Eilat’s coral reef on the mend but not in the clear

End to fish farming has helped recovery, but oil spills continue to take a toll.

By Zafrir Rinat for Haaretz

The general condition of the coral reef in the Gulf of Eilat has been improving steadily for the past 10 years, according to the 2013 annual report of Environmental Protection Ministry’s Marine Monitoring Program for Eilat.

With that, the reef is still exposed to threats from oil spills, and a plan to farm fish on the Jordanian side of the gulf also poses a pollution risk.

The report was prepared for the ministry by Yonatan Shaked and Prof. Amatzia Genin of the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Science in Eilat. It examined water quality, coral coverage and fish populations in the gulf.

The reef showed improvement, indicated by the increase in the corals covering it.

Coverage was heaviest in the area of the marine nature reserve, but there was also an uptrend of coral growth in areas adjacent to the Interuniversity Institute, where in the past the corals had receded considerably.

There was also a sharp increase in coral coverage and in the density of the coral colonies in the area known as the reef table, which has different characteristics from the other parts of the reef.

Photo documentation of the rock corals (which constitute a substantial percentage of the corals on the reef) show that they now cover an area almost double that measured a decade ago.

It should be noted that 10 years ago the Gulf of Eilat had serious pollution from fish farming in cages (which were removed six years ago), sewage leaks and the spread of phosphate dust. Since then the pollution has decreased significantly.

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