Israel's renowned Red Sea corals near extinction

In their heyday, the corals along the shores of the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat were a hot spot for divers drawn by one of the most spectacular and biologically diverse reefs in the world.

Today Eilat's corals are facing extinction and the colorful translucent fish are disappearing because of what environmentalists say is a lucrative fish-farm industry in the region's waters.

"It was one of the most beautiful reefs in the world and believe me I've seen them all. It was a pearl and it's really very painful to see it dying," said Professor Yossi Loya, an internationally renowned coral ecologist.

He and other experts say Eilat's reefs will soon be wiped out unless the government swiftly closes companies that breed some five million fish a year in cages and are operating without permits.

"We are in the 11th hour, the very last moment to save them," said Loya, who has studied Eilat's reefs for decades.

The fish firms deny any direct link with the coral decline.

The reefs had sustained damage for years as Eilat and the neighboring Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba grew from isolated desert outposts into tourist boom towns.

Loya and other experts say the most severe damage began in 1993 after fish companies started mass production.

At the time, the reefs should have regenerated as a sewage plant began to treat Eilat's waste. Instead, coral degradation accelerated and new coral growth dropped to near zero.

"What happened between 1993 and 2000 is there was an exponential increase in the yield of fish cages from 300 tons per year to something like 2,000 tons per year," Loya said.

These fish excrete nitrates that develop plankton, the enemy of corals as they make the sea water murky and block sunlight which is an essential ingredient for coral survival.

"The key point is that the Gulf of Eilat is an oligotrophic sea, a sea that does not have nitrogen at all," Loya explained.

"Coral reefs thrive in seas that are poor in nitrogen. If you increase nitrogen you are changing the environment and in such a sensitive environment like coral reefs it is mainly affecting the reproductive system of corals."

以色列红海旅游胜地埃拉特沿岸的珊瑚群在繁盛时期曾经是潜水爱好者们热衷的地方，他们被这片世界上最壮观、最千姿百态的珊瑚礁所吸引。

然而如今，埃拉特的珊瑚群正濒临灭绝，色彩繁多、晶莹剔透的鱼儿也正在消失，环境保护主义者认为这是由于该海域有利可图的养鱼业造成的。

世界著名的珊瑚生态学家犹西·洛亚教授说：“埃拉特的珊瑚礁是世界上最美丽的珊瑚礁之一，相信我，我全看过了。它曾像珍珠一样美丽，眼看着它日渐消亡真是件非常痛苦的事。”

他和其他专家都认为，如果政府不能尽快关闭那些每年撒网饲养约五百万条鱼的无证经营的公司，埃拉特的珊瑚礁将很快消失。

洛亚说：“我们现在处于最关键的时候，是挽救它们的最后一刻。”他数十年来一直在研究埃拉特的珊瑚礁。

那些渔业公司却认为珊瑚礁的衰落与他们无关。

随着埃拉特和邻近的约旦红海旅游胜地亚喀巴湾由荒凉的沙漠村落成长为新兴的旅游城市，那里的珊瑚礁数年来一直受到破坏。

洛亚和其他专家认为，最严重的破坏始于1993年，渔业公司开始大规模生产之后。

那时，珊瑚礁本来应该可以再生，因为当时一个污水处理厂开始处理埃拉特的垃圾了。而情况却恰恰相反，珊瑚礁加速衰退，新生珊瑚的生长速度几乎降为零。

洛亚说：“1993年至2000年期间，撒网养鱼的产量呈指数倍增长，由每年三百吨增加到每年大约两千吨。”

这些鱼儿排泄出的硝酸钾能够促进浮游生物的生长，而浮游生物是珊瑚的天敌，因为它们会使海水变得昏暗，并阻挡珊瑚赖以生存的基本因素——阳光。

洛亚解释道：“关键是埃拉特海湾是一片营养贫乏、完全不含氮的海域。”

“珊瑚礁在缺少氮的海水里才能茁壮成长。如果氮的含量增加，珊瑚生长的环境就改变了。在珊瑚礁这样敏感的环境中，珊瑚的再生系统会受到很大的影响。”

heyday: 全盛期
wipe out: 消失
the 11th hour: 最后的关键时刻
degradation: 退化，衰退
exponential increase: 指数倍增长