Eastern Caribbean Regional Overview
• Endangered elkhorn/staghorn corals are recovering (NE island areas)
• Fleshy algae are often found on leeward reefs and near settlements
• Lack of large parrotfish has reduced grazing on several reefs
• Diadema urchins are abundant on several reef types in the EC
• Reefs with greater structure and relief have higher fish abundance
• Reefs under some level of protection have higher fish abundance,
especially fully protected areas and longer established MMAs
# sites
St. Kitts & Nevis
25
Antigua &
Barbuda
29/121
• Currently 44 designated MMAs protect 526 km 2 of marine resources
• Many MMAs were designated >25 years ago (17 of 44)
• Most of the designated MMAs are small (27 of 44 are <10 km 2 )
• Few MMAs are fully protected “no take” zones, which had more fish
• Several key nursery areas with adjacent coral, mangrove & seagrass
remain unprotected
• 50 new proposed MMAs will protect 990 km 2 of marine resources
Sint-Eustasius
m
Co m F
Reef Health Index
Montserrat
=
Score
Guadeloupe
2.3
2.3
Martinque
16
The long-term health and resilience of these ecosystems will depend
on both effective local management and adopting collaborative and
transboundary management strategies among the 6 nations.
2.5
277 Sites
s h r ou s
Dominica
Status of MMAs in the Eastern Caribbean
RHI
Saba
The Region’s overall Reef Health Index (RHI) score was “fair”
(2.5 of 5). Coral cover and herbivorous fish biomass were scored
“fair”, while fleshy macroalgae and commercial fish biomass were
“poor”. Reef condition varied at the local scale, but several regional
patterns of reef condition were common:
Ma Fle
cro
ver
Co
Status of coral reefs in the Eastern Caribbean (EC)
Saint Lucia
17
St. Vincent &
Grenadines
42
Grenada
27
2.8
2.8
2.8
2.5
No
Data
Very
Good
Next Steps
The following Management Recommendations and
Monitoring Priorities are suggested to help protect
Dominica’s coast:
I. Management Recommendations
A. Continue management of MMAs to help reefs recover
B. Protect parrotfish and other herbivores to reduce seaweed
C. Create more fully protected replenishment areas to let fish
grow larger and produce more fish for the future
D. Protect reefs adjacent to seagrass beds and elkhorn corals
E. Improve nearshore water quality to increase reef resilience
F. Improve ridge to reef management to reduce impact of land
based activities
II. Monitoring Priorities
A. Coral Reef Monitoring
1. Conduct representative island-wide surveys in 2016
2. Survey strategic reefs - Cabrits NP (MMA), Calibishe (elkhorn
reefs, seagrass), Grand Savannes/Salisbury (extensive reefs),
Layou river (upland impacts), Fond Cole/Rosseau (upland
impacts), Soufriere-Scott’s Head (MMA, complex reefs)
3. Establish long-term monitoring sites
B. Socioeconomic monitoring
C. MMA effectiveness monitoring in Cabrits MR and SMMR
D. Produce Report Cards in 2017 based on 2016 surveys
E. Update CaribNode data platform with new data
Sascha Steiner
Healthy coral reefs provide habitat, support ecotourism & protect our shorelines