Hundreds of hectares of coral at Con Dao Islands some 80 kilometres to the south-west of Vietnam have been being bleached though a process attributed due to the El Nino phenomenon.

According to the management board of Con Dao National Park, the coral bleaching has happened in waters off the Con Dao Islands over the past few months. Around 400-500 hectares or a quarter of coral reefs in the area has been affected.

The average rate of bleaching is 30-40% and even up to 70-80% in some areas to the east of the islands.
 

Coral reefs in water off Con Dao Island

The management board said that the seawater temperatures had sharply increased this year, particularly last month, due to the El Nino phenomenon, which had resulted in the coral bleaching.

The board also warned that the El Nino phenomenon would continue with prolonged hot weather, worsening the situation, killing the bleached coral reefs there.

In 1998 and in 2010, the sea area of Con Dao Islands also saw the coral bleaching due to the El Nino phenomenon, causing coral death in some areas.

Earlier, the local media also reported that coral reefs on the seabed of Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s largest island, have been destroyed at an alarming rate. Several reporters who recently joined divers and local fishermen on a dive to the seabed saw that the reefs were in a pitiful state, but this is due to the use of rakes and toxic substances used to catch fish rather than any natural phenomenon.

The Phu Quoc Nature Reserve Management Board admitted pollution was the main cause.