Conservationists and fishermen in Jamaica work together to help restore Jamaica's coral reefs. In order to safeguard the fish and the reefs, fisherman are leading the charge to set aside no-fish zones. This film follows a team of scientists from Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and The Nature Conservancy as they work with the fisherman to create the first ever fish sanctuary in a remote part of Jamaica.
have any of these reef scientists looked at the correlation between the die off of corals in the 80s with the increased use of chemicals in agriculture and/or the increased human impact on the sea resulting from tourism (wastes etc)?
The causes of the changes to Jamaican coral reefs are multifaceted. The largest region-wide factor for the loss of elkhorn and staghorn coral is white band disease. Major changes throughout the reef system were attributed to hurricane Allen, die-off of 'Diadema' urchins, and overfishing, with impacts exacerbated by land-based stressors, especially sewage and input of pesticides and fertilizer from agriculture, coastal development and modification of shorelines, and other sources of run-off. Basically, the urchins had kept the reefs relatively free of fleshy seaweeds, increasing in abundance as other herbivores (e.g. parrotfish) declined due to fishing pressure. When the coral started to decline, there was more free space on the reef which was colonized by algae. Algae grows faster than coral, and proliferates even more when excess nutrients are present. The urchin population continued to increase, keeping the algae in check. However, once a disease swept through the urchin population, these herbivores were largely eliminated and nothing remained to prevent the proliferation of algae. We hope this helps!
Living Oceans Foundation: I appreciate the work you are doing! That said, I'd like to know your stance on atmospheric dust from Africa causing Caribbean reef demise. Have you all studied this? To me, it's the best way to make sense of the sudden region-wide urchin die off, followed by sea fan disease from asperilis, and white pox. If one looks at the years of these calamities, they almost always coincide with bad years in terms of Saharan dust transport. The theory is that the change in composition and quantity of the dust due to development and pollution in Africa (DDT, fertilizer, etc.) has upset the balance in the water chemistry. This could help explain (in addition to low species diversity) why Caribbean reefs are a disaster, yet those in say Indonesia are pristine with a population of almost 250 million. Also, how about natural variation and cycles in reef growth? Core samples show reefs do not grow continuously all the time. This demise could be short lived, who knows, scary as it is! Thoughts? Keep up the conservation, we need more of it!
those are known factors and one of the reasons why the pedro banks is healthier that the northern area isnt so much because of hurricane activity as it is the tourism industry. The north coast is just overly populated with hotels and beach resorts while the south is more agricultural.
I live on curacao and I am trying to explain to the fishermen and anyone that will listen that we need to protect the grazers. But they quote the bible and say the ocean can never finish :/
What a spectacular video!! Jamaica's seaworld was once the "Jewel of the Sea". Now a shell of itself struggling to keep alive. A chain of major ecological disasters, over fishing and diseases have had a disastrous impact on sealife. I personally noticed the comparative difference travelling in a glass-bottomed boat in the late 70s-80s and enjoying the sight of abundance fish and other underwater species plus vibrant coral alive with colour flora and fauna, compared with 2012, where we hardly saw any, just a few tiny straddlers. Also understand why the price of fish and lobsters were so astronomically expensive at the seaside. I personally think there should be an inter-island fishing rota, to avoid over fishing in anyone area and to allow one area to replenish whilst the other is fished or farmed.
Another solution could also be large scale fish farms both fresh and salt water fish to the level where it could supply more than 60% of the demand for fisheries. For some reason am not surprised that the Jamaican government would wait until the marine lives and the ecology were threatened to the point of near extinction before they set laws to protect them.
Not really... 95% of the coral fish species are taken from nature, except some gobies and anemone fish species which can be bred in aquarium. If the wild population of reef fishes collapse there are no saltwater fishes left for aquariums.
Conservationists and fishermen in Jamaica work together to help restore Jamaica's coral reefs. In order to safeguard the fish and the reefs, fisherman are leading the charge to set aside no-fish zones. This film follows a team of scientists from Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and The Nature Conservancy as they work with the fisherman to create the first ever fish sanctuary in a remote part of Jamaica.
