Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 18 september 2019
Surprise rescue of Jamaica coral reefs shows nature can heal

By CHRISTINA LARSON than a dozen grassroots-
Associated Press run coral nurseries and fish
OCHO RIOS, Jamaica (AP) sanctuaries have sprung
— Everton Simpson squints up, supported by small
at the Caribbean from his grants from foundations, lo-
motorboat, scanning the cal businesses such as ho-
dazzling bands of color for tels and scuba clinics, and
hints of what lies beneath. the Jamaican government.
Emerald green indicates At the White River Fish Sanc-
sandy bottoms. Sapphire tuary, which is only about 2
blue lies above seagrass years old and where Simp-
meadows. And deep indi- son works, the clearest
go marks coral reefs. That's proof of early success is the
where he's headed. return of tropical fish that in-
He steers the boat to an un- habit the reefs — as well as
marked spot he knows as hungry pelicans, skimming
the "coral nursery." ''It's like the surface of the water to
a forest under the sea," he feed on them.
says, fastening his oxygen The solution was to create
tank before tipping back- a protected area for imma-
ward into the azure waters. ture fish to reach reproduc-
He swims straight down 25 tive age before they are
feet carrying a pair of met- A boat heads out to sea at dawn from the fishing village of White River, Jamaica, Thursday, Feb. caught.
al shears, fishing line and a 14, 2019. Most of the more estab-
plastic crate. Associated Press lished fishermen, who own
On the ocean floor, small boats and set out lines and
coral fragments dangle rary binding until the coral's parrotfish, groupers and effort is gaining momen- wire cages, have come to
from suspended ropes, like limestone skeleton grows snappers lay eggs and tum. accept the no-fishing zone.
socks hung on a laundry and fixes itself onto the hide from predators in the "When you give nature a But some younger men still
line. Simpson and other div- rock. The goal is to jump- reef's nooks and crannies, chance, she can repair hunt with lightweight spear-
ers tend to this underwater start the natural growth of and their presence draws herself," says Stuart San- guns, swimming out to sea
nursery as gardeners mind a coral reef. And so far, it's eels, sea snakes, octopuses din, a marine biologist at and firing at close-range.
a flower bed — slowly and working. and even sharks. In healthy the Scripps Institution of These men — some of them
painstakingly plucking off Almost everyone in Jamai- reefs, jellyfish and sea tur- Oceanography in La Jolla, poor and with few options
snails and fireworms that ca depends on the sea, tles are regular visitors. California. "It's not too late." — are the most likely tres-
feast on immature coral. including the energetic With fish and coral, it's a Sandin is studying the passers. Once it became
When each stub grows to 68-year-old Simpson. codependent relationship health of coral reefs clear that a no-fishing zone
about the size of a human Once a spear fisherman — the fish rely on the reef around the world as part of actually helped nearby fish
hand, Simpson collects and later a scuba-diving to evade danger and lay a research project called populations rebound, how-
them in his crate to indi- instructor, he started work- eggs, and they also eat up the "100 Island Challenge." ever, it became easier to
vidually "transplant" onto ing as a "coral gardener" the coral's rivals. His starting assumption was build support. The number
a reef, a process akin to two years ago — part of After a series of natural and that the most populated is- of fish in the Oracabessa
individually planting each grassroots efforts to bring man-made disasters in the lands would have the most Bay Fish Sanctuary has dou-
blade of grass in a lawn. Jamaica's coral reefs back 1980s and 1990s, Jamaica degraded habitats, but he bled between 2011 and
Even fast-growing coral from the brink. lost 85 percent of its once- found instead that humans 2017, according to Jamai-
species add just a few inch- Coral reefs are often called bountiful reefs. Meanwhile, can be either a blessing or ca's National Environment
es a year. And it's not possi- "rainforests of the sea" for fish catches declined to a curse, depending on how and Planning Agency. And
ble to simply scatter seeds. the astonishing diversity of a sixth of what they had they manage resources. that boosts catches in sur-
A few hours later, at an life they shelter. been in the 1950s, pushing When Jamaica's fish popu- rounding areas.
underwater site called Just 2 percent of the ocean families depending on sea- lations began to collapse Oracabessa was the first
Dickie's Reef, Simpson uses floor is filled with coral, but food closer to poverty. two decades ago, some- of the grassroots-led efforts
fishing line to tie clusters of the branching structures Many scientists thought thing had to change. to revive Jamaica's coral
staghorn coral onto rocky sustain a quarter of all ma- most of Jamaica's coral In the past 10 years, more reefs. q
outcroppings — a tempo- rine species. Clown fish, reef had been permanent-
ly replaced by seaweed,
like jungle overtaking a ru-
ined cathedral.
But today, the corals and
tropical fish are slowly re-
appearing, thanks in part
to a series of careful inter-
ventions.
The delicate labor of the
coral gardener is only one
part of restoring a reef. Con-
vincing lifelong fishermen
to curtail when and where
they fish and controlling the
Diver Lenford DaCosta cleans up lines of staghorn coral at a surging waste dumped into Diver Everton Simpson plants staghorn harvested from a coral
nursery inside the Oracabessa Fish Sanctuary Tuesday, Feb. 12, the ocean are even trickier nursery inside the the White River Fish Sanctuary Tuesday, Feb.
2019, in Oracabessa, Jamaica. endeavors. 12, 2019, in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
Associated Press Still, slowly, the comeback Associated Press