Coral Reef Report Cards 2016 St. Vincent and the Grenadines Report Card

Reef Health Index and Marine Managed Areas 8 1 85 of Ocean Areas Designated Since 1973 Square KM Square KM Ocean Protected Shelf Protected <1% 4% Marine Managed Areas Designated Proposed Not Protected Marine Managed Areas Designated Plantain Date Area Mustique MCA – Diverse coral Plantain LTM reefs, mangroves and seagrass beds provide important habitat Mustique and nursery grounds. 1000 Lagoon yard conservation zone around island to protect fish. Mustique Company has implemented Subregion 15 Petit innovative techniques to reduce Mustique erosion, improve nearshore water quality, install sewage treatment Dry Rocks facilities, recycle and reduce waste and restore the lagoon, mangroves and reefs. (km 2 ) South Coast Marine Conservation Area *** Bequia Marine Conservation Area Isle a Quatre Marine Reserve Mustique Marine Conservation Area *** Canouan Marine Reserve Tobago Cays-Mayreau Union-Palm Island MCA Petit St. Vincent Wildlife Reserve 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Subregion 17 4 <1 of Ocean Area Proposed Pillories Subregion 16 Mustique Petit Mustique Saven Island 1987 2.6 1987 3.5 1987 3.1 1987 6.2 1987 11.8 1987 51.8 1987 12.9 1987 1.1 Petit Canouan Subregion 14 Subregion 13 Proposed **** 9 South Coast Marine Park 3.2 Subregion 11 Canouan The Grenadines Network of MPAs (GNMPA) is a transboundary network of managers and stakeholders from 6 MPAs in Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. GNMPA is collaborating to share and improve best management practices across national borders. Subregion 12 5 Subregion 10 Canoan South Mayreau Subregion 8 Mayreau N Union W Union Horseshoe North Horseshoe 1 Horseshoe 2 Petite Rameau Horseshoe Mayreau Gardens LTM Petit Tabac 6 Tobago Cays Newlands Reef Palm Island Union Island P-NEZ REEF 7 Subregion 9 Palm Island Mopion 8 Petit Saint Vincent Tobago Cays Marine Park - Largest seascape of corals and seagrasses. Nursery area for conch, lobster, fish and numerous juvenile green sea turtles. Unique Horseshoe Reef, Mayreau Gardens and World’s End Reef. Status: Higher abundance of commercial and herbivorous fish; fish smaller in size than 1999. Coral cover has decreased; remaining corals healthy and could support greater number of fish, conch and lobster. TCMP ranger presence helps to reduce illegal fishing, improve water quality, reduce anchor damage and promote sustainable use. Ashton Lagoon - Largest mangrove area in SVG; important bird habitat and nursery for marine species. Damaged by abandoned marina construction 20 years ago. New restoration will restore tidal flushing and circulation and increase sustainable use. Reef Health Index Scores 0 2 4 Km Reef Health Index Reference Values* The Reef Health Index “scores” are calculated by converting the average value of each indicator into a condition ranking from ‘critical’ to ‘very good’ based on reference values (table right). The four scores are averaged to obtain the overall RHI score. The pie displays the overall RHI (middle) and each individual indicator to show how each indicator affects the score. The Reef Health Index (RHI) Coral Cover (%) Fleshy Macroalgal Cover (%) Critical 1-1.8 Poor 1.9-2.6 Fair 2.7-3.4 Good 3.5-4.2 Very Good 4.3-5 <5 5.0-9.9 10.0-19.9 20.0-39.9 ≥40 >25.0 12.1-25 5.1-12.0 1.0-5.0 0-0.9 2 <960 960-1919 1920-2879 2880-3479 ≥3480 2 <420 420-839 840-1259 1260-1679 ≥1680 Herbivorous Fish (g/100m ) Commercial Fish (g/100m ) Operational MMA with active management. St. Vincent and the Grenadines have several other proposed marine managed areas not listed here as geospatial data on the boundaries were not available (e.g., Chateaubelair, Petit Byahaut, and Anchor Reef). *** **** 6

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