SYDNEY (AFP) — 16 June 2008 - Climate change threatens to devastate coral reef fish populations and increase the likelihood of fishery collapses, Australian researchers warned Monday.Coral reefs' vulnerability to global warming has already been established by researchers, but the fish living in the reefs are also at risk, James Cook University's Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies found. "We have already seen episodes of mass die-off of corals as a result of warmer waters associated with global warming, the problem for specialist coral fish is that when the corals die, the fish have nowhere else to go," the centre's Philip Munday said. Munday said there were some 4,000 fish species living in or around coral reefs, providing livelihoods and a major source of sustenance to an estimated 200 million people worldwide. More>>>
