In Conversation With: Christopher Roads - The complexities of saving coral reefs

In the late 60s and throughout the 70s, a group of eminent scientists were studying coral reefs in the Red Sea. Their extensive findings provided a stark warning of what was happening, and what was to come.

The founder of this group was Churchill Fellow and Cambridge alumnus, Dr Christopher Roads, who used his Fellowship (awarded in 1970) to support the work.

We spoke to Dr Roads about his 13 years leading the scientific research group studying tropical marine biology, and his reflections on where we are today.

The Coral Starfish Research Group

A marine biologist and an historian, Dr Roads has multiple areas of interest, including expertise in metallurgy, the history of firearms, and audiology. He is a former deputy director of the Imperial War Museum and has authored several books. But it was his passion for swimming and diving that led to his research into the damage being caused to coral reefs.

A visit to Queensland in Australia in 1967, to see his brother who had emigrated there, led to numerous dives along the Great Barrier Reef taking in a 70 square mile stretch. This confirmed to Dr Roads there were two immediate threats: the Crown of Thorns Starfish, which – like a type of underwater locust – can become a plague, devastating quick-growing surface coral; and industrial pollution.

“I was an underwater archaeologist who loved diving, but when I saw what was happening, I realised this was a luxury. I knew I should be using my privileged position to help solve problems with ecology underwater.”

When Dr Roads’ efforts to influence the Australian government were unsuccessful, he set up the Coral Starfish Research Group. It operated from 1968 to 1979, during which time one hundred Oxbridge scientists studied Red Sea reefs, off the coast of Port Sudan. The research conducted was extensive and exacting. For five years of the project, scientists were living day and night on a single platform on a reef, miles offshore, without any break save to change over personnel.

“Sometimes single individuals lived on the reef for weeks continuously! I believe that this is unique and exceedingly valuable for continuous scientific observation. We endured many hazards. The platforms were made of scaffolding and hemlock planks imported from England. When necessary, up to five or six scientists could survive on the upper deck when the lower one was submerged.”

Studying and saving Red Sea corals

Corals serve three clear purposes: they form a protective barrier for coastlines, they provide economic support for communities (via fishing and tourism), and they create an essential habitat for millions of tropical creatures.

Dr Roads’ group set out to discover not just what was harming coral, but to find ways to help them recover. This included the first ever cultivation of coral, to patch places along the reef where coral had been damaged. Uniquely, the corals the team bred were able to survive both in warm and cooler waters.

Dr Roads also organised sub-groups, working for years, in some cases, in the Comoros and the Seychelles. This additional research allowed for important comparisons to the Red Sea coral and showed this type of coral existed elsewhere. Thanks to his Churchill Fellowship, he was able to invest in special camera equipment – an early type of drone – which flew across the corals, so the group were able to map the reef, and record changes. They were also able to film underwater.

In all, the group produced 54 papers, published in eminent journals. Sadly, this work has not been digitalised, so is beyond the reach of any but the most dogged researchers. The group also featured in a BBC documentary in 1972, called Red Sea Coral and the Crown of Thorns Starfish. Dr Roads argues the research is still highly relevant. The group’s findings and recommendations could – indeed, should – be implemented today. Over half of the world’s coral reefs have been lost since 1950; now, more than ever, action is needed.

“We anticipated and published recommendations that today’s governments are rediscovering!” said Dr Roads. “Our corpus of work, some 40 years later, answers the questions that today’s governments are asking. We spent 13 years continuously watching and observing, and realised pollution and temperature were providing benign conditions for the Crown of Thorn Starfish to breed. Nobody had done that, and no one has done that since.”

“And where coral still exists, it isn’t as it used to be. The standard is dropping all the time, and the colour, variety and species are declining. When we dived on the Great Barrier Reef in 1967, the corals were fantastic. When I went back in 1996, it simply wasn’t worth looking at. It had already suffered catastrophically.”

What is the future for coral reefs?

Dr Roads still devotes much of his time and energy to saving corals and follows the progress of any work being carried out. Recently, he has seen an improvement in the understanding among today’s scientists of what needs to be done. It gives him cause for hope. And he often reflects on his Fellowship, awarded over five decades ago.

“I can’t think there is a Fellowship as relevant today as mine of 1970 is. The Fellowship was a critical factor because it showed we had endorsement. Then, of course, I was studying coral from a scientific point of view. Now, this is a much more political issue.

“But there are temperature tolerant corals in the central Red Sea. Indeed, corals which can survive perfectly in temperatures up to 39 degrees centigrade without bleaching exist not just in the central Red Sea but in at least four other locations worldwide, but most have only recently been discovered.

“It needs a worldwide body coming together to look at ways to introduce these to devasted areas of reefs. We need to adopt a holistic approach to the problem. I want people to move away from the narrow-fronted approach and have a multi-faceted view, in the same way that we brought people together for our project. My message is: break through the glass walls and come together to find a solution.”