The
Eastern Caribbean is dominated by small islands, lying in a broad arc
around the eastern end of the Caribbean Sea. Fringing coral reef
communities are found in places on the shores of most of the
islands. Regional groups are 1). Haiti, the Dominican Republic and
Navassa Island, 2) Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, 3) The Lesser
Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, 4) Venezuela and Aruba, Bonaire and
Curacao, and 5) Brazil and West Africa
This
region also includes the long coastline of Venezuela and although there
is virtually no reef development along this shore, there are important
reefs associated with the chain of islands located offshore to the
north. As with other areas of the
Caribbean, the reefs of the Eastern Caribbean have suffered considerably
from the combined impacts of the Diadema die-off and coral
disease. Many of the more northerly islands have also suffered damage
from hurricanes.
Tourism is the greatest
industry in this region and vast numbers of visitors have fueled rapid
and poorly planned coastal development, with associated problems of
sedimentation and pollution that always follow such development. The
region also contains a number of well protected areas as well, notably
those off Saba, Bonaire and St. Lucia, which have been especially well
managed, leading to the recovery of healthy reef ecosystems in localized
areas. These provide a model for reef management throughout the region.
Beyond the Caribbean, there
are some important and well developed reefs and coral communities along
the coast of Brazil. Although still poorly known, these reefs are
receiving considerable attention. In the few scattered islands of the
Central Atlantic and along the less turbid areas of the West African
coastline some important coral communities are also recorded.
Haiti makes up the western part of the island of
Hispaniola, the second largest island in the Caribbean. Very little is
known about the coral reefs in Haiti, and what information exists is
about the area near the capital Port-au-Prince and Les Arcadins Islands.
Coral reefs are known to occur all around Ile de la Gonave; on the
Rocheilois Bank and Les Iles Cayemites; around Ile a Vache on the south
coast; and also on the north coast between Cap Haitien and the border
with the Dominican Republic. What studies there have been have indicated
that the reefs of Haiti are similar to other Caribbean reefs.
Haiti is the most impoverished country in
the western hemisphere, so the reefs there are likely to be under
intense pressure from the local populations. Less than one percent of
the native terrestrial vegetation remains intact and the island's steep
relief and high rainfall cause widespread and severe soil erosion, which
is likely to have a direct negative impact on the coral communities.
About seventy five percent of the population lives in poverty and
consequently almost all fishing activities are carried out at the
subsistence level, and reports indicate that the fishing pressure is so
great that very few fish reach reproductive size. There are no
sewage treatment plants or sanitary landfills and the level of nutrient
pollution flowing onto the coral reefs has to be very high because of
that. There are currently no protected marine areas in Haiti. All in
all, a dire situation for the coral reefs of Haiti, to say the least.
The Dominican Republic
makes up the larger, eastern part of the island of
Hispaniola, and like Haiti, it is mountainous with considerable river
runoff. Fringing reefs and small barrier reefs are scattered along the
170 kilometers of coastline, and there are important reef communities on
the offshore banks of Navidad and La Plata which lie to the north of the
country. The best developed reefs include a small barrier reef in
Montecristi in the northwest, some narrow fringing communities along the
central north coast and in the east on the mainland and the neighboring
Isla Saona.
Coral cover has declined considerably in
most of the near shore areas, and algae have proliferated at the expense
of coral reefs in some localities. High coral cover is now largely
restricted to the deeper reefs, and to those lying farther offshore.
An important protected area is the Jaragua National Park which protects
many different coastal ecosystems. There are large and regionally
important populations of manatees, crocodiles, turtles (leatherback,
green, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles all nest there) and flamingos.
Many of the reefs around Santo Domingo and
in the north have been severely impacted by human activities.
Sedimentation (from upland deforestation, wetland removal, soil erosion
and coastal construction for the tourist industry), nutrients (from
fertilizers and domestic wastewater) and pesticides (from agricultural
runoff) are the main causes. Reefs in the south have suffered less
impacts, and over fishing, in both the north and south, continues to be
a problem, especially of conch and lobster.
About twenty percent of the coral reefs in
the Dominican Republic occur within marine parks and sanctuaries, and
the majority of these occur in the Jaragua and Del Este National
Parks. Management levels in the parks is limited however, and many
continue to be heavily fished. The parks near Haiti are regularly and
heavily poached by vessels from that impoverished country.
Navassa Island is a United States territory since 1877 and
has no permanent inhabitants. An uplifted limestone structure of around
five square kilometers, it has important coral reef communities on all
sides. There are few human impacts here and although there is some
fishing by Haitians.
OFFICIAL, SCIENTIFIC &
GOVERNMENTAL SITES:
Haitian website article on Narvassa Island's reefs
Reef Base: Haiti and Dominican Republic
World Resources Institute article on Dominican
Republic's coral reefs
World Resources Institute article on Haiti's coral
reefs
COMMERCIAL:
Dive Guide International -Dominican Republic
The
US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
is a large mountainous island on the
northern edge of the Caribbean Sea, lying east of the Dominican
Republic, and has coral reefs that are found around the island and most
abundant along the east, south and west coasts. Coral cover is highly
varied and the island includes some of the most developed and most
diverse coral reefs in the area.
