GRENADA - Caribbean Compass

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The study documents in detail the declines of marine predators on Caribbean coral
reefs that occur alongside human population growth, jeopardizing the region’s
marine food web and ultimately its reefs and fisheries. Stallings found that nations
with more people have reefs with fewer large fish because, as the number of people
increases, so does demand for seafood — and bigger fish are usually fished first.
Given that about half the world’s population lives near coastlines and that the
world population is growing, demands for ocean-derived protein will continue to
increase, Stallings warned. He said meeting such demands while retaining healthy
coral reefs may require multiple strategies, including implementation of marine
reserves, finding alternative sources of protein, and increased efforts to implement
family-planning strategies in densely populated areas.
Meanwhile, a marine ecologist who has studied some of the most pristine and
untouched coral reefs in the world says there is a way to fight back against devastating
deaths of coral reefs caused by climate change and warming oceans.
Enric Sala, a former professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and now a
National Geographic Fellow, said damaged coral will grow back if it is in a healthy
environment with lots of predator fish. “This is not rocket science,” said Sala. “If we
allow the fish to return, we can buy time and allow for something to be done about
climate change.” Most of the coral in the Caribbean is badly degraded, he said. There
are exceptions off Cuba, Belize, Costa Rica and Mexico. The way to bring back the reefs,
he said, is to create marine reserves that allow for the restoration of predator fish.
Reduce the fishing effort by half, take away fishing subsidies, create protected
areas and fix climate change, Sala said. While it will take time to deal with climate
change, he said the first three steps would buy that time.
Venting
According to an April report in BBC World News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
science/nature/8611771.stm), what are believed to be the world’s deepest undersea
volcanic vents have been discovered in the Caribbean. The vents, known as black
smokers, are located 5,000 metres (3.1 miles) down in the Cayman Trough.
The volcanic chimneys, which spew out water hot enough to melt lead, were caught
on film by a British-led team. Marine biologist Dr. Jon Copley said: “Seeing the
world’s deepest black-smoker vents looming out of the darkness was awe-inspiring.
Super-heated water was gushing out of their two-storey-high mineral spires, more
than three miles beneath the waves.”
Expedition leader Doug Connelly said: “We hope our discovery will yield new
insights into biogeochemically important elements in one of the most extreme naturally
occurring environments on our planet.”
The team, led by the UK National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, sailed
across the Caribbean on the scientific research vessel the James Cook. The discovery
was made with the help of two deep-sea vehicles. Firstly, a robotic submarine called
Autosub6000 enabled the team to map the seafloor of the Cayman Trough in fine
detail. Then a vehicle called HyBIS, equipped with high-definition cameras, was lowered
and captured detailed images of the smokers.
By studying life around the hydrothermal vent systems, which are dotted along the
deep-sea mountain range that girdles the planet, the team hopes to increase the
understanding of the way marine communities interact. This, in turn, could aid
efforts to better protect endangered marine species. Senior researcher Dr. Alex
Rogers, from the Zoological Society of London, said, “The densities of animals and
the biomass of life around these hydrothermal vents is just staggering.”
However, scientists will not have these extraordinary environments to themselves
for long. Gold, silver, copper and zinc are all present in the mineral-rich emissions
of the vent systems and recent advances in deep-sea oil exploration are giving miners
the chance to exploit these areas for the first time. Dr. Copley is well aware of the
moral and political questions being raised by the team’s groundbreaking work.
He believes that we are at a crucial crossroads in the use of the deep ocean.
He can see a future where nation states squabble over natural resources, but he
is optimistic that the international co-operation demonstrated on his current voyage
will lead to sensitive study and sustainable exploitation of the deep sea’s riches.
“Hopefully there’s a different path forward if we’ve got the courage and determination
to take it,” he told BBC.
Adopt a Sea Turtle!
In April, the Venezuelan environmental group Fundacion La Tortuga launched its
“Adopt a Sea Turtle” campaign. The goal of the project, run in conjunction with the
Grupo de Trabajo en Tortugas Marinas de Nueva Esparta, is to involve children,
Fundación La Tortuga President Alberto Boscari says, ‘Five of the seven types of sea
turtles in the world live in Venezuelan territory, so we can consider ourselves privileged’
young people and adults in an interactive way to raise funds for environmental conservation
activities, especially those involving the protection of sea turtles.
Five of the Earth’s seven species of sea turtles are found in Venezuela. The symbolic
“adoption” of a turtle will offer opportunities to participate in “turtle camps”,
night watches to guard nesting areas, the release of hatchlings, turtle rescues, lectures,
and sea-turtle monitoring and evaluation projects.
For more information visit www.fundacionlatortuga.org/FLT/node?page=1
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JULY 2010 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 11