ENSTU 300: Critical Thinking & Communication in Environmental Studies

Current Coral Reef Protection Policies

Cambria Novelly, Environmental Studies Program, California State University, Monterey Bay

Dietzel, A. (2020). The loss of more complex coral structures means habitats for fish are also wiped out.
BBC News. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-54533971.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Policy Context
The main issue facing coral reefs is humans.
Humans are the main cause behind the
factors that are degrading the beautiful coral
reefs that are spread all across the world.
The good news is many humans are creating
policies and legislation to help minimize or
stop these human impacts from causing as
much harm to the coral ecosystems. These
policies are produced on many different
levels. The first policy is an arrangement
from the Australian government. It is an
older policy that has had some revisions.
The next is a more local action that is a state
policy based on Hawaii. It was only just
recently passed into law and then recently
started being enforced. Finally, the last
policy is an executive order signed by the
president at the time into law.
Act of 1975
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act of
1975 and its amendments in 2020. The
original Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act
originally was introduced in 1975. There
were also amendments that took place in
2020. Gough Whitlam originally introduced
The great barrier reef marine park act. The
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act
establishes a way to protect and manage the
Great Barrier Reef. It made marine parks
and marine protected areas that would
protect the great barrier reef from mining
and petroleum exploration (Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (Cth), 2004). It
also protected the reefs from fishing in
certain areas while keeping other areas
protected so that the Great Barrier Reef
does not become overfished.
The Sunscreen Ban
This act is called SB 2571, its title is relating
to water pollution. However, it is mainly
called the sunscreen ban to the papers, and
to locals and tourists alike. It was
introduced to the Senate on April 10, 2018.
The bill had six sponsors: all senators in
Hawaii, Gabbard, Kim, Galuteria, Ihara,
Nishihara, L. Thielen. SB 2571 bans the sale,
or distribution in Hawaii of any sunscreen
that contains oxybenzone or octinoxate, or
both (Gabbard et al., 2018). These are
harmful chemicals that are commonly found
in sunscreen that harm the marine
ecosystem. This law was put in place to help
preserve the natural beauty of the island of
Hawaii by limiting the amount of these
harmful chemicals from entering the ocean
and harming the coral reefs that surround
the island of Hawaii. Brandon Adler and
Vincent DeLeo take a deeper look into the
effects of oxybenzone or octinoxate as well
as other sunscreen chemicals (Adler, &
DeLeo,2020). Hawaii led the way with this
ban of sunscreens containing oxybenzone or
octinoxate which led to other states
following suit and placing their own bans as
well. According to Adler and DeLeo “A
report from the International Coral Reef
Initiative acknowledged ‘a lack of firm
evidence of widespread negative impacts at
reef community and/or ecosystem level’”
(Adler, & DeLeo, 2020). Adler and DeLeo
are putting forth the idea that there is not
enough evidence for banning sunscreen
containing oxybenzone or octinoxate. Alder
and DeLeo do not believe that there is
enough evidence for this to be an issue that
should be even taken into consideration at
this time.
The U.S. Coral Reef Task Force
This is another United States federal policy
aimed at protecting the well-being of the
coral reefs for future generations. Executive
order 13089 is also called Coral Reef
protection. It was signed into law on June
2
11, 1998, by President Clinton. Executive
order 13089, established the U.S Coral Reef
Task Force. The U.S. coral reef task force
was put in place to help research, map,
monitor, and identify the major causes that
are degrading the coral reefs (Executive
order 13089 - coral reef protection, 2020).
The Coral Reef Task Force does help
researchers all over the world. The
understanding of these reef systems will
allow for better protections to be put in
place all over the world. Robin Craig
discusses both the positive and negative
effects of executive order 13089(Craig,
2006). Robin Craig explains that the coral
reef task force is very cobbled together, that
it is made up of small chunks from many
different agencies that are all balanced
together and can fall apart at any time.
Robin Craig also discusses the two main
goals of the executive order. The first is
those federal agencies whose actions cause
harm to the coral reefs. Must be precisely
aware of how much damage they are
causing and instead work towards limiting
the amount of damage caused. The second
part of the executive order created the coral
reef task force that acts under the guidance
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA’s) guidance. The
task force’s main purpose is to “oversee
implementation of the policy and federal
agency responsibilities set forth in this
order” (Craig, 2006).
Conclusion
All of these different policies all tie together
and are being used to fight against the
hardships that humans have caused in the
past and are still causing. The executive
order that placed the U.S. Coral Reef Task
Force into place is in charge of researching
the coral reefs and companies that are
harming the reef. Hawaii is helping by
banning harmful chemicals. The Great
Barrier Reef Act is protecting the Great
Barrier Reef specifically. It is all these
different acts that are all tied together
working harmoniously together from afar to
protect the different reefs all over the world.

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Literature Cited ………………………………………………………………
……...w.com.au/great-barrier-reef-m
Adler, B. L., & DeLeo, V. A. (2020). arine-park-act-1975-cth/.
Sunscreen Safety: A Review of
Recent Studies on Humans and the
Environment. Current Dermatology
Reports, 9(1), 1–9.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13671-020
-00284-4

Craig, R. K. (2006, August 8). The Coral

Reef Task Force: Protecting the
environment through executive
order. SSRN. Retrieved September
30, 2021, from
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/paper
s.cfm?abstract_id=922408.

Dietzel, A. (2020). The loss of more complex

coral structures means habitats for
fish are also wiped out. BBC News.
BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-a
ustralia-54533971.

Executive order 13089 - coral reef

protection. Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management. (2020). Retrieved
September 30, 2021, from
https://www.boem.gov/environmen
t/environmental-assessment/executi
ve-order-13089-coral-reef-protectio
n.

Gabbard, Kim, Thielen, & ihara. (2018). SB

2571. Hawaii Senate (2018 Regular
Session) - Open States. Retrieved
September 30, 2021, from
https://openstates.org/hi/bills/2018
%20Regular%20Session/SB2571/.

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975

(Cth). Environmental Law Australia
| Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act
1975 (Cth). (2004). Retrieved
September 30, 2021, from
http://envla……………