Marine scientists and teams tackling a deadly disease threatening reefs around the Caribbean region will gather in Cayman this week to compare notes and discuss what’s working, as well as to take part in the upcoming inaugural Coral Fest.
A series of workshops will begin on Tuesday, 9 Aug., on ‘Coral Conservation in the Overseas Territories’, focusing mainly on stony tissue loss disease. They will also be carrying out fieldwork on Cayman’s local reefs.
The workshops come as the Cayman Islands Department of Environment prepares to host Coral Fest on Wednesday, 10 Aug., a public outreach event to teach people in Cayman more about their local coral reefs.
Those attending the workshops will be available to meet the public at Coral Fest – dubbed ‘Cayman’s first ever festival for corals’.
Scientists and members of government environmental agencies from jurisdictions throughout the Caribbean, including Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos, will join members of Cayman’s own Department of Environment and the Little Cayman-based Central Caribbean Marine Institute, at the workshops.
There will also be experts from academic institutions, including Blake Ushijima and Erin Papke of the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and Kelly Pitts of the Smithsonian Marine Station, who are working on probiotics to pre-treat corals at risk from stony coral tissue loss disease.
Representatives of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, a public body that advises the UK government and the overseas territories, will also be in attendance.
Governments and environmental agencies throughout the Caribbean have been collaborating on the threats that face all their reefs, especially after the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs gave some of its overseas territories, including Cayman Islands, almost £500,000 (CI$590,000) last year to help manage stony coral tissue loss disease.
The disease was first spotted at a site off Rum Point last year and has since spread around the entire coast of Grand Cayman. So far, it has not been detected on either of the Sister Islands.
Coral Fest
Coral Fest, which has been postponed twice due to COVID restrictions, will be held at 5:30-7:30pm on Wednesday, 10 Aug., at the Governor’s Ballroom at The Westin.
At the family-friendly event, there will be “a number of fun and engaging experiences for persons of all ages to learn about and celebrate our incredible corals”, organisers said.
Both Governor Martin Roper and Premier Wayne Panton will deliver addresses at Coral Fest.
The main theme of the new festival is the threat of stony coral tissue loss disease.
The festival will include booths by visiting representatives of the UK Overseas Territories, as well as local organisations and artists.
A DoE spokesperson said, “We look forward to sharing the experiences of our threatened coral reefs and the scientific community with the wider public.”
Related Videos
