Category: Coral Reef

Introduction

The Great Barrier Reef is located along the Queensland coastline. It encompasses 2,900 reefs and stretches for 345,000 square kilometers making it the largest Reef in the World. It is important to protect this Reef since it contains a variety of different types of marine species and birds. It is documented that the Reef is home to 1,500 species o fish, 175 species of birds. Moreover, it has 30 species of marine mammals, a small population of threatened marine turtles, and 359 types of hard coral. (WWF Australia 2008). It is important to protect the Reef since it is estimated that more than two million people visit the site each year. It, therefore, contributes to the Australian economy by bringing in more than 2 billion Australian dollars. (Culture. Gov. AU 2008).

Challenges

On discussion, this paper is mainly going to concentrate on the challenges that are threatening the Great Barrier Reef. One of the major challenges that are facing is the decline in the water levels. It has been estimated that the water level in this region has declined by more than 50%. Apart from water decline, there has also been a decrease in the water quality around this region mainly due to the farming activities that are carried on around this region. Water runoff from the farms is the major cause of this. This runoff contains chemicals from the pesticides and the fertilizers used in the farms. Furthermore, these farming activities have been causing overgrazing which has also impacted this Great Barrier Reef. Another problem is the bleaching of the coral reef that is caused by global warming. There are also concerns of Overfishing, in itself, is a human activity that if not checked will destroy marine life. Collisions involving big ships in the Great Barrier Reef have resulted in accidents. Because of these accidents, hazardous wastes are deposited into the sea. In simple terms, this hazardous waste interferes with the normal biological life of the sea.

The daily human endeavors have been causing climate change brought about by global warming. The pollution has resulted in the emission of greenhouse gases that have resulted in global warming. To protect the environment human population has to use the resources available at the Great Barrier Reef sustainably to prevent further depletion and environmental degradation.

Discussion

Although Tourism has been considered to be a major foreign exchange earner in this region, it has also been known to cause environmental threats in this region. Tourists for instance kill coral by stepping on the sand and throwing rubbish into the reef hence causing the death of the Coral Reef. ( Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. 2008). Despite this shortcoming of tourism it has remained to be lucrative generating billions of money. As much as tourism remains to be a moneymaker its management is geared towards ecological sustainability. For sustainable tourism to be maintained industries and management agencies have gone a step ahead to educate the tourists and staff as part of a planned programmed to promote understanding of environmental issues. (Harriott, VickiJ 2008).

To protect the Great Barrier Reef the administration has put in place several policies to protect this region. A case in point is the Memorandum of understanding that was reached by both the Australian and the Queensland Governments to develop what was known as Reef Water Quality protection plan to prevent pollution from destroying the Reef. In this plan, A panel of scientists was to advise on the quality of waste. There was also the Great Barrier Reef. Marine Park zoning plan was put into effect in 2004. This plan was meant to protect the region from fishing to preserve a healthy ecosystem. (WWFAustralia 2008).

In conclusion, the management of the Great Barrier Reef promotes tourism but at the same time maintains ecologically sound activities.

References

Dianne Dredge, John Jenkins. Tourism Planning and Policy. Wiley.

Great Barrier Reef 30th 2007. Web.

Great Barrier Reef 2008. Web.

Harriott, Vicki J. Marine Tourism Impacts On The Great Barrier Reef. 2008. Web.

Reef Water Quality Protection Plan. 2008. Web.

Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef 2008. Web.

Situational Analysis

Assignment Definition

The Hawaii Living Reef Program will focus on the target audiences to aware them about the importance of the coral reef ecosystem, to change their behavior towards living reefs, to aware about the consequence of environmental pollution and the significance of these reefs in national economy. Businesses and students are the major target audience, and “A Living Reef Gives Our Islands Life” is the slogan of this campaign

IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef

IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef program is mainly a project for saving the coral reefs in the sea area of Pacific Ocean where the Hawaii Island situated. It is a non-profit voluntary organization depends on the members and donors for the projects. Currently, the coral reefs of the Hawaii Sea are in hazard due to rude behavior of people. Excessive fishing, scuba driving, using chemicals in the farmland etc. reduce the number of reef in the sea. The project builds to protect the reef through aware the clientele. However, many people like tourist, farmer, students, and local people made the harm to the coral reef but this program will only focus on business sectors (fisheries and tourism) and students.

Environmental Analysis

Demographics

Hawaii is one of the fifty states of USA, which is comprising of island and positioned in the mid area of Pacific Ocean with no border with any other states. The estimated population of the state in 2008 was 1,288,198 at 6.3% increase from the previous year. The total area of the state is 6,423 square miles with a density of 188 persons per square mile and the main area of habituation is Oahu where approximately one million people live with a density of 1650 people in per square mile. The average lifetime of the population of Hawaii is 79.8 years and more than one percent of the total population is army people. According to the US census Bureau, the ethnicity of population includes 27.1% of White American, 24.8% of non-Hispanic whites, 2.4% of blacks, 0.2% of American Indian, 38.5% of Asian American, 9% of Pacific American, 21.4% of multiracial American, 8.7% of Hispanics and 1.4% of other race. The main population group of the states comes from Asia including Japan, China, Korea etc and some other people of Europe including Germany, Ireland, England, Portugal, Italy etc. In Hawaii, there is no majority or minority race or ethnic group, which has the dominance rather it is a composition of various race and ethnic group (Pearson Education, 2009). This people of different region and ethnicity live in the Hawaii depend on the resources of sea and people come to the island for tourism or business purpose. Most of the people do not aware about the reefs and they destroyed the reefs through their various activities.

Social/Cultural

The main culture followed by the people of Hawaii is Polynesian culture which is actually a reflection of the culture of people lived in the island area especially in the island of Pacific Ocean. The main characteristics of this culture include the prediction on the weathers, fishing, farming, strong religious belief etc. as because most of the people in living there depend on those things. Hawaii is a paradise of nature with a number of beaches, nice water, waterfall, coral reef, colorful fishes, unique traditions, and cultures. The popular culture of the states is offering a flower lie to the guest and dear one backed by a kiss and this flower lie is making up of colorful flowers. Remove the flower lie publicly or especially in front of the person who gift it, indicates a violation of norms, and regarded as disgraceful. Another site of the culture of Hawaii is offering food and prayer to the forest god before they take off a tree from the forest. Traditionally, the culture of the state centers on the issues of island and as a result, the people are expert navigators and without any instrument, they traveled any part of Pacific Ocean just depending on the direction of sun, moon, star, and wave. Most of the original Hawaii people make visit in the ocean as a professional and they have a belief on the extraterrestrial bodies. As a result, this people are tends to harm the coral reef through fishing or walking on near shore sea. Fishing is the tradition of the local people and excess of which cause harms to the reef.

Economic

Hawaii is a gift of nature with unique natural beauty of a number of beaches and other natural resources. Conventionally, it is an agricultural and tourism based economy where most of the revenue of the state comes from tourism sectors. Previously the government directly stimulates the agriculture and tourism sectors to boost up the economy of Hawaii (Anon, 2010). However, currently due to the political and legislative bar, the large US banks are outside the state that made the economy unprogressive. The economy of Hawaii largely depends on the Japanese tourists and it shown negative growth for economic downturn in Japan. Almost half of the total employment generates by the tourism sector and agriculture accounts for one-seventh portion of employment where unemployment rate is roughly around 5%. Tourism contributes 28% to the Gross State Product and per capita income of the people is approximately US$ 30,441. The tax structure is relatively composite and citizen has to pay high tax especially tourist contribute more to the revenue of the country. The coral reef and fish is another resource of the state and reef contribute $800 million to the revenue of the states. The revenue generating from aquarium fish in the state is approximately $3.2 million, which is a valuable natural resources for the state. A substantial loss had experienced by the state due to the damage of coral reef in the island, which may be recoverable through protecting the reef and fish in the near shore (DAAR, 2009).

Political

Hawaii transits from the kingdom era to federal system and the total government system is dividing into three parts including government, executives, and legislative. The governor of the state is the only officials elected by the public, who lead and control the executive board and holds the power to represent the state. The governor directly controls twenty government agencies of the state and gets a space in the government palace in Washington. In Hawaii, there is no mayor as there is no city and all the activities of the state done by the governor (DAAR, 2009). It has four members in US congress including the senior and junior senates. The politics of the state represents by preferences of Democrats by the people of Hawaii as from 12 election 10 times they elect the democrats for federal government. The US government first passed the act on coral reef in 1899 named as Rivers and Harbor act and the main theme of this act was not to protect the reef rather coral reef creates problem to the navigation.

The last act passed on saving coral reef was in 2000 named Coral Reef Conservation Act where the funding for protecting coral reef addressed but there is no clear indication on how to protect the reef. US Government passed another act in 2000 named Executive Order 13158 on Marine Protected Area, which serve as a protection for coral reef.

Technology

Different From the other states in USA, Hawaii is technologically less advance and most of the population is not educated well as the population is a composition of different age, sex, race, and ethnicity. High government offices and other private offices are not available in the state. Beside, the whole economy depends on the tourism sectors backed by Japanese tourist and organization. There is no literarily technology for saving the reefs or fishes of the sea.

Trends

According to the research, Hawaii coral reefs give millions jobs and income opportunities for the local people through fishing and tourism though Hawaii faces a critical gap in understanding of the impact of fishing pressure. However, many organizations, NGO, government, and other researchers are working to develop an effective management and protection of marine resources

Competitive

The coral reefs of Hawaii face difficulty to survive and most of the time receives adverse behavior from the people including the local people as well as the tourist. IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program mainly faces this kind of adverse situation, which hinder the success of the campaign. The main competitor of the campaign is excessive fishing by the locals as a good portion of the population depends on fishing in the island. The local people, professional business organization, and even tourist harshly destroyed the fish and reefs near shore in the island. On the other hand, increased number of population give raise to the need of increased food and habitation that in turn produces wastage, chemical, pesticide etc that directly affect the life of living reefs. Sometimes, the alien spices come to the island water and eat the living reefs and fishes. The wastage, oil and other chemical disposed from ship, engine boat is a reason for the death of coral, and the people who fishing also leave the instrument of fishing in water that causes harm to the reef. Finally, the stepping over the live reef causes death of the reef.

SWOT Analysis

Strength

IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program is an awareness program to make people conscious regarding the live and importance of coral reef as well their importance on the regular life of the people in Hawaii.

• The Hawaii living reefs has changed the economic structure and this program will help to develop national economy by enhance public awareness;
• The main strength of this program is its non-profit operation as the campaign totally run by non-profit motive and the partners donate to run the campaign. The campaign has some supporting partner organization that made the campaign strong, and these supporting organizations are non-profit volunteer in nature. For example, Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii (BEACH) is an organization voluntarily works to create awareness among people about the bad affect of marine debris and other extracts that pollute the water of the sea. There are also some other partner organizations like Blue Water Campaign, Community Conservation Network, Department of Health Clean Water Branch, Polluted Runoff Control and so on.
• This program also has some sponsors and donors who supported the activities through financial and other aids that strengthen the campaign. Another strength of the program is its affiliation with the universities in the states where students and teachers jointly made efforts on improving condition of the reefs and creates awareness among the students on these issues.

• Hawaii continuously hold the first position as a tourist location and its reefs constantly grade as one of the top scuba diving destinations worldwide;
• Hawaiireef (2009) stated that the living reefs give sustenance, and a basis for leisure;
• Finally, the marketer has the capability to encourage people by giving award to some people and organization that contribute to the protection of the reef and motivate people more to save the reef or at least avoid the behavior, which cause harm to the habitation of reefs.

Weakness

• Shortage of fund or unhealthy financial conditions for campaign and implementation of research projects is the main weakness of the IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program as continuing this kind of campaign requires a large sum of money which sometimes critical to manage. In addition, Due to the political reasons the big banking and financial organization of USA is absent in Hawaii that made it difficult to manage a large sum of investment in this sectors. The devises develop for marketing campaign of the projects is not adequate to address every group of people who made the risk to the reefs.
• Though it has few partners but many international coral reef organization are not interested to campaign for the development of the living reef;
• People are unaware about ecosystem science;
• Integrated marketing campaign needs a substantial amount of research, which is not happen due to some reasons similar to lack of financial aid, low work force, and lack of available expertise to conduct such kind of research. As an example, the campaign only address the issues regarding the harm cause by human but there are some factors then human like attract of alien to the reef and to encounter this attract there is no available devise in the campaign.
• Lack of communication with target groups because the workforce is also not adequate r for effectively continuing the campaign as a large number of workforces need to employ to serve this purpose. Though, it will create job opportunities but IMC campaign is mainly voluntary work and people will get little or no financial aid so that they are not motivated to do the jobs sincerely.

Opportunity

• IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program is very important in a sense that it is a valuable natural resource in the context of the economy of Hawaii and it contributes a large sum of revenue to the GDP of the states. As a result, damage of coral reefs directly affects the economy and a large number of people of Hawaii depend on this natural resources may jeopardize. So IMC campaign has the opportunity to get highlights and plays an important role in this regards as everyone understand the significance of coral reefs. ICRAN (2009) pointed out that not only Hawaiian but about 80 developing countries, numerous communities rely greatly on coral reefs
• Some organizations work on the various natural issues of Hawaii including the water to off shore matters that also helps in the IMC campaign projects. Suppose if one organization works on water pollution of the sea then it will positively affect on coral reefs as polluted water cause harm and death to the coral reefs. IMC campaign project has the opportunity to involve more members in the process and can attract international donors for aiding the projects. The university teachers and students are also involved with the projects and as a result, the campaign has the opportunity to convey the massage of protecting reefs to boarder student community in USA including Hawaii.
• The projects has the chance to influence the federal government to influence more on this issue and support and pass strong act to protect the reefs;

• This campaign project can help to save 60% of living reefs, which is going to damage.

