleaching&#8221;. <strong>This can lead to wide-spread coral death.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an effort to consolidate the information and resources on coral bleaching and what dive operators, managers, and stakeholders can do before, during, and after a bleaching event, we at CORAL have created this <strong>Coral Bleaching Toolkit &amp; Comprehensive Guide<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;re also <strong>supporting and mobilizing our partners to respond and coordinate with each other<\/strong>, including fundraising for emergency funds to evaluate and respond to this predicted mass bleaching event this summer and fall. It&#8217;s important to monitor this critical event as it unfolds, so we encourage you to learn more and find ways you can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the news is grim, we&#8217;re staying strong to give corals the best chance possible to adapt to this warming world. We need to reduce emissions, change to renewable energy, and protect our coral reefs by reducing contamination from sewage and solid waste. Also, we need to lessen our fishing pressure and help marine protected areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We can do a lot, but we need to work together.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for your support,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Helen Fox, PhD<br>Conservation Science Director<br>Coral Reef Alliance<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/coral-bleaching\/overview\/\">Continue reading with an Overview of Coral Bleaching &gt;<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer is-style-large\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Intro from CORAL&#8217;s Conservation Science Director Hello! You may have noticed what a hot summer it has been and seen the news that this is a record-breaking hot year around the world. Indeed we are approaching a global marine heatwave (source), and it&#8217;s expected to get worse by the end of this calendar year. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6847,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"coral_transparent_header":false,"coral_hide_siblings_nav":false,"coral_hide_flyout":true,"coral_hide_title":false,"coral_no_footer_gap":false,"coral_subtitle":"","coral_subheading":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6758","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}