As the ocean continues to hit record-high temperatures amid the climate crisis, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns of massive coral bleaching happening around the world. 

It's the 4th global coral bleaching event in recorded history.  

For the first time in seven years, Guam coral reefs are predicted to experience “severe, widespread coral bleaching and death,” according to the Department of Agriculture. 

Over at the fish eye marine park in Piti, environmentalist and free-diving instructor Farron Taijeron told KUAM he's already seeing and hearing the impact with a silent sea. 

“Not only can you see it but hear it in the silence of the fish. A really healthy reef, and I’ve traveled around in a lot of areas like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, you can hear the difference between a healthy reef with a lot of parrot fish and palaksi doing their jobs scraping the algae off the coral and so on. So when you’re spearfishing or out there on the water and it's quiet, it's kind of sad. It’s not supposed to be like that. You’re supposed to see these bright vibrant colors, not these bone white corals,” said Taijeron. 

On Sept. 29, Guam’s waters entered bleaching alert level 2: the highest possible alert for our region which indicates that significant bleaching and mortality is expected within the next month.

It's a looming concern for Taijeron.

“Part of my upbringing is in the water and the ocean, relying on our coral reefs for all types of things– spearfishing, fun, my livelihood as a free-diving instructor and our culture,” Taijeron added. 

But there’s still time to get ahead of the coral reef crisis. 

The Guam Reef Restoration and Intervention Partnership, or GRRIP, has been monitoring the reefs’ health for the past several months through snorkeling surveys. 

So far, only patches of bleaching have been observed affecting certain coral species. 

“I have a very cool friend at the UOG Marine Lab, Ashley Castro. She said they are seeing some bleaching in the coral nursery at Piti. So it's not all doom and gloom just yet. We still have time to react to things if we stay on top of it,” he said. 

If conditions worsen, they plan to initiate an island-wide bleaching survey and need the community’s help. 

“If you are seeing corals dying, absolutely report it. There is a website formarianas.org. And you can say things you are seeing, report bleaching and report crown of thorns outbreaks,” he added. 

In the meantime, Taijeron shared some ways you can help protect the reefs. 

“At the individual level, don’t step on the coral, don’t touch the coral, don’t stack the corals to try to make them pretty or some kind of stacked sculpture,” he said.  “If you can, wear reef safe sunscreen. You have to actually look at the ingredients. It’s got to be titanium dioxide or zinc oxide.”

“Abandoned fishing nets can snag coral and fish along with it and cause unnecessary death,” Taijeron said.