The Department of Environment is investigating the cause of an area of damaged corals at the Eden Rock dive site; however, it appears the culprits may escape unpunished.
“The event in question is under investigation but, unfortunately, in this incident, no one spotted the boat at the time, so we have no witnesses and no one to prosecute,” Senior Research Officer Croy McCoy said in a DoE social media post about the incident.
The DoE said its Marine Unit responded last week to “an incident of extensive coral damage” at the dive site in George Town, which was reported to the DoE department by a member of the public.
“Upon investigation, several chunks of coral were torn from the reef which appeared to be caused by a large ship grounding. The DoE responded by up-righting the damaged corals and is in the process of reattaching them to the reef to ensure further damage would not occur to them,” the DoE post said.
This is at least the third time in six years that a ship has caused damage to the reefs at Eden Rock.
In November 2016, a 328-foot cargo ship called Saga had to be pulled free by tugboats when it ran into the reef and sheared off the tops of shallow coral heads, leaving rubble in its wake. And in September 2020, a cargo boat got stuck in seabed of the harbour, kicking up large quantities of sand that engulfed the nearby reef, smothering and killing the coral.
Back in June, the looming presence of a 1,000-foot cruise ship just off the reef at Eden Rock stirred up a fresh debate over the environmental impact of the resurgent industry.
Though to the naked eye it appeared dangerously close to the reefs, Port Authority and Department of Environment officials, who were called to the scene, said at the time that the ship – Celebrity Equinox – was within the port anchorage zone.
McCoy, commenting on the impact of the damage to the reef at Eden Rock, reminded that corals are living animals that will die if left upside down and detached from the reef.
“Since some species of coral grow only 1 centimeter per year, it can take many years to recover from an incident like this,” he said. “As our team fights the daily battle against SCTLD (Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease), it saddens us to put our resources and time towards another threat that can be so easily avoided by using safe boating practices, such as heeding the markers and using the public moorings.
“Damaging or even touching corals is illegal.”
Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease is an aggressive coral disease that has devastated coral ecosystems in the northern Caribbean and has spread completely around Grand Cayman, the department said.
The DoE added that the “disheartening incident” at Eden Rock occurred in the midst of preparations for a four-day conference of coral scientists and members from working group on Coral Conservation in the Overseas Territories arriving in Cayman next week.
Coral Fest is presented in conjunction with an international SCTLD workshop being held at The Westin from 9-12 Aug.
The DoE, in its preview of the event, said visitors will get to learn about corals from marine scientists and experts from across the UK Overseas Territories, as well as meet Cayman’s own SCTLD Response Team.
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