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Past as Prologue for Caribbean Reefs?
By Keith R | June 13, 2008
Topics: Environmental Protection, Marine/Coastal Issues | No Comments »
Earlier this year the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published a report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) assessing the state of the Caribbean’s coral reefs after their toughest year in recent history, 2005. The IOC is the lead international entity assessing and reporting on the state of the world’s marine environment. The GCRMN is a collaborative effort chaired by the led by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the IOC and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), with participation from the World Bank, several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and research institutions.*
Why should you care about reefs, and even if you accept that you should, why worry about their state at the end of 2005? The reasons that reef protection matters are many and the subject of the first entry of my very first series here on The Temas Blog [the other entries discussed the challenges facing LAC’s reefs, what we can do about it, and what divers, snorkelers and boaters should do. Since 2008 is the International Year of the Reef, you really should read up on the issue!
As to why understanding what happened in 2005 is important… Two of the most traumatic years in recorded observation of reef health (since 1880) were 1998 and 2005. A key difference between the two was that in 1998 there was no systematic monitoring of reef health in the Caribbean; in 2005, thanks to the efforts of GCRMN, NOAA (which provided satellite data) and Reef Check, we have a near blow-by-blow account of what happened to the Caribbean reefs during the year. Reef experts think that this may provide valuable clues as what Caribbean reefs will face in the future as global climate change places increasing stresses on the reefs.
The Damage Caused by Events in 2005
I will not repeat here the extensive diagnosis and month-by-month review of the year’s events affecting coral reefs, including “hot spots,” coral bleaching and hurricane damage (Emily, Katrina, Rita, Wilma), and the diseases the reefs were more susceptible to as a result of the other stresses. The report summarizes the damage thus:
- The greatest damage occurred in the islands of the Lesser and Greater Antilles where corals were bathed in abnormally warm waters for 4 to 6 months.
- The greatest coral mortality occurred in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which suffered an average decline of 51.5% due to bleaching and subsequent disease; the worst seen in more than 40 years of observations.
- Barbados experienced the most severe bleaching event ever with 17% to 20% coral mortality.
- Losses in the French West Indies ranged between 11% and 30%.
- In the northern Dutch Antilles, there was 18% mortality in St. Eustatius, but minimal mortality in Bonaire and Curacao in the south.
- Trinidad and Tobago suffered considerable mortality, with 73% of all Colpophyllia and Diploria colonies dying.
- Although there was severe bleaching in the Greater Antilles, minimal mortality occurred in Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Jamaica and Turks and Caicos; some sites in the Dominican Republic, however, suffered up to 38% mortality.
- Bleaching mortality was minimal on the Mesoamerican Reef system, largely because many storms cooled sea temperatures; however, Hurricanes Emily and Wilma damaged some reefs, decreasing coral cover from 24% to 10%, especially around Cozumel.
- Coral mortality in Colombia and Venezuela was negligible.
- Increased prevalence of disease following bleaching was reported from many islands of the Lesser Antilles, particularly French West Indies; infection rates increased from 33% to 39% on Guadeloupe and 18% to 23% on St. Barthelemy; 49% of corals were infected on Martinique.
- In Trinidad and Tobago, there was clear evidence of an increase in the prevalence of disease.
- In the U.S. Virgin Islands, secondary disease infections killed bleached colonies of Montastraea, Colpophyllia, Diploria and Porites.
Lessons for Reef Management and Future Options
What lessons does the report draw? The report sums it up thus:
- Unfortunately direct management action is unlikely to prevent coral bleaching and mortality from climate change on most of the world’s reefs.
- However, effective management can reduce the damage from direct human pressures and encourage the natural adaptation mechanisms to build up reef resilience;
- Such actions will promote more rapid recovery in the future, especially if bleaching will become a regular event.
- Unfortunately, current predictions are for more frequent and intense warming in the Caribbean with the high probability of increased bleaching and coral mortality.
- Severe coral bleaching is predicted to become a more regular event by 2030, and an annual event by 2100, if the current rate of greenhouse emissions is not reversed.
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* The secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre (RRRC), Reefbase, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), the Reef Check Foundation, World Resources Institute (WRI), and the US Government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Tags: AIMS, Arrecife Mesoamericano, arrecifes coralinos, Bahamas, Banco Mundial, Barbados, Bonaire, Caribbean, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Colpophyllia, coral bleaching, coral reefs, Cozumel, Cuba, Curacao, Diploria, Dominican Republic, Dutch Antilles, French West Indies, GBRMPA, Greater Antilles, Guadeloupe, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Wilma, ICRI, Islas Caimán, IUCN, Jamaica, marine environment, Martinique, Mesoamerican Reef, Montastraea, Netherlands Antilles, NOAA, PNUMA, Reefbase, República Dominicana, RRRC, St. Barthelemy, St. Eustatius, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, UNEP, UNESCO, US Virgin Islands, Venezuela, World Bank, WRI