Marine conservation consultation starts

The Department of Environment has started a process of public consultation meetings on the future of marine protected areas in the Cayman Islands, with Bodden Town being the first in several district stops. 

The meeting however, was attended only by members of the study team and Department of Environment staff, who were accompanied by two members of the media.  

According to Gina Ebanks-Petrie, director of the department, the aim of the public consultation is to inform stakeholders and interested members of the public on the findings of the Darwin Initiative research project recently conducted by the department in cooperation with Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences as well as the Nature Conservancy in the United States. 

The research project was aimed at quantifying the effects of protection within marine parks on coral, fish and invertebrates compared to areas where no protection was in place. It also looked at the effect of protected zones on the fish population on areas surrounding the parks. 

Ms Ebanks-Petrie said when the marine parks were originally put in place, they were created with the intention of mitigating the impact of rapid development taking place in Cayman, including an increasing number of canals being constructed as well as dredge and fill operations, with anchor damage also playing an important role. There were also emerging concerns about over fishing and resulting decline in the numbers of significant species like grouper, conch and lobster. 

However, when the parks were planned 25 years ago, many currently emerging threats like global climate change could not have been predicted. 

Although global problems like climate change will not be influenced by the protection offered by marine parks in Cayman, the corals within the parks have proven to be more resilient to the stresses imposed on the coral by increased ocean temperatures. 

“Corals can recover from this if they are healthy, but it is a significant problem and we are seeing an increase in bleaching events,” Ms Ebanks-Petrie said. 

According to Tim Austin, deputy director of the department, coral cover in the protected areas is higher than in other areas. 

“Incidences of disease and coral bleaching are also lower because healthy coral is more able to withstand this, so parks help instil better resilience against external events,” he said. 

The research has also shown fishing poses a significant threat to the reefs, as fewer fish lead to fewer grazers to control the algae on the reef, Ms Ebanks-Petrie said. 

“The macro algae competes with coral for space on the reef, and leads to unhealthy and less resilient reefs,” she said. 

According to John Turner of Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences, the implementation of marine protected areas has really helped the local reefs. 

“The reefs have really benefitted from 25 years’ worth of foresight. However, the protection level is actually quite low, as only 16.7 per cent of the shelf is fully protected,” Mr. Turner said. 

The data gathered during the research project point to the success of the currently protected areas, but also shows that greater protection is needed to help the reefs resist future threats. 

The next step for the project is to get input from the community to see whether there are any other areas of concern, Mr. Turner said. 

“What is important for us is to really capture the vision of the people. What do they want the marine environment to be like, not just now but in the future?” he said. “We can design the scientifically best system, but it might not be the one people are willing to accept.”