Threats

The IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program is not enjoying smooth ways to progress in its campaign to save the living reef in Hawaii. There are challenges and potential threats, which may ruin the efforts of the projects as well as the life of the reefs. One of the most apparent threats is excess fishing by the local professionals and this over fishing reduces the number of reefs in the sea especially in the near shore where the number of reef decrease substantially. Some additional threats are:

• Hawaii Living Reef is in under threat due to harmful environmental changes, and harmful condition resulting from human activities, for example, US marine navigators cause harm to the reefs as when they visit the sea dispose extract and waste in the water, which polluted the water and endangered the life of reefs. Increased number of population presents the real threats to the projects as due to the agriculture and other plantation, farmer uses excess fertilizer and chemical for over production, which reached in the water and pollute it that ultimately reduce the life of coral reefs and other fishes in the water.
• Sometimes people fishing in the sea for hobby purpose that may endanger the life of the reefs. The people fishing in sea leave the destroyed part of the fishing equipment that causes damage to the reefs. Sometimes stepping on the coral reefs and using anchor by ships and boats cause harms to the near coast reefs, because they are more sensitive category of reefs in the sea that cannot survive in pressure (Leone and Swann, 2004).
• Babbitt & Daley (2000) reported that 10% of all coral reefs are fully damaged, 30% are in dangerous situation, which may damage within few years and 30% may die totally by 2050;
• Human activities like over-fishing for recreational and commercial purposes, destructive fishing practices, dredging and shoreline modification, and vessel groundings are the serious problem of this living reefs;
• Disease outbreaks and other natural disasters like storm.

Current Promotional Program

The IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program mainly works on raising awareness among the people of Hawaii including the relevance of coral reefs with the lifestyles of the people. This awareness program supports by some promotional efforts of the projects, which are as follows:

• It has its own website where all the information includes for public and it directly contributes to the awareness of the people. Stakeholders may visit the websites and get an impression on the activities of the projects. Here various aspects of coral reefs also includes so that the visitors can get an overall pictures of the situation.
• The IMC campaign project introduces award program where peoples or organizations that substantially contribute to the protection of the coral reefs awarded annually. It awards two categories including the business categories and non-business categories. Various business organization especially tourism business, ocean related business and other communication firms fall in business categories and an award gives to any one organization of the business to promotes the activities to protect reefs. Government agencies, university, community organization and other non-government organization falls into non-business categories and IMC campaign project gives award to any one organization for contribution in this sector (Coral reef outreach network, 2004).
• Another aspect of the promotional campaign of the project is spreading the theme of Living Reefs Giver Our Islands Life. The main objective for promoting the theme is to aware people about the importance of living reefs on the whole ecosystem of Hawaii. Any kind of harm to the reefs directly affects the ecosystem and as result, the environment, and climate changes negatively. Living reefs contributed to protection to the natural disaster like storms, hurricane, tsunami etc. Destruction of these reefs increases the chance of this kind of disaster that will destroy the habitation of Hawaii. Therefore, the projects promoted the Living Reefs Giver Our Islands Life for the safety of the local people.

Sister Organization

Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) established to manage, preserve, and restore the aquatic resources of offshore for sustaining the life of those for future generation and it is a voluntary non-profit organization working in Hawaii. The main aim of the organization is to teach the people how to live up with the aquatic resources of the sea and tries to enforce the law regarding the protection of the aquatic resources.

Coral Reef Alliance

Coral Reef Alliance is a voluntary organization working on saving and protecting the coral reefs of the sea in Hawaii. It is a non-profit organization established by Stephan Colwell in 1994 based in San Francisco, California. Currently Coral Reef Alliance has seven thousand members who contribute to the fund for saving coral in the different area of sea including the Hawaii. The main motto of the organization is participation of everyone to save the coral in the sea.

Negative Behavior

Coral reefs are damaged mainly for the bad behavior of the people and people damaged the coral reef consciously or unconsciously. There are mainly some specific behaviors, which substantially reduced number of reefs in the sea. These behaviors include the excess fishing, scuba driving, leaving the damaged part of fishing equipment, walking on the coral reefs of near Shore Sea, and using excessive chemicals in the farms.

• Excess Fishing: Excess fishing includes fishing in the near shore to the deep sea of Atlantic Ocean of Hawaii. This excess fishing directly affects the coral reefs, as coral are the safeguard for the little fish.
• Scuba Driving: Tourist used scuba driving for their enjoyment in the sea. However, it causes harm to the coral as these tourists fall on the coral and as a result, it may die due to the pressure.
• Fishing Equipment: Damaged fishing equipments consist of the metals and thrown into water are not perishable for long time; as a result, they may hit the coral or pollute the water.
• Chemicals: The chemical used by the farmer composed with the sea water through the rain water. This toxic is responsible for the death of the coral of the near shore and deep sea.

Competitors Marketing and Positions

The two competitors have the website for their promotion and any once can participate in the program of these organizations. The focus of these organizations are little different from that of the IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef. IMC campaign focus on saving the reefs of Hawaii Island only but other two organization focuses on the coral reefs around the world. They manly targeted the business people and the funding of these organizations is very strong. The main theme of DAR is to create an environment where the human and the aquatic resources are living together and does not impose restriction on the consumption of aquatic resources. Therefore, they mainly focus the professional who involved with the business of aquatic resources. On the other hand, the marketing efforts of Coral Reef Alliance is strong in a sense, it already has seven thousand members and has an international exposure. It positioned in the market in a way so that they can attract more members from different corner of the globe.

Segmentation

In segmenting the market, IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program choose the consumer segmentation approach because it operates in only single geographic area like in Hawaii Island. One is the students studying in college or university level and the other is the business organization or professionals. All the marketing efforts of the organization directed towards this two segments. IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program stress on students for voluntary labor and on the businesspersons for required funds but the inverse may happen depends upon the situation. Beside this, there are also some other possible segments for the projects. They are the tourist, farmer, and local fisherman etc.

Special Interest: Sales Promotion and Viral Marketing

IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program is new in the social marketing and they can use the social marketing approach introduces by Andreasen. According to this approach, the main aim of the IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program should change the behavior of the person of the society because to get the expected outcome that is save the living reef, the members of the community must change their behavior towards the reefs (Andreasen, 1996). However, changing behavior is not that much easy as peoples tend to static in their behavior unless they can realize the change brings benefit to them. IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program first selects the target customers to change than it must set some positive outcome resulted in changing behavior. The project should go beyond the traditional advertisement campaign because it is not like the goods or service rather it is a voluntary and nonprofit outcome. They need to project on one to one communication through which people can understand changing behavior positively contribute to the society it should be cost effective in nature. The project mainly promotes the behavior that saves the reefs from the damages. More precisely, the campaign address to change those behavior like excess fishing, walking on the coral reefs or using excess toxics in the farm land.

Target Audience Analysis

Marketer of this IMC campaign would define the target audience as the particular audience as well as demographic groups to whom this campaign would address its advertising message, here the campaign has designed and developed targeting the students and business communities. The selected target audiences are identified as they meet the requirements of certain motivation; actionable for the campaign and accessible to the highest extend to receiving the sufficient inspiration of the advertisement or message.

Consumer Target Audience

IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program has working for protecting the life of the living reefs, which requires selecting target audience for their promotional and marketing campaign. To be success in the marketing campaign, it should narrow down the target audience so that the right person gets the right massage. There are two possible target audiences such as the students and the business people. Students have the available time to give time to the project, as it is a voluntary organization and it requires a lot of time to visit the costal areas. On the other hand, the business people including the tourism sectors which possibly an agent of harm to the coral reefs and other business and professionals that directly affect or affected by the ocean of the Hawaii (Alber et al, 1998). Historically students are the most successful contributor on any changes and they tend to give more time on the voluntary activities then the other persons. They may not have that much funds for donation but they give their labor and helps to collect the donation from different areas and people. The business people have not enough time to involve themselves on any kind of voluntary jobs as they have their own business. Beside the business, they have the responsibility of friends and family that consume substantial amount of time from them. As a result, they can help through the financial aids and some business people have affiliation with business of sea resources can take steps to save the resources of there. From this discussion, the business people can identify as a generation X and the students can identified as generation Y.

Target Audience Students

Definition

Literally, students are those studying in educational institutes including the play level to the postdoctoral program. However, for this project, the students are those studying in school college and university level

Audience profile

In Hawaii, there are some renowned schools, colleges and universities, which provide education to the students of different background on different discipline. There are some most popular colleges and universities of Hawaii includes Bowling Green State University, Brooks Institute of Photography, Capella University, Cardinal Stritch University, Central Michigan University, Chamberlain College of Nursing, Everest University Online etc. (50states.com). According to the Department of Education of Hawaii, the number of total students in different public schools of Hawaii is approximately 180289 and in private schools, the number is 30784.

Decision Process

These students are spread over the four counties of Hawaii where different schools are located. This huge number of students has a great interest on working voluntarily on the issues of public interest. Students are easily accessible through various social networks as if Facebook, twitter etc., and they like to visit online. Most of the students have internet connection through which they visit various websites and approaching to these audiences through internet is easy and effective. Students are spiritual and try to contribute to the society and they can be effective in IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef. Students are aware of the issues of IMC concept as they receive lectures on this issue and in most of the business schools of Hawaii, include this concept in their course materials.

As a result, a predominate values and passion for working on this social activities developed in the mind of the students. Students studying in the institution get breaks for one to two months or more during summer season. Most of the students of Hawaii use this time for recreation purpose and they may go for surfing, hiking, long derive or other activities related to enjoyment. A huge number of students come to Hawaii beaches for this purpose, visit the sea, and pass time in the offshore of the beach. They also pass time through scuba driving, surfing, visit through cruise and fishing in the sea. All these activities are very attractive way of enjoyment of the vacation. As the main aim of IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program is to protect the living reef of the sea, it requires visiting the sea to observe the reefs of the sea and its hazards (Diana, 2004).

Benefits

Working with IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program gives students the opportunity to work closely with the living reefs, which may fulfill the demand of recreation of the students. Most of the students have not enough money in their pocket so that they are not able to donate in the projects but they have the spirit to make success of the program. Through affiliation with the project, they can get the chance to work with other big government and non-government organizations, which increase their efficiency and effectiveness. Sometime, students may damage or endanger the life of the reefs through their various activities like stepping on the reefs in near shore, fishing, leaving various fishing equipment in the sea or contaminate the water of the sea. As a result, students need to aware about the safety of the water as well as the protection of the reefs because they are valuable in a sense of natural value and economic value. Most of the time, students are the agent of the social change and through this campaign they can make the people aware about the importance of protecting the reefs.

Students have the ability and knowledge of social marketing campaign so that they can convince the different stakeholders on the issues and can achieve the support from these stakeholders and government. Another issue in this regard is the affiliation of teacher with this project, which directly influence the students to contribute in this social campaign. When students want to contribute to a voluntary activity, they choose an organization that will meet the expectation of them. In such a case, they use some criteria that must fulfill by the selected organization. Finally, they make the decision based on the previous success of the organization in voluntary activates.

Reference Groups

As the target audience is students, most of them may not merely take the message of this present IMC marketing at face value but they would appreciate to take into account the opinions and values of their educational institutes and teachers as their reference groups. Meanwhile their reference group could be their classmates, peers, friends, and family. This IMC marketer has taken into consideration that the reference groups are those people whom the students think about once they pursue a message.

Current perceptions

The current perceptions and attitudes of the students of Hawaii have demonstrated positive advancements towards the living reefs and provision of preserving living reefs as well as marine resources with an increasing rate. Student’s perceptions relating to the management of living reef resources of Hawaii emphasize on the significance of understanding and integrate local perceptions into living reef management initiatives The baseline of environmental awareness, socio-economic appraisals, research, and education demonstrates raising involvement are representing the increasing awareness.

Multi-attribute Model

The participation decision of the students to any organization significantly influence by some attributes. This attributes serve as a guidelines for them in decision-making process. To involve in IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef, students may consider some attributes. These attributes are the amount of travel required by the project, variance of length of time, the affordability of the students, reputation of the organization, location of activities that is beach and sea of Hawaii, the level of awareness about the protection of reefs, the degree of preparation requires for the project and finally the impact of reference group. Whenever a student decides to involve him or her in a voluntary activity this attributes direct the decision of the student to which organization he or she may choose.

Multi- attribute model identified eight attributes, which are most influential attributes to the decision making of the students. In case of IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef, the student positioned it in the middle where DAR got the top priority and Coral Reef Alliance got the less priority.

Trigger points

Though the students are most sensitive part of the society, but they do not drive with self-initiatives where their reference group work as trigger points. Here one of the most important matters for the students in decision making is the reference group as the teachers or other reference group may suggest any particular organization to choose by the students and the students may convince by the reference more. The reputation of the organization is also very important from the viewpoint of the students because they want to gather knowledge and want to work with an organization that has a good reputation and success in the field where it works.

Target Audience 2 Business

Definition

Business includes the business organization like tourism, fisheries, corals and professional fishers and tourist who directly involved with the beaches of Hawaii. This definition of business also includes other business organization and professional who are not directly involved with the Hawaii beaches.

Audience Profile

Hawaii is a symbol of natural beauty with a number of beaches and natural resources like the coral reefs, fishes, flowers, trees etc. Well number of business organizations and professionals are working in the states that largely depend on the resources of the ocean. Ultimately, this persons and organizations cause harm to the natural resources of the states especially to the sea resources including the coral reefs, fishes, and waters. IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program targets this professionals and business organization for their campaign purpose. The tourism industry in Hawaii is well-organized and huge number of tourist visit the island during the various seasons of the year. Most of the tourists come to Hawaii through the management of the tourism organization. The leading touring company in Hawaii includes Hawaii Guided Tours, American Airlines Vacations, Classic Vacations, Hawaii Blue Sky Tours, Hawaii Holiday Service, Hawaiian Vacations etc (About.com). This organization arranges various programs for the tourists to attract them more which most of the time against the protection policy of the government to protect the reef. As an example, Tourist Company arranges scuba-driving, surfing, swimming, walking in the offshore, and fishing which causes the harms to the reef (Lingle Linda). The recreational fishing in the sea also harms the coral reefs and tourists sometimes leave the broken part of the fishing equipment, which damage the coral in the deep sea.

Benefits

IMC can involve this tourist and tourism organization to aware the tourist about this issues of protection and manage donation from them. The fisheries of the island are also a well-developed business where a large number of people went to the sea for acquiring the fish and coral. This consumption of fish and coral seriously damaged the existence of those and the angler excessively fishing in the sea. This people cannot understand the effect of their act and need to aware about the matter (DAAR, 2009). IMC campaign can involve them with the project through donation and other awareness program. Some other business organizations acquire coral from the sea for export and consumption. Most of the time, they collect corals from the near shore and damage the sensitive coral through stepping on it. This people can involve with the campaign through donation and awareness program and can contribute to the protection of these reefs. Finally, the other business organization of Hawaii and USA can donate to the projects of the IMC campaign as it a Corporate Social Responsibility of the business.

