Page 66 - Dive the Seas and More-2

Coral Reef Teacher’s Guide Benefits, Threats, and Solutions

been turned into a hypersaline wasteland dot- the tour bus parked in the sand and the beach-
ted with dying mangroves. Juan Pablo was front concession signal what the future holds. Be-
visibly alarmed by the area’s decline. A huge cause of a shortage of boats, we are towed on a
tourist resort had been built directly on the paddle boat by a jetski to a patch reef about a half
dunes in front of the Insti-tute. Several other mile offshore. We see a bottom bristling with live
new hotels and access roads were un- der con- staghorn cor-al. Visibility is over 100 feet. Much
struction. In an all too familiar sce-nario, the of the coral is golden with the glow of living coral
scientists and ecologists at Cayo Cocos were polyps. Al -though the elkhorn grows in profusion,
running a footrace against the economic forc- the human impacts are obvious: entire coralheads
es of tourism and development, trying to gath- have been overturned, many branches broken off,
er enough evidence to convince their govern- and the top of the reef flattened from divers stand-
ment that unbridled construc- tion will kill ing on it. The purple sea fans exhibit the browning
the goose that lays the golden egg. and fun-gal slime characteristic of their demise. Of
the sev-en coral dis- eases identified in the Florida
Our first nearshore snorkel dive at Cayo Keys, Craig finds four. Everyone inspects a small
Cocos confirmed our worst fears. The seagrass brain coral infected with blackband. The Cuban
and patch corals are covered in sediment. The scientists study it intently and talk afterwards to
water has the translucent milky lime color the local div-ers about what we have seen.
that derives from excess runoff and algal over-
growth. Craig and DeeVon shake their heads Later in the day, Craig and DeeVon will give
in disbelief. a leture at the Institute describing coral diseases
and condi- tions at Florida reefs. They also talk
The next day we snorkel at Playa Flamingo about the rela- tionship between tourism, the dive
on Cayo Guillermo, the westernmost island indus-try and the
of the archipelago. It is more isolated but

Figure 3‐17. Sponges are an important part of the coral reef ecosystem. This photo was taken at Palancar Reef, Cozumel,
Mexio in the Summer 2014. (Photo: Dean Homayouni)

3 - 19