Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000

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Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2000 widespread damage from the intense Hurricane Mitch, also in 1998. These events heavily impacted reefs from the Mexican Yucatan to Honduras, causing losses in coral cover of 15- 20% across the region with some losses as high as 75% in parts of Belize. Throughout large parts of the region there are intense fishing pressures and major threats to reefs from poor land-use practices and unregulated coastal development. Capacity to monitor and manage coral reefs varies enormously in the region, from advanced to virtually non-existent. Now, countries of the Mesoamerican region (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras) are cooperating to conserve and manage their reefs and resolve cross-boundary management issues. INTRODUCTION Most striking about the coral reefs along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Northern Central America (NCA) is the dramatic difference in reef abundance, development and diversity. Fewer reefs exist on the Pacific coast, mostly in central Mexico, and these are usually small, less diverse, and isolated or patchy in distribution. These reefs are subject to frequent cold, nutrient-rich upwellings and El Niño events, and are sensitive to extreme disturbances and susceptible to local extinction due to their limited distribution and isolation. Numerous rivers flow onto the narrow steep shelf from southern Mexico south to Gulf of Fonseca, and Nicaragua further inhibiting coral reef development, while favouring the growth of mangroves. The next major reef area along the Pacific coast is to the south in Costa Rica. In contrast, the well-developed reefs on the Caribbean side are extensive and contain the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (MBRS) which is the longest barrier reef system in the Western Hemisphere and the second longest in the world, extending over 1000km from the northernmost part in Yucatan, Mexico through Belize and east to the Bay Islands of Honduras. As well as the barrier reef, there are numerous patch, fringing, and atoll-like reefs, which are habitats for a high biodiversity of fishes, invertebrates, birds, plants, sea turtles, and mammals. Reefs along the Caribbean coast can be divided into several distinctive areas: SW Gulf of Mexico; extensive fringing and barrier reefs along the Yucatan and Belize coast; 4 unique atolls (Banco Chinchorro, Turneffe Island, Lighthouse, and Glover’s Reef); small coral communities along mainland Guatemala and Honduras, and the Bay Islands; and extensive reef complexes in Nicaragua. Composed of luxuriant patch, fringing, and barrier reefs and four unique offshore atolls. These reefs are influenced by continental land masses and are also impacted to varying degrees by human pressures; coastal development, over-fishing, agricultural and industrial run-off, deforestation, landuse, and sewage pollution. In addition to these stresses, two major events in 1998 (El Niño mass bleaching and Hurricane Mitch) caused severe damage to reefs along the Mesoamerican Corridor (Yucatan, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras). Although coastal communities depend heavily on the marine resources, the coastal zone is only a small part of the land area. Hence, national focus, priority and awareness of problems facing the coral reefs is much lower than other island nations where reefs dominate the resource base. This is also evident in the small amount of information available about the status of these reefs, except for a few well-studied reefs in Yucatan, Belize, and the Bay Islands. Large information gaps exist for the extensive reefs of Nicaragua, coastal coral communities along the mainland of Honduras and Guatemala, offshore islands and banks like Swan Islands and the Mysteriosa banks in Honduras, parts of the Belize reef 288
Status of Coral Reefs of Northern Central America Country Population Land area Water Coastline Mangrove Coast x 1000 (growth) (km 2 ) (km 2 ) (km 2 ) (km 2 )* Mexico 100,294 (1.73) 1,972,550 49,510 6760 P + 2900 C 5,246-14,202 Belize 235.8 (2.42) 22,690 160 386 730-783 Guatemala 12,335 (2.68) 108,890 460 400 160 Honduras 5,997 (2.24) 112,090 200 820 1,170- 1,213 Nicaragua 4,717 (2.84) 129,494 9,240 307 600 El Salvador 5,839 (1.53) 21,040 320 307 352 -450 Demographic and geographic summaries for the region. Population growth rate is given in parentheses after the total, with P the Pacific coast and C, Caribbean and low and high estimates for mangrove coast. complex, and other reefs in the eastern Pacific coast. The following provides an overview of reef descriptions for each country, listed in order from north to south. REEF DESCRIPTIONS Mexico There are 3 distinct coral reef areas in Mexico: 1) the Pacific mainland coast and Baja California; 2) Southwest Gulf of Mexico (Veracruz and Campeche Bank); and 3) the Yucatan Peninsula. Reef development and diversity on the Pacific side is much less than the Caribbean and often restricted by cool temperatures (e.g. on the western side of Baja California). There are 12 hard coral species in the Gulf of California, 15 species further south on the Mexican mainland, and 18 on the Revillagigedo Islands. Most of these species are rare or have limited distribution, and coral communities are usually small and patchy with low abundances of other invertebrates, like soft corals, sponges, crustaceans, and echinoderms. There are about 20 reefs off Veracruz, in the Gulf of Mexico, which have adapted to high turbidity from coastal runoff. The coral diversity is low for the Caribbean with only 45 reefbuilding species. On the eastern side of the Yucatan peninsula, there is an extensive fringing reef along nearly 350km of coastline from Isla Contoy south to Xcalak, including the offshore islands and the Banco Chinchorro atoll. The southern part continues as the Belize barrier reef. At least 56 reef-building species are reported. Reef development along Quintana Roo varies considerably, is often discontinuous and can be divided into 3 zones, north, central, and southern. Those in the north area have overall low living cover (17%), are mostly denuded bare rock, with a few patches of high cover, and are dominated by stands of dead Acropora palmata. The central and southern areas contain more continuous shallow reefs and better developed platform reefs. Banco Chinchorro is a large (46km x 14km) atoll with well-developed reefs on both the broad windward shelf and narrow leeward shelf. The largest populations and longest coastlines occur in Mexico. Coral reefs provide commercial, recreational and tourism value for coastal communities, mainly Mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish), Amerindian, and some white. The main towns are near La Paz, Huatulco and Puerto Vallarta (Pacific) and Veracruz, Cancun and Cozumel (Atlantic). Tourism, concentrated in Huatulco, Puerto Vallarta and the northern portion of Quintana Roo, is the major economic activity and is expanding rapidly both to the north and south of Quintana Roo. 289
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Status of Coral Reefs of the World:
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FOREWORD Over the past few years, I
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CONTENTS COUNTRIES, STATES AND TERR
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COUNTRIES, STATES AND TERRITORIES A
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Countries, States and Territories T
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CLIVE WILKINSON T
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Executive Summary CORAL BLEACHING I
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Executive Summary South Asia Most r
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Executive Summary parts of Fiji and
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Executive Summary management and mo
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Executive Summary tourism developme
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Executive Summary problem is loomin
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6. STATUS OF CORAL REEFS IN SOUTH A
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Status of Coral Reefs in South Asia
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8. STATUS OF CORAL REEFS OF EAST AN
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Status of Coral Reefs of East and N
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9. STATUS OF CORAL REEFS OF AUSTRAL
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Status of Coral Reefs of Australasi
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10. STATUS OF CORAL REEFS IN THE SO
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Status of Coral Reefs in the Southw
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11. STATUS OF SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL
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Status of Southeast and Central Pac
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12. STATUS OF CORAL REEFS OF AMERIC
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Status of Coral Reefs of American S
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19. SPONSORING ORGANISATIONS, CORAL
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Sponsoring Organisations, Coral Ree
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LIST OF ACRONYMS AGRRA AIMS ASEAN B
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Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000

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