The true business people want to contribute to the society through various program initiated by the voluntary organization. Business people are busy with their work, and this group falls into the age rage of 18 to 65 and it is the biggest portion of age group in USA approximately 75% of the total population.

Decision Process

This business people characterized by the inherent busyness, less financial stress, need to give time and responsibilities to the family. As a result, this group cannot give sufficient time to voluntary activities like students but they enjoy vacation with family for a definite time of a year. They mostly spend vacation in the costal area where they enjoy sunbath, surfing, scuba driving, fishing, hiking, sight seeing, river, or sea cruising etc. If they properly motivated may use the vacation time in voluntary activities. They also can aware the people working with them and above all they can donate large sum of money to the organization that runs voluntary activities for social and natural welfare. Coral reefs are very important in this regard because sustainability of human largely depends on the sustainability of these natural resources.

Decision regarding participation in voluntary activities largely depends upon certain attributes. These attributes guided the decision of participating in which organization if they actually determine to take part in any voluntary social activities. These business people heavily rely on the information on performance and reputations of the organization in selecting organization for participation.

Current perceptions

The contemporary perceptions and values of the business community of Hawaii including fishing and tourism have fundamentally significant to appreciate individual perceptions of that has already been shaped with the factors influencing the Hawaii’s reef resources preservation. In traditional outlook before the awareness campaign compiled, there was an unparallel competition to destroying living reefs by both fishing and tourism but now their perception about reef preservation is as good or neither good nor bad. The successful achievement of the business community of Hawaii ultimately integrated with the local community’s understanding and current perceptions where their source of revenue depends on the effectiveness of the living reef management.

Reference Groups

When the businesspersons are the target audience, their reference groups would be their regulatory controllers, licensing authorities, bankers, colleagues, chamber of commerce including their friends and family and even their political parties. These reference groups act as the opinion former, motivate influence the behaviour of businessmen and reshape their mindset. The present IMC marketer has taken the reflection that the above mentioned reference groups provide the message in a more concise manner by which businessmen would easily bring their behavioural changes and take motivation that destroy of reefs is the decrease of their business.

Multi-attribute Model

Some attributes heavily influence the decision of the business people to participate in the activities of IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef. Businesspersons want to use properly the amount they contribute for social welfare programs because they do not have enough time to involve directly themselves with the organization. Therefore, in deciding which organization they contribute mainly focus on the previous activities of the organization specially the success of the organization in doing the welfare of the society. The tourism business will consider how the organization can make success in ensuring a coexistence of the human and the natural resources without harming those. The reputation of the organization is another important factor to be considered and an organization which working for long time with success have a good reputation locally and internationally. How much it required for running the projects also very important as the amount of donation depends on it. In general, project on water resources requires more fund than any other project out of water and the amount of donation requirement is little high for water projects.

In the following attribute model, the businesspersons give more importance on the success of the organization and IMC campaign gets moderate level value than the DAR and Coral Reef Alliance. The variance length refers to the time required to implement the projects and IMC campaign get good weight in this regard. The affordability means the ability of the donor to afford required portion of money to the projects. Projects on coral reefs protection requires large sum of money, which may be less affordable for the businessperson. The knowledge and awareness level is also very important, as many people may not have the proper idea about the projects regarding the protection of the reefs.

Trigger points

However, the business communities possess some corporate social responsibilities but the ultimate drive is for making profit, which sometime creates conflicts to preserving reefs directly reduce the profit. In this case, the reference group would act as trigger points to motivate them protection and management of living reef should bring more profit for business in long run, which lead them to stop any negative attitude to the reefs.

Strategic Plan

This Hawaii living reef program will be a differentiated campaign, using two separate positioning strategies for Hawaiian residents, businesses, students, and visitors. The positioning strategies will concentrate on to reduce land-based pollution to improve coastal water quality as pollution in land adversely affect Hawaii living reef and increase awareness of pollution prevention. In addition, these strategies will help to develop general conception about the significance of living reef, supply chain management of these product and other issues. Here the motto of positioning strategy is to compare the current position with previous condition, which will clear their idea about the benefits of living reef, as people are unaware how they destroy these natural assets by their activists.

Strategy

Businesses Views of Hawaii Living reef program

This campaign project will attempt to build up awareness in all people of business sectors who are directly or indirectly damage the living reef by their business activities. The positioning strategy has designed considering following business area –

Fisheries Views of Hawaii Living reef program

The IMC campaign project of Hawaii Living Reef Program has the goal to integrate all the key export industries of Hawaii, which will be the key driver of this project. The people of costal area (The people of Honolua ahupuaa, Maui, Molokai, Oahu) are not conscious about living reef, over fishing, environmental change, land-based pollution, and illegal fishing. However, the current problems related with fisheries are not same in all area, so the outcomes of this campaign will be different. This campaign will communicate to the related person with fisheries to provide message about specific benefits that can be gained by caring the living reef.

However, the organizer of this campaign project is not pleased with this current position, and this IMC campaign project will assist to change their position by rising target audience awareness. The campaign will seek to aware people to stop spear fishing and recreational fishing in restricted area as fishing is unlawful inside the Marine zone. This strategy will be accomplished by raising awareness through communicating all of the negative sides as well as all the positive sides of fishing. This campaign may also aware people on few other issues, which also destroy Hawaii living reef, such as, careless collection of wild fish, using chemicals, fishing in protected area etc. In addition, they have to realize that their lifestyle is dependent on the Hawaii coral reef ecosystem. A group of volunteer who eager to visit marine area will work for to convey these initial significant messages to the fishermen as most of them are not using websites and poster would not be effective way to communicate with root people.

The particular elements of the general message of the positioning strategy include:

• Reducing over fishing by increasing awareness;
• Carry out a short term and long tern research program to success this campaign project;
• Teach and encourage positive behaviors;
• collaborative operational relationships with federal and state agencies;

Tourist including related sectors Views of Hawaii Living reef Program

The marketer of Hawaii Living Reef Program will aware all the people who are relate with tourism sectors, as the tourism industry is one of the fastest rising sectors of the global economy and they have lack of consciousness. Development of supportive organizations like hotel, restaurants, airlines, or transportation industry, tour companies within the Hawaii tour spots are directly accountable for the immediate damages of living reef.

Hawaii has the most attractive tourist’s spots to attract the travelers and the tourists or visitors are come from different countries, as a result, tourist spend lots of money for recreation and they have less interest to keep in mind that reefs are the natural and economic assets for Hawaii. In addition, most of the tourists have lack of knowledge regarding living reefs, many of them do not know about the rules and regulations. On the other hand, other related businesses are only concerned with short-term profits but they should also think about long-term survival. These businesses will not lasting if it lost its attractiveness, so, it is the responsibilities of the related organizations to control overuse the natural resources recklessly.

The climate of Hawaii is also changing because of global warming, and this can make some sort of abolition of the natural scenic beauties of Hawaii and travelers may not pay attention on this beauty. According to report of Hawaii.gov (2004), the government of Hawaii is very concerned about the Hawaii living reef and prospect of tourism industry and helps the industry in every possible ways.

Besides poster and leaflet, another strategy that can help this campaign to drive traffic to its website includes promoting through yahoo, msn, and google URLs and this is by having pop-ups as people access their mails. In this way, various tourists will be able to see the website as they access their emails. This campaign project will also use television adverts, it can advise potential tourists to visit its website for more information, and many tourists will start using its website. In this way, they get the opportunity to learn about living reefs, benefits of living reefs, coral ecosystems, importance of daily life, and contribution on national GDP etc. In this way, they would be aware from this campaign as most of the tourists are educated to understand its value.

This campaign provide the following messages:

• collaborative operational relationships with federal and state agencies;
• the tour companies should have corporate social responsibility, so, this Hawaii living reef Program move to stop over use of commercial tourist boat

Positioning Strategy

By using positioning strategy, the marketer of Hawaii Living reef Program will be able to aware the target audiences on important criteria or the place that the message obtains in customer’s mind in relation with other Coral reef campaign. Therefore, it will involve inserting the scheme’s unique advantages and differentiation in people’s mind.

Choosing a positioning strategy

• It will accomplish with sub- decisions as identification of possible competitive advantage, choosing of right competitive advantage and selecting an overall positioning strategy;
• In this planning, the 1^st option will focus on developing a competitive or differential advantage of the Hawaii Living reef Program through which it would be able to generate more value than other similar campaigns in terms of donation and grater benefits. That uniqueness will generate here in terms of service, and benefit factors;
• The second alternative will emphasise upon deciding on several differences for promotion by an indication of significance, uniqueness, superior, communicative, and other variables;
• Moreover, the final option will target on generating complete mixes of value of the brand, which can call as value proposition. Among the a variety of options of the following grid, “more for less” option will be select since the Hawaii Living reef Program will aim to make more value than competitive ones in association with performing more community awareness with less or no monetary effort, for instance

Strengths: it should determine the positive factors for promising campaign:

• The contribution of Hawaii living reefs on national economy;
• Cultural development;
• It is a number one tourist location

Weakness: – there have some weak points such as:

• Lack of volunteer for fieldwork;
• Lack of knowledge about coral reef;
• Inappropriate use of communication tools;

Opportunities: – it has several scopes for instance:

• Create a future prospect for business by increasing awareness;
• It can protect 60% living reef;
• Donation funds will help enhance this program and create new job opportunities

Threats: – for successful campaign, it should measure the risk factors:

• Rapid environmental change for human activities such as land based pollution, fishing pressure, recreational overuse;
• Coral reefs is going to damage natural disasters,
• Unawareness of residents and other issues

The importance of the campaign project of Hawaii living reef Program can easily evaluate from the SWOT analysis

The key problems of this campaign project

• Availability of sufficient budget to carry out the Hawaii living reef campaign project;
• All local people are not interested about this program;
• Farmers are not enough educated to understand the importance of this living reef as well as this campaign project;
• The objectives of this campaign project may hamper due to the relationship gap between management team and farmers.

The key opportunities of this campaign project

• The Hawaii living reef Program will help to simplify rules and regulations to implement and compliance;
• It will develop a IMC plan and advertising plan in order to increase public awareness of fisheries management proceedings;
• It will also assist to increase community involvement in environmental aspects;
• It will give more information about their role in the living reef ecosystem,
• It will evaluate the effectiveness of present strategies to save the living reefs and aware people regarding this issue;
• It will facilitate to find out new actions with potential funding sources for further development and refine existing actions and monitoring policies to concentrate on land-based pollution.

Key messages

• Hawaii life-cycle is dependent on the coral living reef ecosystem;
• This campaign try save the reef for the future and funds are available to learn more about the reefs and take initiatives accordingly;
• Significance of the Hawaii Living reefs in Native Hawaiian culture and development of tourism sector;
• In addition, it will amplify national and international awareness of the ecological, financial, as well as cultural importance of Hawaii living reefs;
• the campaign provides the message that the reef is alive.

Objectives

This campaign will follow DAGMAR Model to aware target audience and the following figure shows the model:

Benchmarks

• A survey will start on 15 June 2010

Time Frame

• This Hawaii Living Reef Program will continue from 01 August 2010 to 31 October 2010.

Awareness

• The main objective of this campaign is to aware people to decrease pollution, falling habitat devastation, restoring damaged reefs, reinforcement global actions and developing parliamentary accountability with coordination;
• The aim of this campaign is to increase awareness of businesses and fishermen by 20%;
• It will also increase the consciousness of the hotel management team to save the living reef by 5%;
• Boost the attentiveness of the students by 5%;
• Most importantly this campaign will encourage the local organizations, researchers, and teachers to work in this sectors;
• In addition, the motto of this campaign is to develop the consciousness of local publics by 10%;

Comprehension

• Increase the comprehension that Hawaii living reef is beneficial to those who want to continue their business in Hawaii Island by 20%;
• Increase the comprehension that the living reef program is offering part time job opportunities to students by 5%;
• Increase the comprehension of Hawaii living reef’s eco-friendly, sustainable initiatives to target audience by 5%.

Conviction

• Increase the range of target audience who believe the Hawaii Living Reef Program concept will have a meaningful impact on the lives
• Increase the intent of potential donors to donate to Hawaii Living Reef Program by 10%.
• Increase the number of website hits by 15%;
• Increase the number of number of associates by social networking sites like Face book or Twitter by 10%.
• Increase the number of phone call and e-mail inquiries by 20%.

Action

• In order to implement and develop a science-based ecosystem approach to living reefs protection with the aim of recognizes and builds upon imperative relations among adjacent and distant habitat linked with coral reefs;
• This campaign will try to build up a task force to widen a comprehensive plan for protection, and restoration of Hawaii living reefs;
• It will campaign to use adaptive management approaches intended to ecological adjust and emerging challenges;
• Increase awareness to take precautionary measures as suitable to protect Hawaii living reefs;
• To save from harm and replenish Hawaii living reefs ecosystems by reducing destructive human activities and incorporating the individual dimension into living reefs conservation strategies;
• It will suggest to create marine protected zone;
• Increase awareness in order to build up strong domestic partnerships amongst governmental, private and technical interests;
• This campaign has intention to decrease global threats to Hawaii living reefs by international technical as well as development assistance.

Evaluation of Objectives

The project of Hawaii Living Reef Program will initiate their objectives by issuing a survey to the target audiences to settle on the level of audience responsiveness of Hawaii Living Reef. Here it is important to state that the outcome of this survey will be effective from the very beginning as many people depend on coral reefs for part of their life cycle. As a result, they have sufficient knowledge to understand the importance of this survey as well as the overall campaign project.

Initially the survey will contain comprehensive questions to determine the knowledge of the local people, visitors, Fishermen, students, and other organization, which fight against environment pollution. However, some people have better understandings than other groups because some are directly deal with living reefs for their livelihood.

In this circumstance, the campaign project will more emphasize on the positive sides of the living reefs, such as, they protect lives, financial system, and cultures, save from erosion, motivate tourism jobs as well as opportunities, and play a vital role in nutrient cycling. In addition, the campaign project will also concentrate on the constructive parts of these reefs, for example, it supplies food to sustain Hawaiian diets, include 10% of the world’s fishing harvest, and grasp the prospect of technical and medical progresses. In order to build up awareness, this campaign project will show numerous data, which would be effective supporting evidence.

