[Coral-List] Transformation of Caribbean reefs

[Nohora Galvis]

Dear all,

Last months of 2020 were declared as Environmental Disaster after Eta and
Iota Hurricanes. Colombia and Nicaragua were hit by Category 5. All
unsustainable development should be avoided on coral reefs and surrounding
aress.

As I mentioned during the meeting of Reef Futures 2018, THE FUTURE OF CORAL
REEFS DEPENDS ON US. The advice given to decision makers and how they are
open to listen it. We have succeeded until now with the case study at
Varadero Reef pointing at the environmental cost of dredging is higher than
the dredging project itself

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314153451_Galvis_N_H_y_RH_Galvis_2016_Colombian_citizen_science_to_improve_coral_reef_conservation_Citizen_Science_Proceedings_International_Coral_Reef_Session_88_606-619

The economic value is relevant to be taking into account when convincing to
stop megaprojects that will affect marine ecosystems. While the benefits of
protecting coral reefs mean billions of dollars

https://www.coris.noaa.gov/activities/economic_summary/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269036988_Total_Economic_Value_of_Bermuda's_Coral_Reefs_A_Summary

The costs of allowing degradation is even higher to their total economic
value due to the scales of time for recovery integrity, biodiversity
(million of species)  and loss of annual productivity. The possibility of
complete recover is very low when restoration contractors support dredging
by promising restoration of few species of coral by breaking them at a very
low cost. That is why, it is risky to underlined these restorations
projects within the SDG14. Unsustainable developers will prefer a shadow
project of one million and a half dollars, with a fake promise to save the
reef after climate change induced hurricanes and dredging to allow cruises
massive tourism, oil exploration and military vessels ports.

The Government of Nicaragua wants to protect Coral Reefs within a Biosphere
Reserve under UNESCO MAB, while the Colombia government prefers to build a
military base on Providence to defend the Biosphere Reserve at force and is
dredging regardless the accumulative environmental impact. When questioned
by us, they pointed at restoration projects at a very small national park
will save the coral reefs...



El mar, feb 23, 2021 12:43, Pawlik, Joseph via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> escribió:

> Colleagues,
>
>      Because of the pandemic, many of us are not doing field-work,
> traveling, or diving. For those of us who work on reefs in the Caribbean,
> many have missed the accelerating loss of the remaining stony corals,
> particularly at fore-reef depths >10 m.
> This link provides video surveys from January 2021 of reefs on the NW and
> SW sides of the island of Roatan, Honduras, and a seamount between the
> island and mainland.
> https://youtu.be/507OpUfd3Mc
> You can see the final stages of coral loss due to recent bleaching events
> and disease. Seaweeds, sponges, and octocorals now dominate the benthos.
> Near-shore and seamount reefs have been similarly affected, suggesting that
> local run-off and point-sources of pollution are not the primary causes of
> coral loss.
>      A video from a year ago documents the final stages of coral loss on
> the fore-reefs of the Turks and Caicos. The pace of coral loss appeared
> more rapid there, but the outcome was the same.
> https://youtu.be/11ywGm33wnM
> The purpose of these posts is not to depress the heck out of everyone
> (however likely), but to raise awareness of the reality of Caribbean reefs
> at the present time. It is one thing to look at a graph of declining
> percentage cover of stony corals (with the most recent data from several
> years ago), and another to see the current state of the reefs.
>
> Regards,
>
> Joe
>
>
>
> **************************************************************
>
> Joseph R. Pawlik
>
> Frank Hawkins Kenan Distinguished Professor of Marine Biology
>
> Dept. of Biology and Marine Biology
>
> UNCW Center for Marine Science
>
> 5600 Marvin K Moss Lane
>
> Wilmington, NC  28409
>
> Office:(910)962-2377; Cell:(910)232-3579
>
> Website: http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/index.html
>
> PDFs: http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/pubs2.html
>
> Video Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/skndiver011
>
> **************************************************************
>
>
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