Puerto Rico has one of the most thriving
economies in the Caribbean and tourism has traditionally been a very
important industry, with over 4 million visitors every year.
Construction and tourism both have had considerable negative impacts on
the coral and other marine communities on the island. Clearance of over
seventy-five percent of Puerto Rico's mangroves, combined with dredging,
agricultural runoff, pollution from untreated sewage, and sedimentation
from forest clearance have had considerable impact on most coastal
reefs. Over fishing of large predator fish, parrotfishes and spiny
lobsters is widely reported, and oil spills have impacted some areas in
devastating ways. The offshore island of Vieques is used by the United
States military as a bombing range, resulting in many craters on the
reefs there measuring some 5-13 meters in diameter. Whether the positive
impacts associated with the exclusion of fisherman and tourists from
these reefs by the military compensates from this destruction is still a
mater of controversy.
Efforts to control some of the more
damaging activities and protect some of the reefs from further decline
are happening and a number of marine protected areas have been
designated, together with seasonal fishery restrictions on some spawning
fish populations. Legislation is being developed also to address some of
the marine pollution problems of the island.
The United States Virgin Islands
have coral reefs that are widespread
around all of the islands. Mostly they are fringing reefs, but there is
a small barrier reef off St. Croix, and a number of offshore patch reefs
and bank structures.
Nowhere in the Caribbean have the combined
effects of hurricanes and disease on coral reef population structure
been more pronounced than in the Virgin Islands. Hurricanes Hugo
(1989), and Luis and Marilyn (1995) had devastating impacts on local
reefs, and coral disease has also been widespread. A typical example is
the eighty percent loss of Acropora palmata colonies in
Hawksnest Bay in a period of only seven months due to coral disease.
Tourism, as on most Caribbean islands, is the main industry and
significant damage has occurred from boat anchors and ship groundings.
The Virgin Islands National Park on St. John attracts a million visitors
a year, mostly arriving on cruise ships or smaller boats, and an
estimated 30,000 anchors are dropped each year. In 1989 the cruise
ship Windspirit destroyed some 300 square meters of coral reef with its
anchor and chain and there has been very little recovery since. This
resulted in the successful prosecution of the boat owners by the park
authorities and remains one of the few examples of such action for
damages incurred to coral reefs by human activity. Additionally
direct damage by divers and snorkellers has also been recorded at the
most heavily used sites. Mooring buoys were recently installed but
unfortunately there is very little coral left to protect and no limits
have been set on the size of vessels allowed in park waters.
Over fishing is widespread throughout the
islands, even within protected areas. This situation is further
exacerbated by the widespread loss of fish habitats, including seagrass
and mangroves areas, such that fish stocks are highly depleted in most
areas of the US Virgin Islands.
Other continuous threats include
sedimentation, land clearance, coastal development and sewage discharge
(the eutrophication of some reefs in the area has been attributed to
leaching from septic tanks during heavy rains). One of the world's
largest petroleum refineries is at St. Croix, which also represents a
significant potential threat to coral reefs as well. On a bright note,
in 1999 a Marine Conservation District was declared to the southwest of
St. Thomas. Known as the Hind Bank, the area is closed to all fishing
and anchoring, and represents an important step in the right direction
towards fisheries management and coral reef conservation in the area.
The British Virgin Islands also are home to considerable coral reef
communities, including fringing reefs close to most islands, patch reefs
in offshore areas, and a long barrier reef structure, Horseshoe Reef,
extending to the southeast of Anegada. As with the US Virgin Islands,
the reefs here have also been severely impacted by recent hurricanes and
in some cases 100 percent of coral cover was lost.
Human impacts vary across the islands but
deep loss has been noted nearer the more heavily populated areas as one
would expect. Coastal development has been particularly severe on
Tortola and Virgin Gorda, with the destruction of almost all of the
mangrove habitats, and considerable increases in sedimentation have
resulted from road building and other coastal construction. These
islands have the greatest concentration of charter yachts in the world
and anchor damage is widespread and significant, and there is some
eutrophication in the more enclosed bays which is due in part to these
vessels. Although marine protected areas have been declared in the
British Virgin Islands, active management is limited.
OFFICIAL, SCIENTIFIC &
GOVERNMENTAL SITES:
NOAA Center For Coastal Monitoring and
Assessement: Coral Reef Report -Puerto Rico
Reef Base: Puerto Rico
World Resources Institute article on Puerto Rico's
coral reefs
The
Lesser Antilles are a group of
islands lying in an 800 kilometer long arc, stretching from east of the
Virgin Islands southwards to Grenada. These islands form the eastern
margin of the Caribbean Sea, with the oceanic waters of the Atlantic to
the east and the deep waters of the Puerto Rico Trench to the north and
northwest. Islands in the chain of the Lesser Antilles include
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Netherlands Antilles, St. Kitts and
Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Grenada, all of which are home
to significant coral communities.