Overview of the Tactical Plan

This Tactical plan for Hawaii Living Reef Program intended to encourage, guiding, and motivate public perception to develop mass awareness among the target audience with the objectives to conservation, management and proper utilization of living Reefs of Hawaii. It also aimed to convey the message to the target audience that the economy and standard of living of the inebriants of Hawaii, is essentially an integral part of coral reef ecosystem and to emphasize on this drive the campaign that notes to the public slogan would be “A Living Reef Gives Our Islands Life”.

To raise public awareness, this tactical plan endow with an effective implementation policy that would be based on policy formulation, living reef protection measures, improvement of scientific know how, materialization of legislation and enhancing public enduring with the slogan ‘Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence’, the focal point of the campaign. The impact of this tactical plan is very significant in terms of utilization, conservation and management of living coral reef of Hawaii with clear evidence of influencing the public awareness during the plan has endorsed. As part of Strategic plan, this section would suggest the way of implementing them with greater consideration on Living Reef resource management efforts devised with IMC tools. The tactical plan would ultimately uphold the strategic objectives of the campaign through a social marketing drive by using social integrated marketing communication tools though there some limitations like political uncertainty, changing governmental priorities, budgetary constrains, lack of action program, and poor effort to collaborate with stakeholders (DAR, 2004).

Background

Hawaii is a pacific island with an inhabitant of 1.3 million where almost 7 million tourists arrive here in every year, most of people depend on coral reef for their livelihood, and the economists identified it as tragedy of this area, raising pressure on this marine resources bring the threat of abolishing the island in to the ocean. The local authority has introduced some rules regarding exploit of the marine resources but often ignored by the people and has demonstrated as inadequate to administer the ocean resources. Consequently, the reefs of this area are now rigorously washing-out while the traditional Hawaiians has some ethical practice to conservative reefs and to use only which is needful, but the modern Hawaiians do not bother for effective encouragement and destroy the coral reefs without any care to the marine life legislation.

NOOA (2005) pointed out that the coral reefs of Hawaii contribute more than US$ 360 million per year in the GDP of Hawaii from its industries based on coral reef like tourism and recreation, fishing, aquarium, jewelry and academic research and proper government regulatory initiatives, investment and understanding to preserve living reeds can enhance the national economy for higher growth. As the coral reefs are the expensive and indispensable component of Hawaii economy, inhabitant’s lifestyles, their cultural heritage, it is mandatory obligation for the mass populace to make special care and awareness to preserve and management of living reefs (Coral Reef Outreach Network, 2004).

Approach to Tactical Plan

The Tactical Plan simulates the target audience to understand and communicate with the outlined living reef’s problem and expectations to apply their understanding on the proposed strategies and tactics through social marketing approaches with IMC tools that would restructure the thinking of target audience and lead the to take active participation to gaining the objectives.

Objectives and strategies

Goals of the Campaign ‘Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence’

• To assemble and boost awareness of mass people about the significance of the living reef ecosystem to Hawaii’s existence,
• To pull together and enhance consciousness of the people regarding the economic implication of the living reef,
• To educate people how to utilize natural resources specially marine resources with out disturbing the ecological balance,
• To keep pressure on the legislative body of Hawaii to introducing up-to-date law and regulation to protect living reefs,
• To monitoring the unlawful devastating of living reefs,
• To keep pressure on the law enforcement authority to implement existing law and regulation to protect living reefs,
• To educate and encourage people for positive behaviors to the living reefs,
• The campaign ‘Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence’ would collaborative with all local and international NGOs, governmental bodies, donor agencies to exchange and share knowledge, information to ensure right use of resources protect living reefs.

Target Group

• The campaign ‘Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence’ has currently involved and targeted the initial audiences as-
• Local residents of all ethic groups
• Both foreign tourist and local visitors
• Local and multinational businesses concerns who are involved in business operation in Hawaii
• Politicians’ policy makers and legislators
• NGOs activists working with life
• Educationalist and researchers enthusiasts on living reefs

Messages

The campaign ‘Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence’ has persuade the objectives to convey the following messages to the target audiences:

• The existence of the island Hawaii is dependent on the coral reef ecological arrangement,
• The survival of Hawaii is in serious threat to be submerged in to the ocean due to devastation of coral reef,
• Preservation and management of living reef can save Hawaii from the threats of water level incensement, global warming, and other environmental hazards,
• The reefs have life, nourish them; they will provide more wealth,
• Every citizen can take action plan to save living reefs and to ensure better living
• Learn more about living reefs and gain more resources for the future and living standard,
• The traditional Hawaiian culture considered living reefs as steward for them
• Resources are accessible to enrich your knowledge regarding the living reefs and their significance to the Hawaiian lifestyles
• The significance of the living reefs to the Native Hawaiian culture is to attract the tourists to Hawaii and keep contribution to the hospitality industry.

At the branding of the campaign ‘Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence’, all initiatives of the tactical plan would agreed to keep its effort collaboratively to engender an extensive roadmap to support before going the public opening.

Theme & Big Idea of Tactical Plan

The campaign would generate a network of activists dedicated to preservation of living reefs, which would assist communication and provide capability to have shared decision-making corpse and the organizer of this campaign would be agreed to working collectively to extend resources and measures those are would be looked for to start up the campaign. Both the organizer and participants of the campaign would be granted that the campaign messages would keep positive motivation and life enhancing dynamics for conservation of living reefs. At the same time, they would also be agreed that the campaign strategy would boost and harmonize the existing efforts and encourage new attempts to enlarge focused interest among the mass public to ‘Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence’.

This tactical plan would developed and placed to the governmental and nongovernmental organizations in a succeeding meeting where all the mechanism and tools were accepted and standardized by the participant group together with the logo, slogan as well general strategy has anticipated, all the groups shore up the slogan “Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence”. The convention also approved to the designing a combined logo and pointed out that the strategy would be entitled as ‘Living Reef Movement’ in short.

Roadmap of tactical ideas

The most influential components of the present strategy is to design and develop a leading media package with web hosing, TV, radio and both print and electronic media to proclaim open end public announcements by means of spot ads those are designed with incorporated vital messages through audio and visuals. On the other hand, the ongoing media linkage elements would be included with regular press releases to the regional and national newspapers, publishing the quotes of environmental experts, analytical wittings, research findings, positive opinion of the citizens and general feedback referenced to the media. There should be an own bimonthly publication from the organizer of this campaign which incorporate stakeholders views, research articles, survey results, experts analysis, readers opinion, and lists of the supporters.

The proposed name of the publication would be LRM that stands for “Living Reef Movement” and would published in soft and hard copies to distribute through e-mail and postal service to the subscribers, NGOs, governmental agencies that spotlights on what the campaign is doing to save and manage living reef resources from destructions.

Implication of social marketing in the campaign

To integrate the social marketing tools in the campaign ‘Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence’, it is essential to make it clear the concept of social marketing. The social marketing program takes the imitative that aimed to alter and modify the public behavior with the intention to achieving of social goals by understanding the determinant factors of behavior, which is essential to draw and design of effective interference of the mass people (TOU, 2010). The upfront of social marketing drive there should be consist of policy makers, social workers, politicians, legislators, regulators, academies and at the downstream, there are the related communities whose behavior motivation is the objective of social marketing drive. With the influence of upfront pressure, the social marketers kept their highest effort to influence the legislators, policymakers to remold their attitudinal and behavioral transforms of key performers like social workers and educators that would eventually force on the focal behaviors and test of the end users (Kotler and Zaltman, 1971).

The social cognitive theory has pointed out how the personal behavior an individual may shape and restructure through his environmental factors like friends, family and surroundings people’s perceptions, and interaction with different ethic groups as well as environment and it also explains how the communities acquire and uphold behaviors. Thus, the adoption of social cognitive theory to this campaign ‘Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence’ would gear up the public awareness to understanding the living reef movement. At this stage of tactical panning of the campaign, it is necessary to engage the effective social marketing communications would go ahead with accurate uniformity of the campaign messages and ensure this motive; several elements of IMC would be integrated.

Tactics selection

The social marketing has been engaged in this campaign with the intention to achieve the goals of developing public awareness to the living reefs where the major differentiation-connecting commercial has pointed out as the dissimilarity of the nature of goals and objectives as it upholds goals of the society.

The social marketing can bring behavioral change and can pave the way the other rudiments of attitude for decisions making but the encouraging attitude and positive intents may not result a successful purchase, moreover there is no indication how far length does the consumer need to take a motivation. To overcome these dilemmas it is essential to adoption of integrated marking communication approaches.

Relationship Marketing

This IMC tool would be applied to the policy makers, and governmental officials of Hawaii. The Relationship marketing is the course of action to create a center of attention of the customers, become trustworthily to them, preserve, and extend the relationships with target group and by this process the marker applies to deliver this product or service to specific audiences. Due to the changing of marketing from a push in the direction of pull model, the target consumers are captivating additional control over their liking and precision as a result the quick response to the mass media by the customers has been decreasing. To overcome this challenge, the marketer of this campaign argued to drive to the relationship marketing with the endeavor to expanding more resourceful, innovative as well as cost-effective strategies to retain and set up loyalty for its target audience (DeYoung, 1988).

Belch & Belch (2009) added that the policymakers of the Hawaii living reefs have the opportunity of exposure to view to this IMC tool to extend relationship with the target group and the marketer must focus its messages with the significant difference that it delivers successful communication with decision makers, government officials, and elites including the tactics:

• Coordinating communication: The communication with the selected policymakers and officials would be obliged to coordinate by an individual who would visit in each location of them. Before visiting them, the staff member will send the publication and necessary information of the campaign for their prior review. This imitative eradicate the replication of efforts and bring the most of the impact and the selected personalities should be kept in touch by the both staff as well as well-trained patrons.
• Knowing selected officials: By gathering information, this marketer would identify all local and state officials in the project area, collect their basic data with background and interests, and then it will engage a volunteer later on the staff members would visit them.
• Get organized: The marker would build up a file of success stories on noteworthy living reef programs and welcome the selected officials to share with others and shape the sharing of success stories with interested legislators.
• The Communication plan: Volunteers of this campaign along with staff should talk one-to-one with major selected officials and volunteers would fill up an information sheets in favor of the major officials.
• Personal visits to legislators: This marketer has planned to have personal visit to the legislators especially including the ministry of livestock of Hawaii. The effective legislative visits would be more fruitful when it would be open discussion meeting with all classes of customers and the minister of legislator would address in favor of the present campaign.

Communication Objectives & hierarchy

In the midst of the target audience identified in previous chapter, this campaign effort would begin to spotlight on the communication objectives and it has demonstrated that customer’s reaction in stipulations of the hierarchy of effects that has the succession of phase with the prospective audiences would go in the course of initial awareness of the campaign to ultimate action. The hierarchy of effects has identified as follows:

• Awareness: When any innovative and unique product or service take entry in to the marketplace, construction of awareness on that product or service is very crucial for its success as a new service, here the campaign ‘Save the Living Reef – Save Our Existence’ would build 20% awareness among the target groups in the first year.
• Interest: Later on awareness development, it should bring interest among the target audience and in this juncture; the audience would embark on longing for protecting living reefs by their active participation where 20% of the audience would aware on the campaign in the preset year and it is hoped that it should increase at 40% in the next year.
• Evaluation: Among the 40% of audiences those who become interested in the present campaign, the organizer of this campaign want to evaluate with previous and on going campaign with coral reefs or living reefs.

Mass Media Advertising Plan

Media Objective

Though the media objectives of the HRL campaign argued with the selection media, where should it advertise, which media vehicle it would use, how often and how long time it will continue advertising, but the ultimate goal is to implementing the strategic plan of this campaign is to developing the public awareness for living reefs of Hawaii.

Media strategy

This Media strategy of the HLR campaign informs that how customers would know about the projects, which media the present marketer would select to come in to the touch of target audience. This marker is eager to introduce an effective media strategy that will start by taking into account of the different target audiences for the campaign and identify the most effective technique to reach at the right use of the media budget. Thus, this media strategy would address how the media can kept best influence rather than any debates. Keeping full attention to the target audience, this strategy would select the different Medias those would contribute proper utilization of the both financial and human resources, and promote awareness and manage the feedback for the success of this campaign.

Media Selection

The marketer of ‘Hawaii Living reef’ has aimed to select the following media to create the image of the campaign, it reputation and develop public awareness as well as raising fund for the campaign, the selected medias are—

• Newspaper: Newspaper is the prime adverting media for the any new business drive to come in the attention of mass people. HLR¹ movement would decide to start and continue paid circular advertising in the newspaper for long term at lest 5 national and regional dailies, 5 weeklies. Occasionally they will go with gift coupons, which the readers cut, fill-up, and return to the marketers.
• Radio Advertising: The HLR campaign has argued to select the Radio advertising due to address the Fishermen and grass root level communities who work in the remote areas and directly related with the destruction of living reefs. Radio adverting would develop potential outcomes for the campaign with a sense of urgency and flexibility and considered as a precious selection to reach its messages.
• Television Advertising: The marketer of the HLR campaign has emphasized to select television advertising as it considered the television is the ultimate destiny of entertainment in this era and people are always in relaxed mode. This marketer would get more opportunity to demonstrate its creativity, credibility and to reach to the mass public quickly but considering the high cost of TV advertising, this marketer would support for periodic TV advertises during national holidays and in the occasion of national festivals

• Yellow Page & Directory: This campaign would also interested to adverting in the national and international Yellow Pages and Directories, as these thing are used by the business communities and keep them using for longtime, at least one year.
• Outdoor Advertising: For the ‘Hawaii Living reef’ marketing campaign Out door advertising can keep huge contribution to achieve the objectives of the campaign the setting billboard in the public domains such as subways, terminal and airport roads and printed posters in the taxicabs, train and buses, boats and steamers.
• Printed promotional materials: This campaign is eager to publish a regular bimonthly publication that expresses the manifesto of this drive and distributed to the interested subscribers free of cost. Moreover, the campaign also distributes festival card, notepads with printed logo and slogans of the campaign.
• Special Advertising & others: In different festival, the HLR campaign would organize open concerts with the famous rock stars to develop public awareness.

IMC Plan

Sales promotion

The marketer of Hawaii living reef Program mainly use two different sales promotion strategies to raise funds for this project and inspire volunteer. Here, it is necessary to mention that saving living reef is costly project, so one of the aims of promotional tool is to increase donations. As a result, it will offer some amenities for them, for example, announce awards and other services, like, it will publish the name of donor in the website of marketer.

