Status of Caribbean coral reefs after bleaching and hurricanes in 2005

The Effects of Coral Bleaching in the Northern Caribbean and Western Atlanticbetween 0% and 38%. Significant bleaching also occurred between late May and the endof August 2006, with bleaching affecting between 66% and 85% of living coral cover andindividual colonies exhibiting bleaching over 50-95% of their surface areas.JamaicaGeographic Distribution and Extent of Coral Reefs: Jamaica is the 3rd largest Caribbeanisland; 230 km long by 80 km wide with 891 km of coastline and a coral reef area of 1240km 2 . Well developed fringing reefs occur along most of the north and east coasts, while patchyfringing reefs grow on the broader shelf of the south coast. Reefs and corals also grow on theneighboring banks of the Pedro Cays, 70 km to the south, and the Morant Cays, 50 km to thesouthwest.Status of coral reefs prior to 2005: Hard coral cover declined from 50% in the 1970s to lessthan 5% by the early 1990s as a result of hurricanes, Diadema die-off, coral diseases, andover-fishing. Coral cover has risen to 10-15% recently, with some sites having coral cover of34-46%. Fish populations in Jamaica have been declining for decades because of poor fishingpractices. Reef Check surveys at 35 sites between 2001 and 2006 reported an average densityof 9.8 fish per 100 m 2 .Impacts of Coral Bleaching in 2005: Between August and October 2005, there were prolongedhigh sea surface temperatures around Jamaica and nearby countries, with 5 to 6 weeks ofgreater than normal temperatures, which resulted in widespread bleaching. This was firstobserved on the north coast from late August to early September and on the south coast inlate September to early October. Corals started recovering as early as February/March whensea temperatures began to cool.Bleaching was assessed 26 times at 16 sites. Variation in the proportion of corals bleachedranged from 10% to 95%, with Montastraea annularis, M. faveolata, M. cavernosa, Siderastreasiderea, Diploria strigosa, Agaricia spp., Millepora complanata and Porites porites being mostcommonly affected. Within five months, about 50% of the bleached corals had recovered.There were however, increases in recently killed coral and fleshy algae, which usually indicatenutrient pollution.In September 2006, black-band and white plague diseases were noted in the Port Royal Cays,especially Lime Cay and South-east Cay. White plague has been the most prevalent diseasesince January 2006, affecting the massive corals Siderastrea, Montastraea, and Diploriaspecies.Impacts of Hurricanes in 2005: Major hurricanes that have damaged Jamaica’s reefs include‘Allen’ in 1980, ‘Gilbert’ in 1988 and ‘Ivan’ in 2004. The hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 passed tothe south of Jamaica causing most damage to south coast reefs. Hurricane Ivan passed parallelto the south coast in September 2004 causing damage to Port Royal and Portland Bight Cays,with large numbers of fractured and killed branching corals in shallow water (2-8 m). Othernearby corals were turned over, relocated, abraded and bleached. Some survived virtuallyundamaged or with only partial mortality. The lesions caused during the hurricane werequickly being overgrown by fast growing opportunistic algae; however, by February, 2005,79