Report Highlights Declining Health of Caribbean Corals 7
September 2012: A new International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN) report highlights that average live coral cover on
Caribbean reefs has declined to just 8% of the reef today,
compared with more than 50% in the 1970s. The report stems from
a workshop held by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network
(GCRMN) at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the
Republic of Panama, from 29 April-5 May 2012. According to the
report, rates of decline on most reefs show no signs of slowing.
However, many reefs in the Netherlands Antilles and Cayman
Islands have 30% or more live coral cover. The causes of these
regional differences in reef conditions are not well understood,
beyond the role of human exploitation and disturbance. Carl
Gustaf Lundin, Director, IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme,
notes that the major causes of coral decline include
overfishing, pollution, disease, and bleaching caused by rising
temperatures resulting from the burnin