Objectives

• Aim to raise donations from the target audiences;
• In order to enhance participation of those people who cannot be volunteer, but intend to assist to carry out this project;
• To encourage friends and family members to donate or be a volunteer of this company

Website

The website of the marketer of “Hawaii living reef” is the main source of information for the target audience as well as for other visitors. Therefore, the marketer of this campaign will recruit some researcher to collect data of present situation and write their opinion regarding this issue in the company’s website. Meanwhile, the marketer will develop a new dynamic website, which would contain more information and user friendly to attract more people and it will offer special gifts for regular visitors.

Objectives

• It will give an option to the web visitors to submit the valuable opinion for future development and these opinion will be published on the visitor comment page;
• It will stimulate a higher frequency of visits;
• It will join with several social network to get more visitors as students and tourists are spend lots of time in these sites and the campaign will be effective if few of them be aware the Hawaii living reef issues;
• Add campaign slogan to the website including the brochure, survey, and newsletter;
• It will keep space for advertisement and link these with other sites;
• The students may create own account for their research works;
• It will provide job opportunity for those persons who wanted to a prominent researcher of volunteers.

One to one marketing

Belch & Belch (2009) argued that the marketer might study about the demand of target groups by using one to one marketing. However, the marketer of the Hawaii living reef Program hopes to use this strategy to communicate with its target audience. When a customer will resister or visit the website, it will store the relevant data and use it for further direct communication process:

• Its aim to supply more information by providing newsletter and e-books;
• Encourage students to subscribe this site and contact with other friends to know about the campaign;
• In order to aware people that the Hawaii living reef is destroying for human activities and it is the proper time to stop;
• It will aware businesses as they have more experience of using this marketing system

Public relations

The HLR campaign considers its public relation as its practice of organizing communication among the organization and its related publics, where the public relations gives it an unique exposure to the audiences concerned with public interest such as news matters that endow with an intermediary endorsement but not concerned with any direct payment. The public relation activities of the HLR campaign incorporated verbal communication at press conferences, functioning with the media, engagement of social media, predicament communications, governmental affairs, industrial relations, employee relation associated with maintaining public image for the elite class, and investor’s relation (Ward Research, 2001).

The financial public relations of the HLR campaign providing information essentially to the business reporters as quarterly progress report published for the stakeholders when its Product public relations has engaged to fast publicity for public awareness to the living reef and its Crisis public relations involved to responding to all the negative indictments regarding living reefs information flow.

Building brands

According to Keller (2009), there are mainly four major steps in building strong brand, help to accomplish objectives of an organization to target audience and these are brand identification, meaning, responses, and relationship. In order to building strong brand image, the marketer of the Hawaii living reef Program will take some forwarding steps for target audience and these are:

• The marketer of the Hawaii living reef Program will develop its brand by using existing brand awareness, knowledge, and image to target audiences by focusing on brand name, logo, symbols, design, package, and functional performances;
• In addition, it will take the help of various IMC activities, for example, mass- media advertising, sales promotions, sponsorship, websites and direct mail or one to one marketing;
• It will focus its competitive advantages in order to develop and sustain brand identity and equity;
• It will develop its brand as a social marketer; so, it is more concerned with telling people how to behave with living reef.

Ads and other IMC sample

LHR campaign has considered its advertising should always designed keeping central focus of the themes and a few of their headings and graphics has exemplified as below:

AD-1

• Heading: – Do you care for your motherland, then care for living reefs
• Graphic: – Traditional Hawaiian catching

AD-2

• Heading: – Stop polluting water resources, save the living reefs
• Graphic: – Millions gallons of sewer flowing from onshore to offshore and living reed are dieing

AD-3

• Heading: – Extend your hand to save the living reefs and make our island prosperous

Overall Budget

The Overall Budget for this campaign package including marketing communications budget for the financial year 2010-11 has been more often than not inspired with operational research, publication, media charges, production, and equipment cost. An accounts officer, communication manager, graphic designer, web-publisher has already been appointed, Photographic equipment, multimedia products, and software has been acquired, the graphic designs for publication, video production, and advertising quotation already been soughed with the intention of procuring them by the end of June 2010 financial year. Due to a five years plan, it would borrow the campaign costs, necessary investment for the project would be lent from the bank or other donor agencies and should be returned after each campaign from the earning and contribution of subscribers and funding from the governmental and donor agencies.

Evaluation

The strategic tools those are working next to the overall plan, like maintenance of stakeholder databases, generation of key messages for public, publications in soft and hard copies, content management opportunities, would be continue to shape the execution of the strategies outlined and the cost would be integrated with staff salaries.

References

Alber, S. C., et al. (1998). Hawaii Climate Change Action Plan. Web.

Andreasen, A. R. (1996). Marketing social change: changing behavior to promote health, social development, and the environment. Web.

Anon. (2010). Tour Operators Specializing in Hawaii. Web.

Babbitt, B. & Daley, M. W. (2000). The National Action Plan To Conserve Coral Reefs. Web.

Belch, G. E. & Belch, M.A. (2009). Advertising and Promotion. (8^th ed.). New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill.

Coral reef outreach network. (2004). Coral Reef Awards Program Created. Web.

Coral Reef Outreach Network. (2004). Hawaii’s living Reef’ Program. Web.

DAAR. (2009). Economic value of Hawaii near shore Reefs. Web.

DAAR. (2009). Invasion of the reef snatchers. Web.

DAR. (2004). Hawaii’s Living Reef Program. Web.

DeYoung, B. (1988). What’s Relationship Marketing? Journal of Extension, Vol. 26, No. 3. Web.

Diana, L. (2004). Program hopes to save local reefs. Web.

Epps, M. & Benbow, S. (2007). Community attitudes and perceptions of marine and coastal resources and sustainable management. Web.

Hawaii.gov (2004) Hawaii’s Local Action Strategy to Address Land-Based Pollution Threats to Coral Reefs. WEb.

Hawaiireef (2009). Hawaii’s Living Reef Importance. Web.

ICRAN (2009). Coral Reef Action Sustaining Communities Worldwide. Web.

Keller, K. L. (2009). Strategic Brand Management- Building, Measuring and Managing Brand Equity. 3^rd ed. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India.

Kotler, P. & Zaltman, G. (1971). Social marketing: an approach to planned social change. Journal of Marketing, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 1–14. Web.

Leone, D. & Swann, D. (2004). Protecting Hawaii’s reefs. Web.

NOOA. (2005). The Living Reef. Web.

Pearson Education. (2009) Demographic Statistics Hawaii: Census Summary File 1. Web.

Stream (2010). The field of advertising management. Web.

TOU. (2010) Social marketing. Web.

Ward Research. (2001). Hawaii Living reef Campaign. Web.

Footnotes

1 – Hawaii Living Reef

State of Contacts

Coral reefs are animals that have become ancient and are found in the sea. These ancient animals are said to have evolved to form the reefs. They take along time to evolve and the ones that are available were formed 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. They are said to cover a small portion of the sea and they protect the animals found in the sea. The coral reefs are defined as structures that are produced by dead animals that live in the sea. They develop with low nutrients because high nutrients will kill them. This is because the high nutrients will cause algae to start growing thus suppressing the growth of the coral reefs. The formation of the coral reefs is a complex process because the bones of the fish have to accumulate and breakdown begins. These bones contain calcium carbonate and this facilitates the formation of the head of the coral reef (Anderson, Dennis, 1984).

Other sea animals like the parrotfish and the sponges help in the breakdown into small fragments and settle in the structure of the reef. There are other animals that contribute their skeletons for the formation of the coral reefs. The algae that is found in the sea also helps in reef building because they contain limestone and this is important in the integrity of the reefs. The building of the reefs takes place in photic zone because this zone allows sunlight to penetrate through and the process of photosynthesis occurs. They also have a relationship with the algae that is said to be symbiotic, that is, they benefit from each other. The algae helps the reefs to carry out the process of photosynthesis because ten reefs do not have any green matter. It is said that without this algae the coral reefs cannot or can be formed slower than the expected time of their full maturity. Corals reproduce from time to time both sexually and asexually by external or internal fertilization. The breakdown is facilitated by the movement of the waters in form of waves. The result of the breakdown is beautiful and colorful reef that supports the life of the animals found in the marine.

Introduction

Most of the coral reefs are found in typical waters and they spread on the bottom ocean. Temperatures do not have any affects of the coral reefs and thus their distribution is wild. Although the temperatures do not affect their growth, they do not grow in temperatures that are less than 18 degrees. There are those reefs that have started to adopt to the environment that is less than that minimum degrees and they are found in Persian gulf. According to research that has been carried out, the coral reefs are distributed in area covering 284,300 square kilometers in the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The are not found in America because of the temperatures that are there.

Although these reefs are found in places where there are no nutrients they give support to the animals that are found in the sea. They survive on the nutrients that are recycled in the sea with other organisms. The animals shelter in these coral reefs to avoid predators that exist in the sea. The reefs absorb inorganic matter from the sea like phosphorus and nitrogen from the waters in the sea. They also depend on the mangrove forests for nutrient supply. They also feed the fish in the water. The reefs are the ones that are responsible for the prevention of the strong waves from heating theses trees by providing sediments. The reefs provide homes to thousands of fish that hide to reproduce or feed.

According to scientists there are over 4,000 species of fish that live in these waters. The fish that is found there either inhabit there for the rest of their lives or live there temporarily. There are other organs that are found there which are not fish. The coral reefs have been threatened by the humans over the past years. Other threats that the reefs face are those that are brought about by global warming. Humans pose a threat to them because they carryout activities like over-fishing and digging the sea for the purpose of building islands, destroying mangrove trees and shipping that takes place in the sea. There is research that is being carried out by scientists in order to determine the ways that the threats that are posed by the humans are minimized. Over-fishing is another problem that should be solved. The reason why over-fishing takes place is because the populations of the humans has increased in the recent decades and thus more demand for food. The humans also release pollutants in the sea and this has affected the corals. There are no laws that regulate the pollution of the sea. Global warming has affected the life of the corals because it has cause the temperatures to increase thus affecting the formation of the corals.

The coral reefs are important in the sheltering of the marine animals found the sea. They are said to inhabit most animals in the life of marine and it is usually in a tiny area. This prevents the humans from overfishing and also ensure that the fish increase in population. They also help humans to make money because the reefs are beautiful. They do this by providing tourist attraction sites, they generate sand that is found in the beach and provide free economic services. They are used for attraction and it is said that over 3 million dollars can be collected from the tourism sites. They are also important in controlling the amount of carbon that is in the water and this helps to balance the gases in the water. This is important because it the amount of carbon is not regulated the fish and other organisms in the sea would die because of lack of oxygen (Barnes, 1987).

They do this by turning the carbon dioxide into limestone. The other importance is that they prevent the strong waves from reaching the shores thus they protect the environment from being washed away by the waters, erosion, and loss of property. They also provide food to humans. It is estimated that over one billion people in the world depend on the food that comes from the sea. They do this by providing a nursery where fish can be found and harvested. According to recent research it is projected that coral reefs will be used as source of medicine. This is because the reefs have started to be used as medicine to treat cancer and other ailments. They also have intrinsic value to the communities that live near where they are found (Glynn, et al, 1984).

Types of Coral Reefs

There are various types of coral reefs. One is the fringing type. These are the reefs that form in the coast lines. They are the ones that grow in the shallow waters of the coastlines. They are very young as they develop and are also narrow. Another type is the barrier reef. These reefs are found in the shores but are usually separated by lagoon from the land. They have been given the name because they are a barrier between the sea and the lagoon. They are found in Australia and cover a distance of 2300 kilometers. Coral Atolls is another type of reef that grow on the volcanoes in the sea. When the volcanic activity has taken place it sinks and this is where the atolls grow. They remain after the volcanoes sink in the water. They are mainly formed by the rise of the sea levels other than the sinking islands. There are two categories of the corals, hard coral and soft coral. The hard corals are the ones that are involved in the process of reef building and the soft corals do not develop into full reefs.

Conclusion

Since the reefs have proven to have several importances care should be taken. There is some evidence that the destruction of the coral reefs takes place. Humans are the ones that pose threats to the survival of the coral reefs. They do this by pollution in the sea, removing the coral reefs for sale and sedimentation. The other threat that the reefs are facing is the changes that are taking place in weather. This will affect the survival and the formation. If the weather continues to change there will be no formation of the reefs in future. Destructive fishing practices is also another threat to the corals because humans use dynamites and cyanide that are very dangerous. These threats can be controlled by formation of laws that will be enacted by the countries that are surrounded by the sea (MacLeish, 1973).

The laws will act to reduce overfishing as well as the dangerous fishing habits that are in existent. Another area that should be looked at is the careless tourism that has developed over the years. This include coral mining snorkeling and careless boating. Pollution should be avoided at all costs and this involves banning of releasing any chemicals in the sea. Erosion is another factor that needs to be seriously considered and this is caused by the the building that takes place around and in the sea. The world should be ready to embrace the fight against global warming as this is a threat to the corals.

Works cited

1. Anderson, Dennis. “Conservation in Grand Cayman. One Island’s Chance to Make it Work.” Oceanus 17 (5), 1984.
2. Barnes, Robert D. Invertebrate Zoology. Fifth edition. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing, 1987.
3. Glynn, Peter W. and Gerald M. Wellington. Corals and Coral Reefs of the Galapagos Islands. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
4. MacLeish, Kenneth. “Exploring Australia’s Coral Jungle.” National Geographic 143 (6), 1973.

Interactions Among Species & Populations

A variety of relationships develop between the species and populations of the reef; together, these interactions form an ecosystem. They can benefit one of the partners and be completely useless or even harmful to the other. Small organisms settle on large ones and use them as a reliable protection from predators. Part of the inhabitants of the coral colony not only hides among the branches, but also destroys and eats it. It happens that such close relationships bring mutual benefit and help to successfully exist on the reef. Sometimes partners simply cannot exist without each other.

For example, an amphirprion, or a clown fish, cannot be seen without an anemone. At the slightest danger, the amphirprion rushes into the tentacles or climbs inside the anemone. Any other fish would have been immediately paralyzed by the poison of the stinging cells and swallowed, but these fish have developed a reliable defense against its deadly poison (Woodhead et al., 2019). Hermit crabs live in empty shells of gastropods, carrying them on themselves. In some of them, the protection is enhanced by the presence of anemones on the shell. The benefits of such a connection are mutual: for crab it includes protection and disguise, and for anemone it employs a change of habitats and a variety of food.

