[Coral-List] Low fishing regions of Caribbean

[Douglas Fenner]

Marah,
     Cozumel, Mexico has almost all its reefs in a park that is a no-take
reserve that is actively enforced.  Last I knew, you could still be
accompanied by very large black groupers on your dives, and full size adults
of most fish species will be seen, including rainbow parrots.  And fish
populations are dense.  Sharks are not common.  The reefs are not overgrown
with algae, though Diadema died in the epidemic in 1982 like everywhere else
in the Caribbean.  There is very heavy diving, and Tom Goreau has found
comparing old photos with new ones that there has been some reduction in
coral cover and increase in sponge cover.  There is a relatively new
porpoise tourist facility that has produced an area of filamentous algae
around it, not sure if that includes much reef.  There are no sedimentation
problems and until recently it has been untouched by bleaching.  I wrote a
little piece about it for Reef Encounter.

Fenner, D. 2001.  A healthy Caribbean coral reef assisted by diving tourism.
Reef Encounter 30: 27-28.

-Doug Fenner