Some Recovery Reported From Indian Ocean Corals Damaged By 1998 Water Temp Spike - Reuters

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PORT LOUIS, May 14 (Reuters) - Coral reefs in the Indian Ocean have partly recovered from the 1998 spike in sea temperatures, but climate change will probably hamper future conservation, a coral expert said on Wednesday. An unusual spike in sea temperatures a decade ago killed coral throughout the Indian Ocean, dropping the average healthy, hard coral cover to 15 percent of reefs from 40 percent before.

Tim McClanahan, a coral expert with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said hard coral cover had recovered to 30 percent by 2005, although the data masked big variations. "We have a double whammy -- we have heavy usage for food and now we have climatic disturbances," he added.

Reefs in northern Kenya, the Maldives and the Seychelles were hardest hit by the 1998 temperature spike, while those to the south, in Tanzania, Mauritius and Madagascar, were less affected, he told Reuters by e-mail and phone.

1998 and 2005 were the warmest years since records began in the mid-19th century, according to the U.N. World Meteorological Organization, with a strong El Nino warming of the Pacific Ocean adding to the impact of climate change in 1998.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL14788161