Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - October 2018

— Continued from previous page
While the process of restoring The Old House continues, the Amuseum has opened
its gardens and an exhibit hall featuring eight exhibits. In the backyard, visitors can
enjoy amazing views and learn about native trees and plants. A bush tea and bush
ability to gain insight into the factors that have allowed corals to thrive under such
unusual conditions.
The Save Varadero campaign (https://salvemosvaradero.org) is trying to have the
reef designated as a national park.
Read the BBC story at www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45129579, and see
more at https://phys.org/news/2018-06-newly-reef-important-lessons-resilience.html
Sargassum Watch
Students visit the hall in The Old House featuring eight exhibits
medicine garden is growing, with many plants donated by St. Martiners who want to
share this tradition.
The Amuseum’s “micro-theater” shows a reel of over a dozen documentary shorts
about nature, history and culture. Many of the films feature fascinating interviews
with St. Martiners. Les Fruits de Mer members and volunteers have been interviewing
St. Martin residents to share the stories of the island as told by its people. The
association’s goal is to collaborate with the community so the Amuseum can be a
true reflection of the island.
Visit http://amuseumnaturalis.com
for more information.
‘Miracle Reef’ in Cartagena Threatened by Development
As reported by Lucy Sherriff in an August 20th BBC report, the Varadero Reef,
located just off Cartagena, Colombia, could offer clues for the survival of other reefs
in contaminated areas. According to the report, Cartagena Bay “is contaminated by
industrial and sewage waste. According to marine biologists the reef should not be
alive, and yet it has flourished, providing a home to a large number of coral, fish and
urchin species”.
Despite the close proximity of the reef to Cartagena’s one million-odd inhabitants,
the Varadero Reef, located at 10°18’10”N, 75°34’55”W, remained largely unknown to
science until 2013, owing to the perception that the environment was too hostile for
any reef to survive. Although Varadero Reef has long been known to local inhabitants
who fish there, it was only in 2013 that Varadero was “discovered” by biologists looking
for an example of a degraded reef. They found instead “a veritable coral garden,
with over 30 species covering up to 80 percent of its surface”. Ninety percent of other
reefs in the area are dead. Varadero has been called the Miracle Reef.
However, there are now plans to expand the shipping channel at Bocachica and
dredge another passageway straight through the reef, meaning a quarter of it would
be destroyed and the remainder threatened. These plans could hinder researchers’
Yes, the sargassum is still coming. You can track its flow and possible arrival at
Caribbean locations at:
https://optics.marine.usf.edu/projects/saws.html#2018.mean.400.png
Conference to Address Tourism’s Impact on Marine Environment
The 71st annual conference of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute will be
held in San Andrés, Colombia from November 5th through 9th.
The theme of the Conference is “Tourism in the Caribbean: challenges for the management
of fisheries and coral reef ecosystems of the region”.
While tourism provides considerable economic benefits for many countries, regions
and communities, its rapid expansion can also be responsible for adverse environmental,
as well as socio-cultural, impacts. Two areas of the environmental impact of
tourism are pressure on natural resources and damage to ecosystems. Furthermore,
it is now widely recognized not only that uncontrolled tourism expansion is likely to
lead to environmental degradation, but also that environmental degradation, in turn,
poses a serious threat to tourism activities.
San Andrés is a coral island in the Caribbean Sea. Historically tied to the United
Kingdom, and politically part of Colombia, San Andrés and the nearby islands of
Providencia and Santa Catalina form the department of San Andrés, Providencia
and Santa Catalina. The archipelago is approximately 750 kilometres (470 miles)
north of the Colombian mainland. This archipelago, including the outer cays,
reefs, atolls and sand banks, is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. This “Seaflower
Biosphere Reserve” not only includes the islands but also about ten percent of the
Caribbean Sea.
The meeting, hosted by the Corporation for the Sustainable Development of the
Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, will focus on applying
marine science to solve problems by bringing multiple users of ocean resources
together to make informed and coordinated decisions for sustainable use of these
resources. Addressing the issues of connectivity, fisheries management, conservation,
and related issues at GCFI will aid in addressing critical marine resource issues
within the Wider Caribbean Region.
Visit www.gcfi.org/gcfi_71-conference for more information.
OCTOBER 2018 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 11