Great documentary!
have any of these reef scientists looked at the correlation between the die off of corals in the 80s with the increased use of chemicals in agriculture and/or the increased human impact on the sea resulting from tourism (wastes etc)?
The causes of the changes to Jamaican coral reefs are multifaceted. The largest region-wide factor for the loss of elkhorn and staghorn coral is white band disease. Major changes throughout the reef system were attributed to hurricane Allen, die-off of 'Diadema' urchins, and overfishing, with impacts exacerbated by land-based stressors, especially sewage and input of pesticides and fertilizer from agriculture, coastal development and modification of shorelines, and other sources of run-off. Basically, the urchins had kept the reefs relatively free of fleshy seaweeds, increasing in abundance as other herbivores (e.g. parrotfish) declined due to fishing pressure. When the coral started to decline, there was more free space on the reef which was colonized by algae. Algae grows faster than coral, and proliferates even more when excess nutrients are present. The urchin population continued to increase, keeping the algae in check. However, once a disease swept through the urchin population, these herbivores were largely eliminated and nothing remained to prevent the proliferation of algae. We hope this helps!
Living Oceans Foundation: I appreciate the work you are doing!
That said, I'd like to know your stance on atmospheric dust from Africa causing Caribbean reef demise. Have you all studied this? To me, it's the best way to make sense of the sudden region-wide urchin die off, followed by sea fan disease from asperilis, and white pox. If one looks at the years of these calamities, they almost always coincide with bad years in terms of Saharan dust transport. The theory is that the change in composition and quantity of the dust due to development and pollution in Africa (DDT, fertilizer, etc.) has upset the balance in the water chemistry. This could help explain (in addition to low species diversity) why Caribbean reefs are a disaster, yet those in say Indonesia are pristine with a population of almost 250 million.
Also, how about natural variation and cycles in reef growth? Core samples show reefs do not grow continuously all the time. This demise could be short lived, who knows, scary as it is!
Thoughts?
Keep up the conservation, we need more of it!
those are known factors and one of the reasons why the pedro banks is healthier that the northern area isnt so much because of hurricane activity as it is the tourism industry. The north coast is just overly populated with hotels and beach resorts while the south is more agricultural.
Great video on sustaining fisheries
I live on curacao and I am trying to explain to the fishermen and anyone that will listen that we need to protect the grazers. But they quote the bible and say the ocean can never finish :/
in Jamaica that would equate to "massa God fish cant done"
i just want to pass Caribbean Studies
LMAO Same!
What a spectacular video!! Jamaica's seaworld was once the "Jewel of the Sea". Now a shell of itself struggling to keep alive. A chain of major ecological disasters, over fishing and diseases have had a disastrous impact on sealife.
I personally noticed the comparative difference travelling in a glass-bottomed boat in the late 70s-80s and enjoying the sight of abundance fish and other underwater species plus vibrant coral alive with colour flora and fauna, compared with 2012, where we hardly saw any, just a few tiny straddlers. Also understand why the price of fish and lobsters were so astronomically expensive at the seaside. I personally think there should be an inter-island fishing rota, to avoid over fishing in anyone area and to allow one area to replenish whilst the other is fished or farmed.
Judith Lang! Legendary reef ecologist.
that is just amazing
Another solution could also be large scale fish farms both fresh and salt water fish to the level where it could supply more than 60% of the demand for fisheries. For some reason am not surprised that the Jamaican government would wait until the marine lives and the ecology were threatened to the point of near extinction before they set laws to protect them.
I think easy way would be to frag and grow corals and spread them under the sea.
within 15 years fish and coral will only exist in our aquariums
Not really... 95% of the coral fish species are taken from nature, except some gobies and anemone fish species which can be bred in aquarium. If the wild population of reef fishes collapse there are no saltwater fishes left for aquariums.
BYE FISH FROM OTHER REEF AND LET THAM THERE
learning how to dive would help if you are a marine biologist, lousy buoyancy