You know we here at Buy Rash Guards are all about protecting our oceans. That’s why we thought we pass along some good news!
Extending safeguards afforded the elkhorn and staghorn corals under the Endangered Species Act, this Tuesday the National Marine Fisheries Service prohibited human activities that would kill or harm either species. Once the most abundant and important reef-building corals in Florida and the Caribbean, staghorn and elkhorn corals have declined by more than 90 percent in some areas, largely because of global warming-caused “bleaching,” an often fatal response to high water temperatures in which coral expel the symbiotic algae that give them their brilliant hues. Coral are also increasingly threatened by ocean acidification, in which oceans absorb the carbon dioxide we spew into our atmosphere and become more acidic, depleting seawater of compounds that corals and other organisms need to build protective shells and skeletons.
A petition by the Center for Biological Diversity earned the elkhorn and staghorn corals their current status as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and a Center lawsuit compelled the Fisheries Service to propose granting the species federally protected habitat. The agency’s latest rule, which will take effect Nov. 21, bars anyone from damaging or removing the corals; harming, polluting, or contaminating their habitat; or engaging in boating activities that harm or break the corals.
As you know many sunscreens harm coral reefs and that’s another reason we advocate the use of rash guard shirts for your SPF protection, especially while snorkeling or diving around coral reefs!
