[Coral-List] Swan Islands Under Threat

Tue Jul 25 16:36:00 UTC 2023

This terrible news! I dove the reefs around Swan Island back in 1977 and they were incredible. The US then had a small contingent of NWS personnel on the island to monitor for hurricanes. There was also a Honduran family living on the island and we were told that the Honduran military would soon station a contingent as well. But aside from a small trash pile on one hillside there was little evidence of human impact.

The corals were huge and magnificent, in much better shape than the photos in the links below. And the cliffs had bird rookeries for brown footed boobies and other sea birds. No development of any kind, especially for a hotel or prison were in the works back then although I have read that guano had been mined for many decades in late 1800s and early 1900s. It will be a major shame on Honduras to ruin such a relatively pristine environment in order to sequester a bunch of cartel criminals. While there is a long history to building remote prisons on remote islands, humanity is supposed to be growing in environmental consciousness, not giving in to expediency when so few relatively healthy environments are left out there. 

How do we contact the powers to be to protest this idea?

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-----Original Message-----
From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> On Behalf Of Helder Perez via Coral-List
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2023 10:37 AM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: [Coral-List] Swan Islands Under Threat

Dear listers,

Forward this to the wider audience. Time is of the essence here.

The Honduran government is planning to construct a maximum security prison in the ecologically sensitive Swan Islands, about 270 kilometers from the coastal town of Puerto Castilla, Honduras (see attached the official government statement PCM 29-2023).

The archipelago is surrounded by a pristine coral reef that holds at least
27 species of hermatypic corals, including extensive fields of the endangered Acropora cervicornis, and A. Palmata; massive colonies of Orbicella faveolata and O. annularis, and giant colonies of the pillar coral, Dendrogyra cylindrus, all in remarkably good health despite the ongoing SCTLD outbreak (see attached pictures by Caroline Power taken earlier this month).

Furthermore, the Swan Islands shelter diverse megafauna, including Sperm whales and Spinner dolphins, Blacktip reef sharks, Nurse sharks, and the Great Hammerhead Sharks, as well as three species of critically endangered Hawksbill, Loggerhead and Green sea turtles, and potentially dozens of other species.

Due to the ecological significance of the Swan Islands’ biodiversity for Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and the Greater Antilles, the Honduran scientific community has emitted a historical pronouncement pleading with the government to halt the plans to build a prison there. According to the Honduran College of Biologists, such a building would cause irreversible damage to terrestrial and marine ecosystems by draining the scarce freshwater reservoirs, installing an inadequate waste management, and preventing further scientific research studies in the area.

The public outcry has been echoed by the Honduran Academy of Sciences, the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), the College of Forestry Engineers, the College of Environmental Engineers, as well as non-profit organizations such as the Bay Islands Foundation, and the international organization Healthy Reefs for Healthy People. So far, the Honduran government has declared that it will continue with its plans, while the international community remains observant.

Side note:

The islands are home to four endemic species of reptiles including two dwarf geckoes, an anole lizard, and a snake. Moreover, the islands harbor the endangered and endemic subspecies of the Vitelline Warbler, and constitute an important stop-over site for 57 terrestrial and marine migratory birds following the greater Antilles - Central America route.

Additionally, the Swan Islands harbor a unique ecosystem that is not found on the mainland, the arid shrubland with the Wild Yellow Dragon Apple Cactus, Harrisia eriophora, which is more related to island ecosystems from the West Indies than Honduran ecosystems.

Helder Pérez

[image: JPEG image]
monticulo de Orbicella faveolata…
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QfSoxecD_GbaP6wHa0x_2FfWrAtokwrU/view?usp=drivesdk>
[image: JPEG image]
Coral pilar gigante y buzo.JPG
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W2NKUzbvnXMO84GqKCgRjEHK-NJ2IWOY/view?usp=drivesdk>
[image: JPEG image]
Acropora cervicornis - diver.JPG
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gKGyJTAupLSSjTO8H2qMI8rCniADG3or/view?usp=drivesdk>

--
Helder I. Pérez
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