Caribbean coral reefs by Debbie Rhim & Jin Young Yang

What are the "Caribbean coral reefs"?

The Caribbean coral reefs refer to the "Greater Caribbean region," or what is formally known as the "tropical western Atlantic." This region includes the coral reefs of Florida, the Bahamas, Bermuda and the northeastern coast of South America. The reefs, which cover about 8% of the world's coral reefs, encircle small islands such as Aruba, Bonaire, Antigua and the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean region. The Caribbean coral reefs are mostly fringing reef systems which are reefs that grow directly from a shore. It is characterized by a lack of lagoon between the reef and shore, and it is the most common type of major coral reefs. Fringing reefs are especially sensitive to human activities as there is no lagoon to buffer the water runoff, human pollution and sedimentation. Subsequently, fringing reefs are the most vulnerable to the increase in human population and their activities near the coasts of Caribbean Sea.

What are the benefits brought on by Caribbean coral reefs?

The reefs are home to thousands of species, and provide benefits to human population living nearby. The coral reefs serve as a buffer zone for human beings from hurricanes, and bring economic profit to the nearby community with its coral reef attractions. Large number of tourists visit these coral reefs to snorkel and scuba dive annually. Furthermore, these island and coastal residents depend on the fisheries of coral reefs for substance, or as source of their food and livelihoods.

Historical state of Caribbean coral reefs

Caribbean coral reefs rose in isolation to other coral reef environments outside the Greater Caribbean Sea region. They were cut off from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans about three million years ago due to the emergence of the land that is now Central America. During the ice ages, most of coral reefs were destroyed, but many survived to recover and rebuild the reef systems. The diversity of this region is lower compared to the Indo-west Pacific region, with only 62 stony coral species compared to 719 species. An analysis of coral fossils have revealed that Caribbean reefs had a stable composition and zonationa pattern for at least 125,000 years. The reefs were generally covered by "Acropora palmata," "O. annularis," "Agaricia spp." and "A. cervicornis>" The branching coral species "A. palmata" and "A. cervicornis" are especially important as they provide the fundamental three-dimensional structure to most of the reefs. Damage to coastal reef environment began to occur due to overuse of land and agriculture before and after the arrival of Columbus to the Americas in 1492. With the modern plantation system put into use in the 17th century, the human population increased near the coral reefs in the Caribbean region.

Human impact on Caribbean coral reefs

During the last three decades, the Caribbean coral reefs have been rapidly declining in both their quality and productivity of fisheries. The coral reefs in the Caribbean face a number of dangers, including ocean acidification, rising temperature, water pollution, invasive species and overfishing. A major report in 2014 warned that Caribbean coral reefs will disappear within the next 20 years unless action is taken to restore the critically endangered ecosystem. While climate change was noted as one of the primary reasons behind the declining of the region's corals, human activities such as tourism, overfishing and pollution were found to be the most critical factors. As of now, two main grazer species, which are the parrotfish and sea urchin, are declining in large numbers. While tourism in this region has economically helped the nearby human community, it has backfired with excessive recreational diving and snorkeling. The Wider Caribbean region has over 285 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), which contains about 20% of the region's coral reefs. Increasing public awareness about the dangerous level at which the Caribbean coral reefs are decreasing has led many Caribbean nations to designate more MPAs and impose stricter regulations.

Decline in percent coral cover on Caribbean coral reefs from 1963 to present based on data compiled for this report (yearly averages weighted by the area surveyed per study) compared to Gardner et al. 2003 (yearly averages weighted by the inverse of a study's sample variance); Credit: © IUCN

Percent cover by region for (a) Acropora, (b) Poritidae, (c) Agariciidae, and 9d) the Montastrea annularis species complex; Credit: © IUCN

Future of Caribbean coral reefs

The International Coral Reef Initiative’s (ICRI) Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has jointly researched for three years and reported that most Caribbean coral reefs will disappear in 20 years in the new report: Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs: 1970-2012. Since fish eat seaweed, decreasing number of them results Caribbean reefs to be gradually smothered by algae. The report addresses that loss of parrotfishes and other grazers has been far more important than climate change for Caribbean reef destruction so far. Although climate change causes coral bleaching and more acid oceans, Jeremy Jackson, lead author of the report, says, “healthy reefs will bounce back faster after damaging extreme heating events and hurricanes.” The report confirms that reef locations where parrotfish are protected from overfishing are the healthiest such as Flower Garden Banks in the northern Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda and Bonaire. Reefs without the parrotfish by overfishing have suffered tragic declines. Due to rising temperature and ocean acidification, the current state of coral reefs is predicted to worsen in the future. In addition, the increase in algae and sponges along with growth in coral reefs of weed-like nature will make the protection of healthy coral reefs more difficult. In conclusion, climate change and human activities must be controlled by extensive reef management to prevent further deterioration of coral reefs in the future.

How can we improve the current state?

Although climate change affects the decline of coral reefs' population, the major impact on its decline is from human activity such as overfishing, recreation, excessive and destructive coastal development, and pollution. 
Therefore, the government should impose a strict regulation to control the recreation activity and coastal development and to ban any fishing activities that harm parrotfish. 
By regularly observing MPAs, the government should record the environmental activities and coral reefs' condition and take a proper action in order to keep the regulation effective. 
For example, an illegal overfishing should be punished with some fine and if a dangerous level of pollution is detected, the government should prohibit any coastal development or activity.

References

Aldred, Jessica. "Caribbean Coral Reefs ‘will Be Lost within 20 Years’ without Protection." Theguardian. N.p., 2 July 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/02/caribbean-coral-reef-lost-fishing-pollution-report

Alevizon, William. "Caribbean Coral Reefs." : Types, Characteristics, Marine Life. Coral Reef Facts, 13 Sept. 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. http://www.coral-reef-info.com/caribbean-coral-reefs.html

Armstrong, Dave. "Coral Cover's Deadly Decline." Earth Times 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. http://www.earthtimes.org/conservation/coral-cover-deadly-decline/2172/

Carefoot, Tom. "BCCR: TYPES OF CARIBBEAN CORAL REEFS." BCCR: TYPES OF CARIBBEAN CORAL REEFS. Biology of Caribbean Coral Reefs, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. http://www.mousetrapmultimedia.com/virtualcoralreefdive/types.php

lvarez-Filip, Lorenzo. "Flattening of Caribbean Coral Reefs: Region-Wide Declines in Architectural Complexity." Proceedings: Biological Sciences 276.1669 (2009): 3019-025. Marine Spatial Ecology Lab. University of Exeter, 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2009/06/05/rspb.2009.0339

"Parrotfish Key to Reef Survival." International Coral Reef Initiative. International Coral Reef Initiative. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. http://www.icriforum.org/caribbeanreport

Singh, Timon. "The Caribbean’s Coral Reefs Could Soon Be Extinct."Inhabitat Sustainable Design Innovation Eco Architecture Green Building The Caribbeans Coral Reefs Could Soon Be Extinct Comments. Inhabitat, 11 Sept. 2012. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. http://www.ibtimes.com/caribbean-coral-reefs-could-vanish-20-years-due-overfishing-tourism-report-1617546