There has been progressive degradation
of the reefs of the Lesser Antilles as a whole over the past twenty
years, with loss of coral cover, algal growth on reefs and decline in
number and average size of fish populations. Impacts have been varied on
different islands with Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadeloupe,
Martinque and Barbados leading the way in islands that have the greatest
loss of coral communities due to tourism, construction associated with
tourist growth and natural impacts from hurricanes.
OFFICIAL, SCIENTIFIC &
GOVERNMENTAL SITES:
Reef Base: Trinidad and Tobago
Venezuela
has a long coastline that defines
the southeastern edge of the Caribbean Sea and in the east it is
dominated by the vast delta of the Orinoco River, which carries
considerable amounts of freshwater into the Western Atlantic. Coral reef
development along the coast is therefore limited to a large degree by
freshwater and sediment runoff, and near shore coral reefs are scarce.
Small reef systems and other coral communities exist all up and down the
coastline.
Venezuela also has jurisdiction over a
number of offshore islands, most lying in deep oceanic water at
considerable distance from the continental shelf. These include Las
Aves, Los Roques, Isla la Orchilla and la Blanquilla which lie in
a chain parallel to the coast. These reefs have a great number of
different species, including over 270 species of coral reef fish alone.
The principal threat to these reefs is over fishing since reef based
tourism is not yet developed.
Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao
are islands that also have extensive coral reef development. Aruba is
located on the continental shelf only twenty seven kilometers north of
Venezuela and Bonaire and Curacao are oceanic islands surrounded by deep
water. The reef profiles of Bonaire and Curacao are very similar: a
submarine terrace extending between 50 and 100 meters offshore and
ending in a drop-off at a depth of 8-12 meters which slopes steeply down
to 50-60 meters. Prolific coral growth occurs on the underwater terrace
and on the shallower slopes. Aruba on the other hand, since it is
located on the continental shelf, does not have sharply sloping
underwater relief.
Bonaire is considered one of the
region's best examples of a self-financing marine park. Divers are
charged a fee per year for use to dive on the reefs, contributing about
sixty percent of the running costs of the park, with a significant
proportion of the remainder being generated from the sale of souvenirs.
Studies have shown than the user fee is seen as a positive thing by the
majority of visitors, raising awareness of conservation issues while
giving them some sense of participation and ownership.
OFFICIAL, SCIENTIFIC &
GOVERNMENTAL SITES:
Reef Base: Venezuela
World Resources Institute article on Venezuela's
coral reefs
The waters of both Brazil and West Africa
are separated from the Caribbean reefs by vast barriers hostile to reef
growth. For the Brazilian reefs these barriers include the huge river
deltas of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, as well as the intervening
sediment-rich coastline of the Guyanas. The coastlines of West Africa
(and the intervening Atlantic Islands) are separated from the Caribbean
center by vast expanses of open ocean. As a result the coral reef
organisms found in these two areas are ecologically isolated and
distinct to each region.
Brazil
has limited coral reef structures
and it is found on the northeastern and eastern shores where river imput
is not so extensive as it is in the north. Furthermore, the species
diversity is very low, with just nineteen species of reef-building
corals recognized. Another interesting feature of Brazilian coral
communities is that there are no acroporid corals, which are the major
shallow water corals elsewhere in the world. There are also a few
offshore oceanic islands to the northeast of Brazil which have coral
communities of dense structures but are not true reefs.
The eastern continental shelf of Brazil has
narrow reefs, also with low species diversity. In the State of Bahia,
the continental shelf widens considerably, extending from 5 to 65
kilometers offshore, and reaching over 200 kilometers in the far south
around the Abrolhos Archipelago. This is the richest and largest area of
coral reefs in the South Atlantic, with fringing reefs and offshore
banks abundant.
Many of the coast reefs of Brazil exhibit
signs of degradation, especially those close to human settlements. The
expansion of tourism, increased sedimentation from inland deforestation
for agriculture and rapid coastal development
West Africa does not have any true reefs although
mature coral communities are found at various locations. In all some
fifteen species of coral have been recorded. There is considerable river
drainage along the coastline and warm, low salinity water is a permanent
feature. These and other oceanographic factors combine to inhibit coral
reef formation, with only two different types of coral communities that
have been described. Very little is known about sub-tidal benthic
communities over wide areas of West Africa and it is quite possible than
there are important and diverse coral communities in a number of areas
that have yet to be discovered.
Extracted and adapted from The World
Atlas of Coral Reefs, by Mark D. Spalding, Corinna Ravilious and Edmund
P. Green, published by the
University of California Press .
For more complete and in-depth coverage of the topics presented in this
webpage, I recommend highly purchasing a copy of this beautifully
illustrated book. Just click on the University of California Press link
above to do so.
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