Live coral cover has slowly increased over the past 15 years, but disease and bleaching are beginning to show their impact.
The biomass of critical commercial fish (snappers and groupers) indicates the extent of overfishing, the destruction of key habitats and the potential loss of biodiversity.
Why does full protection matters?
Fully Protected Areas (FPA) are areas where are areas where fishing, extraction or harmful activities are not allowed. The protection of large fish in FPA is essential to restore their stocks as their reproductive viability continues to increase with their size. Full protection is only possible if there is strong law enforcement and full compliance by the watchers and users.
Macroalgae proliferation is one of the most widespread problems facing the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR): it affects coral growth, prevents the settlement of new coral larvae and hosts disease vectors. The MAR has been a world leader in the protection of herbivorous fish. This helps the natural recovery of the key ecological herbivory process. Now, we seek the repopulation of other herbivores such as king crab.
In Mexico, with our partner CRIAP-INAPESCA, several milestones have been reached: raising crabs from eggs to adults and carrying out a pilot planting test, using a small-scale low-tech system with scientific innovations. In Belize, we are re-establishing a field mariculture operation in Turneffe, with partners TASA and Mote Marine Lab. In late 2023, we continued to replicate the experience, now with our partners Cayos Cochinos.
Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) is an aggressive coral disease that affects 35 coral species and is now devastating reefs in at least 25 Caribbean countries. Restoring favorable ecological conditions of reefs to increase coral resilience is the best way to combat the (SCTLD). The richness of coral species, an indicator of diversity, decreased by 15% in the last decade, with stronger falls in Honduras (26%) since 2009 and Mexico (23%) since 2016.
Climate change is undoubtedly the greatest threat to our planet, coral reefs and human society, as it leads to more frequent and intense storms, droughts, heat waves and fires. Approximately 3.3 to 3.6 billion people are highly vulnerable to climate change, including the MAR coastal communities.
In our next blogs you will find more information about these topics of importance for the health of the Mesoamerican Reef.
