Coral Reef Report Cards 2016 St. Vincent and the Grenadines Report Card | Page 8

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
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:
RHI
2.5
277 Sites
s h r ou s
# 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
Saba
Sint-Eustasius
m
Co m F
Reef Health Index
Montserrat
=
Score
Guadeloupe
2.3
2.3
Martinque
Dominica
Status of MMAs in the Eastern Caribbean
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.
Ma Fle
cro
ver
Co
Status of coral reefs in the Eastern Caribbean (EC)
16
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 St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ coral reefs :
I. Management Recommendations
A. Ensure resources for effective management, enforcement and education
B. Continue to protect parrotfish & other herbivores to reduce harmful
macroalgae
C. Create more fully protected replenishment areas to let fish grow larger and
produce more fish for the future
D. Protect reefs adjacent to mangroves and seagrass beds
E. Improve nearshore water quality & reduce siltation to increase reef resilience
II. Monitoring Priorities
A. Coral Reef Monitoring 2016
1. Representative island wide surveys
2. Strategic surveys to fill data gaps - St. Vincent: South coast elkhorn,
Barrouallie, Cumberland Bay, Chateaubelair, LariKai, Owia/Sandy Island area;
N. Grenadines: Isle a Quatre, Baliceaux, Bequia west coast; S. Grenadines:
Canouan, Union, Petit St. Vincent; east side of many islands.
3. Long term monitoring (LTM) - Resurvey: South Coast, Mustique & Tobago
Cays LTMs. Select new LTM sites: South coast elkhorn reefs, Bequia MCA, Isle
a Quatre; Canouan (near construction), Union, Petit St. Vincent.
L'anse Mahaut Bay,
B. Socioeconomic monitoring
Steve Schill
St. Vincent mainland
C. MMA effectiveness monitoring
D. Produce Report Cards in 2017 based on 2016 surveys
Healthy endangered elkhorn corals & Diadema urchins give hope for the future
E. Update CaribNode data platform with new data