Interactions Among Global Biomes & Ecosystem

The association of global fish biomes with the host coral includes obvious advantages. These are a shelter from predators, a varied and abundant food, as well as a familiar environment that makes it easy to navigate. However, the interaction of the coral ecosystem with the aboveground ecosystem negatively affects fish and plants. Not sharp climatic fluctuations, but a high level of anthropogenic pressure leads to fatal consequences for this ecosystem.

There are numerous elements of the most severe anthropogenic pressure on coral ecosystems. Among them are discharges of industrial production and sewage from settlements, the entry of petroleum products into the water during offshore oil production, the appearance of fertilizers in the water due to intensive agricultural activity. Widespread deforestation in the tropical zone has led to massive soil flushing during rains, which reduces the transparency of seawater (Brandl et al., 2019). The increase in turbidity of water, coupled with fertilizers, does not give corals a chance to survive in competition with rapidly multiplying harmful algae inhabiting the surface of corals.

Importance of Conservation Genetics

The importance of conservation genetics in the survival of endangered species is extremely high. Genomic research is widely used to develop programs to restore populations of extremely small species. The introduction of genetically modified coral polyps or their symbionts into natural ecosystems can preserve reefs (Forsman et al., 2018). Currently, under the influence of anthropogenic factors, there is a reduction in biological diversity due to the elimination of species. Endangered species are the most important exhaustible resource with multidimensional value.

During the last century, under the influence of human activity, the rate of extinction of species has exceeded the natural rate many times. Irreversible and uncompensated destruction of the unique gene pool of the planet is taking place. To prevent its consequences, scientists’ resort to conservation genetics. An important application of one of its branches (synthetic biology) is to help species adapt to climate change when it becomes a matter of their survival (Forsman et al., 2018). One of the most acute problems in this regard is the extinction of corals. Synthetic biology is a means for artificial adaptation of corals to stress factors to prevent them from becoming endangered.

References

Brandl, S. J., Rasher, D. B., Côté, I. M., Casey, J. M., Darling, E. S., Lefcheck, J. S., & Duffy, J. E. (2019). Coral reef ecosystem functioning: Eight core processes and the role of biodiversity. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 15(3), 1-10.

Forsman, Z. H., Maurin, P., Parry, M., Chung, A., Sartor, S., Hixon, M. A., … Toonen, R. J. (2018). The first Hawaii workshop for coral restoration & nurseries. Marine Policy, 9(6), 133-135.

Woodhead, A. J., Hicks, C. C., Norström, A. V., Williams, G. J., & Graham, N. A. (2019). Coral reef ecosystem services in the Anthropocene. Functional Ecology, 27(5), 1023-1034.

Florida’s reefs cover the region between Dry Tortugas and Fowey Rocks in Miami, paralleling keys for three hundred and fifty six kilometers. Most of the reef tracts are found within the boundaries of the sanctuary a part from the northern cover.

Additionally, several types of reefs occur mostly at the shore while others are found ten kilometers away. It is the most wide spread reef tract in North America and the third largest in the world (National Marine Sanctuaries, 2011).

According to research, there are two coral species, sixty three of taxa corals and forty two species of otocorals. This essay addresses some of the disturbances which have been experienced in the coral reefs of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary together with measures which have been implemented to salvage the ecosystem.

Coral reefs are mainly threatened by human activities around the world. Due to ever-increasing human population, coral reefs can be affected in countless ways. Some of these ways include but not limited to urbanization and agriculture which increases sedimentation, polluted runoffs and nutrient inputs.

Emissions from industries and automobile engines further increase green house effect and leakage of waste products in water (National Geographic, 2011). Harvesting of resources and overfishing have also been identified as ways in which coral reefs in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are affected.

Additionally, huge vessel groundings have caused significant impact on coral reefs in the sanctuary. For instance, nineteen acres of coral reefs were destroyed between 1984 and 1997 by large ships which were over two hundred feet long (National Marine Sanctuaries, 2011).

Huge ships cause groundings which affect the health of corals plus other organisms surviving in the ecosystem. Moreover, sediments and nutrient pollution from farming and coastal development smoother corals, block sunlight and block settling of larval.

Discharges and nutrient-rich runoffs promote the growth if algal blooms and other competitors (Wadlow, 2011). These equivalently block sunlight and affect normal coral growth and reproduction. All these have weakened corals and created an environment which exposes corals to pathogens and diseases in the Florida Keys (National Geographic, 2011).

Coral reefs in the Florida Keys have also suffered due to water diversion in the Southern part of Florida. This is because of the connection of the sanctuary with Florida Bay.

The diversion has contributed to the growth of planktons, death of fish and sea grass die-offs. Overfishing has equally caused drifts in fish sizes, their abundance and overall composition within the ecosystem (National Marine Sanctuaries, 2011).

Due to the devastating nature of the ecosystem, there have been recovery efforts from the government and the surrounding community in recent years. Firstly, radar beacons have been installed which help vessels to locate paths relative to the position of coral reefs (Prosea, 2005).

This has seen access to some regions by sea vessels denied. Similarly, long tanks and vessels measuring more than fifty meters have been restricted from certain coverage of the ecosystem (National Marine Sanctuaries, 2011). Fishing is currently regulated by enforcement of legislation which prohibits overfishing and promotes safe fishing methods.

It is important to note that the recovery of coral reefs of Florida Keys was primarily led by human intervention through plans and strategies. As mentioned above, legislation and restrictions have played imperative roles in saving these reefs.

Other intervention measures included public awareness through education and research monitoring of the progress of the coral reefs (Prosea, 2005).

The approach taken in saving the Florida Keys reefs was the most appropriate and workable in saving this particular ecosystem. This is due to the fact that the proposed measures were aimed at protecting the ecosystem from threats like improper boating, pollution and overfishing (Prosea, 2005).

References

National Geographic. (2011). Impact of Climate Change on Coral Reefs. National Geographic. Web.

National Marine Sanctuaries. (2011). Ecosystems: Coral Reefs. National Marine Sanctuaries. Web.

Prosea. (2005). Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary Strategy for Stewardship. Professional Shipwreck Explorers Association. Web.

Wadlow, K. (2011). New study: Keys marine ecosystem faces struggles. KeysNet. Web.

Tourism: Interesting Activities (economic impact)

According to a report on the effects of climate change around the world, the Great Barrier Reef represents the longest reef system globally, measuring approximately 2,100 km in length (Parry 2007, p. 853). This great natural resource of the Australian economy was projected to have produced an income of US$4.48 billion in the period 2004-2005 alone. In addition to this, during the same period, the region employed a total of 63,000 full-time employees.

The majority of the tourists visiting sites such as Cairns are interested in the reef. Among the popular activities offered, one can find such as aqua dancing for ladies in the public lagoon. In addition, this bird watching is very popular among tourists in this region as there is a wide variety of species to be observed within their natural realm. There are also many other activities such as bungee jumping, various tours, snorkeling, and diving. It is clear from the nature of these activities that any permanent or long term damage to the reef is likely to cause adverse economic effects for those employed within the sector.

Along the Great Barrier Reef, the Heritage Area is among the most highly valued premium tourist destinations around the world. The area attracts over two million visitors on an annual basis, and the revenue generated just within Queensland is reported to be in the range of Aus$4 million annually (Luck 2008, p. 197). The visitors are treated to the splendor of the reef using the services of floatplanes, boat-based tour operators, or boat charter. In addition to this, glass-bottom boat tours, bushwalking, bird, turtle, and dugong watching are among the popular activities for tourists visiting the reef.

Mangrove Forests and Value of Reefs: A Part of Coral Reefs Ecosystem (economic impact)

The economic implications of the inclusion of the large figures in this report may lead the reader to inquire why the losses are so significant in the case of coral reefs. The reason behind significant losses in the case of damage done to coral reefs is that alongside mangrove forests, the coral reefs have been rated as the most valuable of the marine ecosystems all around the world. Mangroves are useful in the reduction of soil erosion and in the protection of reefs from sedimentation (Westmacott et al. 2000, p. 23).

The reefs and mangrove forests provide numerous benefits directly to the communities that live alongside them in addition to their regional and global benefits. It is for this reason the conservation of these resources can be viewed as both economic and environmental. It is reported that depending on the use to which the reef is put; coral reefs value is in the range of US$ 20,000 per 270,000 km per year to US$ 100,000 per 100,000 km per year (Phinney 2006, p. 182). The reason behind the variation in value is some reefs are used solely for fishing, and extraction is less costly, whereas others are used to support tourism industries and shoreline protection in areas that have been earmarked.

Economic Losses and the Coral Bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef (economic impact)

In this area alone, it has been reported that more than 1,500 vessels and aircraft have been licensed for operation. Though there is a relative paucity of data on the actual economic losses that have been observed post bleaching, other regions have documented data that may be used to provide a position on the degree of economic losses that may be experienced. The values of reefs have also been documented in studies on various regions that have taken time to reflect on the impact of bleaching on revenue. It has been recorded that the annual income value of coral reefs exceeds billions of dollars (Phinney 2006, p. 183).

Based on this, it would appear that any damage to the reefs would cause serious economic losses for communities that rely on tourism for income generation. It was recorded in a questionnaire survey in 2000 from El Nido, Philippines that is owing to the effects of the 1998 coral bleaching, the country has experienced annual losses to the tune of US$ 1.5 million. This data, based on the decline in visitors, can be used as a reference point to stress the fact that indeed beaching does have a negative economic impact on the community.

Environmental Pollution and the Great Barrier Reef (social impact)

Given that the communities around the reef rely on this resource for income generation, any damage to the resource is likely to impact society in terms of actions by anti-globalist organizations. It has been reported that the reef plays host to a wide variety of organisms, namely 1,500 fish species, 300 species of the reef-building corals, over 4,000 mollusk species, almost 400 sponge species, among other organisms.

The warmer waters of the reef are also a breeding area for humpback whales known to migrate to give birth in warmer waters (Luck 2008, p. 196). These species and many other bird species form part of a delicate ecosystem that stands to suffer serious damage if the condition of the reef is left unattended. Among the most serious social consequences of this bleaching of the reef and the resultant death of coral is instability within a crucial ecosystem. The most immediate result of bleaching is the death of the coral, and it has been suggested that the rise in ocean temperatures has been the result of global warming…

Conservation of the Great Barrier Reef (social impact)

The Australian Government has, for the last decade, take a very serious stance concerning global warming and has focused on the issue of pollution more seriously than any other environmental issue. In accordance with this, the Government has decided to keep records of pollution in a National Pollutant Inventory to ease the process of environmental management (Trewin 2005, p. 444).

Owing to the looming threat, the Australian Government has formed the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA). This is probably the largest marine protected area in the world today. The area covered by the authority includes almost 34 million hectares (Trewin 2005, p. 439). This organization is primarily concerned with the conservation and protection of the common heritage of humanity as opposed to its exploitation.

It was deemed important owing to the fact that the region presents an example of global evolutionary history, a significant example of ongoing biological and ecological processes. In response to this threat, there has been a global social responsibility to make attempts at conservation. The organization formally addresses both the management and protection of marine areas as well as monitoring the use of the resource. Similar initiatives can be declared under the commonwealth, state, or territorial legislation in waters within their jurisdiction. Among the areas that have been given special attention include the reefs, seagrass beds, shipwrecks, archaeological sites, etc.

References

Luck, M., 2008. The encyclopaedia of tourism and recreation in marine environments. Oxford, UK: CAB International.

Parry, M. L., 2007. Climate change 2007: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Phinney, J. T., 2006. Coral Reefs and Climate Change: Science and Management. Washington, USA: American Geophysical Union.

Trewin, D., 2005. Year book Australia: Issue 87. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Westmacott, S., et al., 2000. Management of bleached and severely damaged coral reefs. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: The World Conservation Union.

Introduction

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) can rightly be viewed as one of the most important natural resources in Australia. It is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. However, this reef system is exposed to a great number of environmental threats, namely, water pollution, climate change, oil spills, overfishing, and so forth (Johansen 2009, p. 293).

Many of these threats can be attributed to human activities. Such situation can hardly be accepted and more strict laws are required to protect the GBR. The new regulations must raise environmental standards for agricultural and manufacturing enterprises. These standards are particularly important when we speak about waste management and reduction of pesticides runoff.

Furthermore, the official authorities must reduce overfishing in this area. In part, it can be done by imposing heavier fines on poachers. Secondly, these regulatory measures must protect this natural resource from the oil spills by making oil shipping companies change their transportation routes. This report is aimed at discussing the effects of human activity on the GBR.

Moreover, it must show how new regulations can affect various stakeholders. To a great extent, this report will rely on such tools as system analysis and stakeholder analysis. Finally, one of our tasks is to determine if the management of the Great Barrier Reef corresponds to the latest environmental standards. These are the main objective that must be attained.

System Analysis

The system analysis has to demonstrate how various actors affect the ecosystem of the GBR. Secondly, it must show the impacts of these activities on the other stakeholders. Moreover, this analytical method must indentify the so-called positive and negative feedback loops.

This method will help us understand the causal relations between various elements of this socio-environmental system. Overall, these cause/effect network can be illustrated by means of the following diagrams.

The first diagram indicates that the effects of human activities on the GBR may not be necessarily direct, and sometimes they are very difficult to trace. For example, the increased emission of greenhouse gases can be associated with the increased number of El Niño events. In turn, these variations of temperature can be ruinous for coral reefs (Arnold 2005, p. 30).

They can be the underlying cause of coral bleaching (Arnold 2005, p. 30). Thus, one can say that to a large extent, the survival of the Great Barrier Reef depends upon the government standards which regulate the emission of greenhouse. The changes in such regulations can affect a wide range of industrial enterprises.

As far as this issue is concerned, we can say that Australia is one of the first countries to implement legislation and standards reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. Besides, such problem as climate change requires joint international cooperation.

This is why this report will focus on those problems which can be addressed by local rather than international authorities. For example, excessive fishing and water pollution can disrupt food chain and result in the overpopulation of the so-called crown-of-thorn starfishes that are partially responsible for the destruction of coral reefs (Shea 2006, p. 20).

Additionally, this diagram shows that there are several agents cause damage to the ecosystem of this area. First of all, one can speak about the agricultural and industrial enterprises which pollute water by damping their wastes into the rivers. This subsequently affects the nutrition of reefs and the food chain in this aquatic region. Moreover, one should not forget about which transport oil near the Great Barrier Reef.

