Taiwan corral poisoned and black from disease

By Ralph Jennings  |   2009-2-7  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

Coral reef off the southeast coast of Taiwan has turned black with disease, possibly due to sewage discharge, threatening fragile underwater ecosystems and tourism, a study released yesterday said.

The problem -- long suspected but seldom documented -- shows that coral is suffering widely in waters up to five meters deep and 300 meters offshore from two outlying islands, said researcher Chen Chao-lun of Taiwan's Academia Sinica.

"This is a large distribution and we had no previous information," said Chen, who began doing research with local environmental groups in 2007. "If you snorkel, you'll see it's black. If it's all black, there won't be too many tourists."

Taiwan's study did not pinpoint a cause for the diseased coral, but untreated sewage may a factor, Chen said.

On Green Island, a tourism hotspot and one of the sites surrounded by diseased coral, garbage and excrement are dumped into the surrounding azure waters while reefs are often plundered by tourists.