IT’S GOING to take a “minimum” of $9 million to save Barbados dying and bleaching coral reefs.
Minister of the Environment Dr Denis Lowe, who made the assessment, says Government is trying to raise the money.
“We have asked the Coastal Zone Management Unit to put together a proposal for the rehabilitation of those reefs and we’re now seeking funding to have that project executed,” he told reporters earlier this week.
Lowe reported that coral bleaching – the whitening of coral as a result of stress factors leading to expulsion of the algae living in their tissues – was “very severe” on the west coast. There were also cases of coral dying, he admitted.
He said he and other officials did a submarine tour of the West Coast recently and he was “shocked and devastated” by what he saw on the bed of the ocean.
Once upon a time coral reefs used to be picturesque and were home to various species of fish but the reefs were now in a “shocking” state, with some coral systems dead, a lot of the plant life missing and “fish no longer habitating there”, he said.
He told reporters the local scientists would have to pin down the causes of the problem but he fingered illegal dumping of sewage in the water as a possible contributor.
In 2012, marine biologist at the Coastal Zone Management Unit Angelique Brathwaite warned that the situation regarding the island’s coral reefs was “dire”, saying that all sectors needed to come together to save them.
“Our coral reefs are in serious trouble. Most of the ecosystem services provided by coral reefs such as protection and reef fish habitat could be lost in as few as another 70 years unless something is done,” she said.
She noted that while still beautiful, many reefs were already showing increases in algae and declines in coral and reef fish abundance.
The marine biologist noted that coral reefs had been deteriorating for a number of years, due to both human activity and climate-related causes.
Land-based sources of marine pollution such as general runoff, sewage, gray water, pesticides and fertilisers, coupled with physical damage from boats, divers and unsustainable fishing practices were said to have led to approximately half the corals on the bank reefs being lost in the space of a decade.
When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality. (TY)