We should bear in mind that within the last two there decades there have been more than two hundred oil spills in this area (Hutchings, Kingsford & Hoegh-Guldberg 2009., p 225). Such oil spills pose an enormous threat to aquatic life and cause the destruction of reefs. One of the possible solutions to this problem is make oil companies change their transportation routes. Yet, they can be unwilling to comply with this requirement.

We should take into consideration that coral reefs can be viewed as one of the most efficient ecosystems (National Research Council et al, 2000, p 195). They can thrive even in those waters which are not abundant in nutrients, but overload of nitrogen and other pollutants can reduce their reproductive capacity. Therefore, special attention should be given to agricultural and manufacturing companies.

It should be noted that there are many stakeholders who can sustain losses due to these environmental risks. In particular, one should speak about the entire tourism industry in Queensland.

One can mention the employees of tourist agencies, hotels, restaurants, excursion companies, and other organizations or people who benefit from the continuous inflow of visitors to Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1998, p. 705). One should keep in mind that this industry can bring more than one billion dollar a year. Therefore, its decline will be harmful to the entire community.

Additionally, we need to remember that the damage of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem can backfire on fishing industry. Continuous water pollution and poaching can may decrease the population of many species and reduce the profitability of many companies. Thus, by engaging in overfishing many companies can eventually put themselves in a very perilous position.

Hence, some of these enterprises can also be interested in the preservation of the GBR ecosystem. The management of the GBR has to be based on the study of ecosystem and its functioning. By overlooking it, the official authorizes put the well-being of the entire community at risk.

These are the main issues that policy-makers should consider. The policies that we proposed can be supported by various stakeholders, and they can significantly reduce the risks for the GBR. Yet, they can achieve success only if the government actively cooperates with private companies and NGOs.

The analysis of stakeholders

At this point it is necessary for us to apply stakeholder analysis to this situation. On the one hand, its purpose is to explain the interests and attitudes of people and organizations affecting the Great Barrier Reef.

Secondly, we need to explain how these stakeholders can react to the new regulations that strive to protect the Green Barrier Reef from destruction. On the basis of this analysis, one can better map out further strategies of the government.

Stakeholder Analysis Table.

These table shows that the overwhelming majority of stakeholders will not oppose the implementation of regulations which are aimed at protecting the Green Barrier Reef. They have sufficient legal, financial, intellectual, and political power in order to influence the decisions of the government. As it has been shown in the table some stakeholders have mixed interests.

On they one hand, they want to increase their profitability, and new regulations may not always be beneficial to them. However, they also realize that their long-term sustainability depends on the preservation of Australian natural resources, including the Great Barrier Reef. The only exception to this rule is oil companies which may be reluctant to change the transportation routes.

However, the hypothetical conflict can be resolved through negotiation. For instance, they can raise safety standards for oil tankers. Another important issue is how to align these stakeholders so that they could join their efforts. This task should be performed by governmental agencies, research or educational institutions, and non-governmental organizations. Without such cooperation, legislator changes are not likely to occur.

The analysis of the environment management system

At this point, it is necessary for us to determine whether current management and policies related to the Great Barrier Reef comply with international norms. For instance, we can refer to the rules set by the International Organization for Standardization. These rules are also known as ISO 14000. There are several important aspects of these standards, and they will be discussed in the following table.

Thus, this table shows that current management of the Great Barrier Reef can be significantly improved. First of all, one should focus on the scope and purpose of policies. The government has to identify each of the factors which contribute to the destruction of the GBR and develop a set of clear-cut and feasible strategies to alleviate these factors.

The second drawback that one can point to is the communication with community and major stakeholders. The thing is that that their plan has to take into peculiarities of local farming enterprises and manufacturing companies.

This plan does explain how these organizations have to change or update their technologies and waste management practices. More importantly, they do not show how the government can assist these companies. This is one of the reasons why their initiatives cannot be accepted by private organizations.

Overall assessment of the case

The decision to tighten control over the pollution of waters and overfishing in the aquatic area of GBR can protect this ecosystem from environmental threats. First of all, these initiatives appear to be plausible from political point of view. It will be supported by many influential stakeholders like the representatives of tourism industry and local residents.

Secondly, some aspects of this plan can be negotiated with farmers and manufacturing companies. In part, the government can gain their support by offering financial support to those organizations which adopt eco-friendly technologies. However, some technical aspects of this decision still have to be negotiated. In particular, it is vital for the companies to develop the plans for implementing the new technologies.

This intiatives can be effective only if governmental agencies, NGOs and private companies work hand in hand. This is the indispensible condition for success. Finally, these initiatives can be properly implemented only if policy-makers gain support gain political, economic, and intellectual support of stakeholders.

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Abstract

Attempting to understand sea-level history provides a vigorous intellectual workout. After negotiating a long path through data and the concept of mixed quality. One finds global ice volume has fluctuated by tens of meter sea level equivalent at a rate that is difficult to resolve. The recent mass mortality of Caribbean reef corals dramatically altered reef community structure and begs the question of the past stability and persistence of coral assemblages before human disturbance began. We report within habitat stability in coral community composition in the Pleistocene fossil record of Barbados for at least 95 000 years despite marked variability in global sea level and climate. Results were consistent for surveys of both common and rare taxa. Comparison of Pleistocene and modern community structure shows that Recent human impacts have changed coral community structure in ways not observed in the preceding 220 000 years.

The case is made by presenting the first quantitative history of water depth above the Red Sea sill for the last 470,000 years, a time period that includes the four most recent glacial-interglacial cycles, and by discussing the predictable consequences of any land bridge formation on the Red Sea sedimentary and microfossil records. The absence of post-Miocene Red Sea land bridges has extensive implications for biogeographic models in the Afro-Arabian region.

Introduction

In the history of life, environmental change has had a very uneven effect on the earth biota. Some of the changes have occurred on the very grandest of scales, such as the Merging and ensuing breaking up of huge supercontinents, or the decimation of the dinosaurs by extra-terrestrial impacts. reefs are not invulnerable to such process, the history of their diversity throughout the past 600 million years of the Phanerozoic has been enormously affected by environmental changes in ocean chemistry, sea level and climate. The main integral part of the development of reefs, both coral and non-coral are climate changes. The recent past history of living species resident on today’s reefs have been affected by multiple cycles of global environmental change throughout the past 2 million years (Ma) of the Quaternary.

Here, I provide two examples from the Pleistocene fossil record of coral reefs that illustrate the way in which an understanding of the history of reefs might provide relevant information to the ecology of living reefs in the face of environmental change. I follow the distinctions made by Buddemeier and Smith (1999) and use “climate change” to denote variation in sea level, atmospheric CO₂ concentration, inhabitable tropical benthic area, and possibly temperature associated with glacial cycles; “local environmental change” to denote variation at the point sources in sediment load, turbidity, light, etc., including anthropogenic influences such as pollution, nutrient content, overfishing, etc. “Cumulative changes” are confined to local reefs, but have global importance because they occur at a number of discrete locations. I also use the terms “local” and “regional” when I discuss the importance of various ecological controls occurring in coral reef communities. Local controls include biotic interactions, niche diversification, and disturbance, whereas regional influences include species dispersal capabilities and colonization potential related to size of the species pool. Finally, in this paper I use the term local for distances 4,000 km. Local environmental differences had a greater influence on Pleistocene Indo-Pacific reef coral communities from Papua New Guinea than environmental variations associated with different climate stages. Local environmental differences produced locally distinct coral communities, but these different communities consistently reoccurred throughout a 95 ka (thousand years) interval which included major changes in global climate and sea level. Moreover, the communities do not appear to be dispersal-limited , so local processes were important in their community dynamics.

The Pleistocene Reef Coral Fossil Record

In this world of huge fossil fuel record of quaternary coral reef has the Capac ability to be a The vast fossil record of Quaternary coral reefs has the potential to be an Immensely valuable historical database for the ecological, taxonomic and progressives study of living reef. There were number of coral ref species were found in the fossil fuel with complete degree of accuracy as in the modern and this even includes genealogical Species complex.This is not to say there is no species problem in fossil corals, but the latest data are revealing that under lying genetic differences, more often than not, translate into quantifiable morphological differences among reef corals, and thus should be preserved in the fossil record. In other case , we can say that even aithough cloning and some what morality blot their inherent vividness, coral reef colonies tend to discrete individuals from the which relative abundance data can beeasily obtained. Moreover, in many instances, reef corals can be found to accumulate upright, whole and in life position, accumulating within the fabric of the reef as the reef builds through time Even although after a large time slot, relatively the huge fossil corals are reflect the species relative abundance patterns of the original coral community that lived on the reef. Fossil reef coral assemblages are amenable to rigorous ecological sampling design and statistical inquiry of both relative abundance and species presence and absence data. Or either in this case the developed high resolution radiometric age dating techniques its get very easy to demonstate about the colonies of th coral reef, with a resolution of 20-30 per 1,000 years.. Thus, we have good control on the time period represented in the fossil coral assemblages. Now in the end the coral reef have very hard structure or we say very hard skeletons, the potential recovery of species inhabiting the original reefs is very high, though this may diminish where fragile branching species were common.

Discussion

Community response to Pleistocene environmental change

In the communities of the coral reef like Pleistocene are distinct from each other in the same environment also for example- reefs of the same age from different places along the Huon Peninsula coast than between reefs formed at different times Pleistocene reef coral communities within the same environment are more distinct between reefs of the same age from different places along the Huon Peninsula coast than between reefs formed at different times in many chapters I have discussed the I have ecological implications of this persistence through time. Here I would like to concentrate on two implications of finding site differences maintained throughout the 95 ka interval. Now the following are the finding site differences:

1. The species found in the different coast like Hubegong and Sialum versus Kanzarua was probably due to the influence of the Tewai River at Kanzarua. Near Kanzarua which contains of some fine sediment and sometimes also contain blankets the nearshore environment, whereas at Hubegong and Sialum nearby rivers don’t normally produce such fine sediments in close proximity to the developing reef. The difference occurs between these sites were maintained by several glacial cycles, we all know that the global climate changes indirectly which means there were the difference in the condition of glacial cycles during the successive high sea levels stands. The percentage of CO2 is different in a different atmosphere, different sea levels and hence different potential inhabitable benthic areas (0-30 m) between 30N and 30oS.
   The temperature near the sea surface always remains to fluctuate and it difficult to find out the exact value of the temperature. The maintenance of community structure through time at each site during fluctuations in global climate variables suggests that local environmental parameters, such as reef physiography and terrigenous input, played a greater role in determining the taxonomic composition of Pleistocene reef coral assemblages than global environmental differences associated with glacial/interglacial cycles.
2. In a topic like disturbance, niche diversification, and biotic interaction, versus regional influences such as the size of the species pool and dispersal capabilities of the component species, on species maintenance in communities and etc, ecologists have long debated the relative influences of the local ecological process. Clearly, both sets of processes are important. For example, although the size of the species pool is correlated with species diversity in local reef communities, a significant amount of variation is attributable to local aspects of the community such as depth and habitat, reflecting both physical aspects of the environment (wave energy and light), and biological interactions (e.g., competition, overtopping, and symbiosis).
   Both local and regional ecological influences could account for the persistence through time of the same coral assemblages in PNG. In the ecological process the important thing is that we must recurrence the same species with the same environments and interaction between them. Similarly, when regional ecological processes are important, sampling of the regional species pool will result in species abundance in proportion to the total number of propagules generated by each species. Assuming number of propagules is proportional to geographic abundance, the most widespread species regionally should be the most dominant species locally. But in the Pleistocene reefs in both PNG and Curacao, locally dominant species were no more geographically widespread than locally nondominant taxa. It is noteworthy that similar results were obtained in the Indo-Pacific and the Caribbean, yet order of magnitude differences in area and coral species diversity occur between them. As shown now in recent studies of both fish, successful recruitment is not always directly related to probability of colonization. Thus, we need to consider local ecological processes in determining community structure, such as local environments, biotic interactions and other post-settlement events. If local biotic interactions and/or adaptation to local environments that occur within local communities are important throughout the region, then regional composition and diversity will be the summed effect of local processes. Both the local and regional diversity can affect by the change in the temperature or any change in the environment which directly contribute to global change. This is not to downplay the interconnectedness of coral reefs, which can be viewed as metacommunities. The maintenance of metacommunities and process of metapopulation can depend on the maintance of the the local patches.Thus, it is urgent we begin to understand how environmental change, whether local or global in origin, influences community dynamics over both local and regional scales.

Conclusions

In this essay I have mainly focus on the red sea coral reef, coral reef record in the fossil fuels and a model for changes in Red Sea d18O with respect to sea level. In this the main view have been successful in generating sea-level estimates for the glacial recovery period as validated by coral reef estimates of global sea level. The sensitivity is to large changes in net evaporation and temperature has been established and gives a model uncertainty of F12 m on our sea-level estimates. Now what this uncertainty in the model which means if this occur then the result may be reduced in future as improved records of temperature and evaporation/precipitation become available. Thorough investigation of the effects of friction and isostatic rebound at the sill will further improve confidence in the result presented here. The basin model is consistent with the observed basin gradient in d18O concentrations. Assuming a simple linear variation along the length of the basin, central Red Sea d18O values agree well with the d18O values from southern and northern basin cores. The correspondence between cores is convincing and demonstrates that the method is independent of which core is used to generate sea levels.

This study demonstrates that southern basin cores may be subject to more noise due to the seasonal infiltration of GAIW near to Bab el Mandab. Cores from the extreme northern basin demonstrate variability due to climatic responses to northern hemisphere forcings. The most suitable sediment cores for generating global sea-level estimates are therefore central Red Sea cores. The Red Sea is preferable to other marginal basins such as the Mediterranean in this type of study for several reasons. Bab el Mandab at Hanish Sill (137 m) is considerably shallower than the Strait of Gibraltar at Camarinal Sill (300 m). It is of particular significance that the depth of Hanish Sill is of a similar depth to the marginal seas, which may show a similar sea-level maximum glacial sea level excursion and therefore responds more strongly to sea level variations. Essentially, the ‘choking’ of the Red Sea is far more important with respect to glacial to interglacial sealevel changes than for the Mediterranean. As discussed earlier, the reduced catchment of the Red Sea means that the estimate of net evaporation over the Red Sea is subject to less uncertainty than in the Mediterranean where freshwater inputs, for example, from the Nile, Po, Ebro and the Bosporus, affect the basin hydrography. The Red Sea basin is long and narrow and although rotation certainly affects the basin, there remains a relatively straightforward pattern of buoyancy distribution. The same is not the case in the Mediterranean, which is much wider and is subject to a more complicated system of gyres, boundary currents and jets. While sea level undoubtedly affects the Mediterranean, this effect is likely to be less important for that basin compared to changes in evaporation/precipitation, temperature and circulation than is the case for the Red Sea. The authors are, at present, unaware of otherdominated response to that of the Red Sea and an exchange system which may be simulated in a simple manner. If such a marginal sea exists, then a method such as that presented here would be equally applicable elsewhere.

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Introduction

Earth looks like a blue ball from the moon because over 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water (The National Energy Foundation, 2001). If we look into the oceans and the organisms living in it, it can be said that thousands of meters below the surface of the ocean is in complete darkness and is sparsely populated. However, there are also places in the ocean such as the seafloor slopes up toward the continental shelf and the oceanic islands where the marine life is concentrated due to the availability of sunlight and nutrients. In some hard bottom areas where conditions are right, the seafloor is colonized by a variety of tiny colonial invertebrates known as corals. It is the most beautiful part of the world and is developed over a million of years. The tiny organisms have created these enormous underwater structures that provide a dwelling place for a number of marine organisms.

As of now the scientific community has identified this highly complex interdependent system of coral reefs supports over one million species. However, they also suggest that there are potentially millions more yet to be identified. There is great significance of reefs in addition to their importance for biodiversity. Coral reef ecosystems are important for performing vital ecosystem services such as supporting major fishery resources, they are also important for educational, social, recreational, cultural, and medicinal opportunities. Additionally, they are a great source of income and generate economic benefits for millions of people, particularly through coastal tourism (Waddell, 2005). For instance, the economic benefits from the Saipan’s coral reefs come from the five major sources i.e. tourism, recreation, fisheries, coastal protection, amenity and research that accounts for nearly $ 61 million annually (See Figure 1) (Beukering et al. 2006). This value is just from one coral reefs in Saipan. The total world economy of coral reefs is huge.

Today, these ecologically significant structures and the organisms that it supports are in great threat. The data generated by the scientific community show decline in the area of coral reefs particularly due to the anthropogenic factors. This paper discusses the ecological importance of coral reefs and the impact of various human activities that is causing destruction of these scenic wonders. Therefore, the economy form the reefs are also at threat.

Ecology of Coral Reefs

Coral reefs occupy less than 1% of the ocean floor but are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world (See Figure 2). The main reason for the limited distribution of coral reefs is due to the narrow physiological tolerances of hermatypic, or reef-building, corals. It is estimated that most of all coral reefs are found throughout tropical and subtropical oceans between 30ºS and 30ºN latitude (Huston, 1985; Grigg and Epp, 1989). Tropical corals do not grow at depths of over 50 m (165 ft). The coral reefs are the home for at least 25% of all marine species. Scientific community estimates that almost 32 of the 33 animal phyla are found on coral reefs where as only nine are in tropical rain forests (UNEP 2003).

In addition to the temperature and the sunlight, their distribution is also influenced by nutrient availability, salinity, substrate, sediment type, and exposure to wave action (Wolanski et al., 2003). It is estimated the ideal seawater temperatures in coral ecosystems generally range between 18°–29°C (Barnes and Hughes, 1999). However there are some exceptions to this as there are some corals that seem to have adapted to tolerate slightly higher temperatures for short periods of time. It is also found that most of the organisms living in coral reef ecosystems are photosynthetic and require good sunlight for their survival (Waddell, 2005). Additionally, these ecosystems do not need much of nutrients in the water for survival. The presence of high nutrient levels such as those coming from the runoff from agricultural areas can harm the reef by encouraging the growth of algae (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, 2007).

Formation of Coral Reefs

The beautiful structures or the building blocks of coral reefs are composed of calcium carbonate (limestone). Corals consist of a group of small, tropical marine animals that attach themselves to the seabed and form extensive reefs. These reefs are made up of the calcium-carbonate skeletons of dead coral animals. Additionally, there are several other organisms living in the reef community that contribute their skeletal calcium carbonate that add on to the reefs (Advameg Inc. 2008).

One of the most important organisms that contribute to the structure is the coralline algae. In fact these organisms are important contributors to the structure of the reef especially in those parts that experience the greatest forces by waves. In addition to the protection from the waves these algae also contribute to reef-building by dumping limestone as sheets over the surface of the reef. Other significant organisms that contribute to the structure are the stony corals, colonial cnidarians as their secretions as an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate adds to the strength. The accumulation of skeletal material, broken and piled up by sea waves and bioeroders, results in the formation of massive calcareous formation that supports the living corals and a variety other organisms.

Sunlight plays an important role in the photosynthesis under water. As mentioned earlier the reef-building or hermatypic corals are only found in the photic zone which is above 50 m depth. Though the coral polyps do not photosynthesize, they have a symbiotic relationship with single-celled algae called zooxanthellae. These algal cells inside the tissues of the coral polyps carry out photosynthesis and produce excess organic nutrients that are further utilized by the coral polyps for their metabolism. As a result of this symbiotic relationship, coral reefs grow much faster in clear water where sunlight penetrates easily.

It is estimated that in the absence of zooxanthellae, the coral growth would be very slow for the corals to form remarkable reef structures. Further, studies also prove that corals can get up to 90% of their nutrients from their zooxanthellae symbionts (Marshall and Schuttenberg, 2006). Even though coral reefs are present in the nutrient deficient tropical waters, it supports an extraordinary biodiversity. In fact the uniqueness of this ecosystem is that there is efficient nutrient cycling and recycling between corals, zooxanthellae, and other reef organisms.

Cyanobacteria help in nitrogen fixation in these ecosystems and also provide soluble nitrates for the coral reef. Corals absorb nutrients such as the inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus, directly from the water. These corals feed upon zooplankton that is brought in by the water motion (Peter and Huber, 2000). Interdependence of coral reefs with the surrounding seagrass meadows and mangrove forests can easily be noted as the coral reefs depend on the nutrients supply from the dead plants and animals brought in by the waves and in turn these ecosystems seek protection from violent storms. Besides, they also produce sediment for the mangroves and seagrass to have a good rooting system.

Threats to Coral Reefs

According to a study conducted by Wood (1998) there are several groups of extinct and extant organisms that have combined over 3.5 billion yr (Ga) to form the modern day reefs. In fact, the study points out that most of these communities over the years grew under ecological and environmental conditions that are greatly different from those of the present day coral reefs. Additionally, there is also drastic change in the global distribution of reefs over the geological time.

Anthropogenic activities are a major threat to these unique and most beautiful ecosystems. The problems due to climatic changes and global warming are also major problems. Human beings are involved in coral mining, polluting these ecosystems with organic and non-organic/chemicals, over-fishing, and also by the construction of canals and access ways into islands and bays. Excessive tourism and commercialization of these ecosystems for selfish desires also create problems. Eutrofication or excessive addition of nutrients such as phosphates and nitrates disrupt the delicate balance of the reef communities (globalcoral.org N.D.).

Recent decades has witnessed the mass bleaching of coral which is commonly termed as the ‘coral reef crisis’ (Bellwood et al., 2004). This crisis has caused over 90 per cent coral mortality to almost 16 per cent of the world’s coral reefs in just 1997-98 (Wilkinson, 2002). Though the treat was recognized in the initial stages and halted the destructive procedure, the repair of the already caused damage may take decades (Wilkinson, 2004). Today the need for a management response is well established (Buddemeier et al. 2004). Studies also have projected that the future increase in sea temperature may also exceed the bleaching thresholds making it even more difficult to the survival of corals (WWF, 2004). Coral bleaching is influenced by two main factors, i.e. the sea temperature and the resilience of coral reef ecosystems (West and Salm, 2003). High nitrate levels are especially toxic to corals and presence of phosphates slow down the growth of coral skeleton. Besides, the presence of infectious agents as a result of poor water quality encourages the spread of infectious diseases among the corals (Nowak, 2004).

Global warming is yet another major threat faced by the entire global community. Similarly the increase in temperature increases the sea level. As a result of this the coral need to grow faster to get the required sunlight and continue their activities. Studies have found that as the sea temperature increases, there is high amount of disturbance in the coral. There is good evidence of this as during the 1998 and 2004 El Niño weather phenomena, the sea surface temperatures rose well above normal resulting in the killing of many tropical coral reefs. Global warming is also resulting in the increase of diseases such as the Black band disease and White band coral disease. It is estimated that with every 2 degree Celsius rise in temperature it is improbable that coral will not be able to adapt enough physiologically or genetically to keep up with climate change (Glynn, 1993).

There are also several other related problems to global warming such as acidification cause by the increased emission of carbon dioxide. Increased acidification is a major cause long term concern for coral reefs (Kleypas et al. 2006). Since oceans act as a major carbon dioxide sink, the increased atmospheric CO₂ increases the amount of CO₂ at react with water to form carbonic acid, resulting in ocean acidification. There are several studies that point out that corals experience reduced calcification or enhanced dissolution when exposed to elevated CO₂. It is also found that decreased carbonate ion concentration considerably reduces the ability of corals to produce their calcium carbonate skeletons and disturbs the natural balance between reef building and reef erosion (Kleypas et al. 2006).

Over-fishing for commercial purpose, unregulated tourism, and bleaching due to climatic changes are other major threats to coral reefs. For instance, studies have found that the Southeast Asian coral reefs are at risk from damaging fishing practices. These are some of the most important tourist spots and over-fishing for sports as well as commercial purpose is very common. For instance, in Indonesia coral reefs have been victim to destructive fishing, unregulated tourism, and bleaching due to climatic changes.

According to studies conducted by Hughes et al. (2003) it is said that human activity threatens coral reef ecosystems worldwide through overfishing, marine pollution, and disease. Recent years have witnessed the change in climate and warming of ocean. This causes mass coral bleaching and death of corals (Donner et al. 2005). In future the acidification of oceans due to excessive carbon dioxide can complicate the survival of these beautiful ecosystems further endangering coral reef ecosystems (Kleypas et al. 1999). Further, it is projected that the increase in costal population and continuous rise in sea temperature is bound to have adverse impact on the reefs (Wooldrige et al. 2005).

Summary and Conclusion

Due to the unique complexity and diversity, coral reefs can provide food and livelihood opportunities to millions of people. These have great economic and ecological benefits. It is important to protect these environments and provide congenial conditions for their growth and development. Coral reefs are most vital and hold great significance as they hosts wide range of organisms that may hold the key to future medical advances. Biodiversity also plays an important role in conservation of coral reefs. For instance, studies point out that genetic composition of both the coral animal and its symbiotic zooxanthellae influence resistance to bleaching (Baker, 2004) and also help in recovery from bleaching (McClanahan et al. 2004). It is also essential that all development in these regions should be sustainable and should not impose any harm to the coral reefs. As of now it is estimated that about one third of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed or highly degraded.

In order to find answers for these problems, researchers are currently working to determine the degree various factors impact the reef systems. However, there is still better scope for researchers in this field. Priority is to combine and disseminate existing knowledge of biodiversity, promote institutional cooperation and introduce and enforce policies that will help to minimize, if not eliminate, risks posed by human activities coral reefs. This will not only help the present generation but also the future generation. Therefore, it is our duty to create awareness among the public to protect the coral reefs. Additionally, the development and enforcement of new conservation policies based on the principles of sustainable development could bring about sustainability in these ecosystems. These fragile ecosystems are among the most unique ecosystems on this planet that holds unique significance. It is the duty of each and every individual to protect these environments through sustainable development.

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Coral reefs (CRs) form an important element of the world’s economy as well as present a habitat for almost one-fourth of marine species (Coral reefs system, n. d.). Destruction of CRs damages people’s income in the countries where CR tourism is popular. Also, it decreases the amount of food because the fish lose their habitat (Coral reefs system, n. d.). Investigation of the causes and effects of the destruction of CRs is a significant and interesting topic. It is important to identify the reasons and outcomes of CRs’ dying and find solutions to these effects. The essay will discuss CRs and focus on two main causes of CR destruction (climate and pollution) and two basic effects (on humans and the environment).

One of the major causes of CR destruction is presented by climate change. In general, nearly one-third of the entire coral destruction is caused by storms and other natural disasters. For example, in 2011, Cyclone Yasi hit the Great Barrier Reef (Cyclone Yasi, n. d.). Because of it, a great amount of the reef was destroyed. Another climate problem adding to reef damage is global warming (Shah, 2013). Because of it, a lot of reefs are influenced by underwater heat. Warming leads to corals’ bleaching and dying. Even a seemingly unimportant rise in temperature is very harmful to CRs.

Another serious cause of damaging CRs is pollution. Plastic, which is thrown into the oceans by the people, not only kills small fish and turtles but also can ruin the CRs (Hall, 2015). Corals eat very small pieces of plastic, which leads to their death. There are two kinds of pollution that greatly damage the reefs: land-based runoff and marine debris. Runoff pollution occurs due to people’s activity near the coasts (Howard, 2014). The pesticides used in farming ruin the ocean water. Additionally, there are great amounts of sewage which also destroy the oceans. Marine debris means any litter created by humans and thrown into the oceans or coastal areas (Howard, 2014).

The effects of CR destruction are connected with the people and the environment. There are two industries greatly depending on CRs: tourism and fishing (Cyclone Yasi, n. d.). If the reefs are damaged or ruined, people working in these industries will lose their jobs and profit. For example, nearly two million tourists come to see the Great Barrier Reef annually (Hall, 2015). If the reefs keep being damaged, the visitors will stop arriving, and the Australian economy will suffer. The effect on the environment is connected with dying of fish species. The fish and other marine species whose habitat is CR will disappear if the reefs die.

The essay has discussed the main causes (pollution and climate change) and effects (environmental and human) of CR destruction. I think that we should take care of CRs and find solutions to reduce the damage. A good way of solving the problem is by raising people’s awareness about it. Further, a discussion of the issue on TV would be a good idea. Additionally, future solutions for the problem are educating people about the significance of CRs and creating regulations to reduce the damage caused to CRs. If we raise people’s awareness and responsibility, they will pay more attention to the problem of coral reefs. Together, we will save this important element of nature for present and future generations.

References

• Coral reefs system. (n. d.).
• Cyclone Yasi. (n. d.).
• Hall. (2015).
• Howard. (2014).
• Shah. (2013).