Times of the Islands Summer 2019

green pages newsletter of the department of environment & coastal resources
another, often with one or more other corals in between
that remain unaffected. This is largely in contrast to
Florida’s reefs, where many groups of coral heads can
be seen having died from the disease, though this does
not necessarily indicate that all corals within a group
contracted the disease one right after the other in those
cases.
The work that researchers have been doing in Florida
since the first outbreak will be incredibly useful in the
fight against SCTLD here, in that because of their work
we essentially have a head start on the disease and know
more about it than we would if this was a nameless,
unheard of condition. As of now, SFS is the only team in
the TCI working to gather data on SCTLD, but as word gets
out and more people learn about the possible destruction
this is going to cause our reefs, we are optimistic that
other capable hands will join the fight. Research will not
only help us to minimize the effect of SCTLD on our pristine
reefs, but it can also empower us to prevent reefs
elsewhere in the world from having to experience the
alarming loss seen throughout the Caribbean. a
Sources
ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies. “Coral
reefs in the Indo-Pacific Ocean naturally tougher than
Caribbean reefs.” ScienceDaily, 12 July 2012.
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. (2018). Florida
Reef Tract Coral Disease Outbreak: Disease. National
Marine Sanctuaries, NOAA.
Kinane, S. (2019) Florida’s devastating coral disease has
spread to the Caribbean: scientist. 88.5WMNF Florida
Public Radio.
Riggs, B. (2006) Coral Bleaching: Bad news and (a little)
good news for Turks & Caicos Reefs. Times of the Islands.
The Museum Turks and Caicos (2019) “The Living Reef.”
Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies.
Turks and Caicos Reef Fund (2019) “Coral Bleaching.”
Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies.
Weinberg, E. (2018) Scientists work together to solve a
coral disease mystery in the Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary. National Ocean Service, NOAA, Department of
Commerce.
Sea turtle
I am sea turtle.
I am green turtle. I swim far and wide.
Queen in my blue wilderness.
Below the sea, dwelled a beautiful green turtle
(she loved to swim around).
She danced with happiness in her heart
she danced as the sound of the sea rang in her ears.
In the morning, she wandered far and wide: in a
blink of an eye, she could hear all types of honking.
She swam and swam; she stopped and ate a plastic
bag thinking of jellyfish and then–BOOM–the cruise
ship stopped! And an anchor fell as another turtle
passed by. Both turtles dropped down in despair!
Their fins cut and bruised: the turtles cried with
anxiety. Then they heard a big–SPLASH–two girls
swam to the turtles with speed. The girls stopped
with silence They heard a noise–BOOM–and another
one–BOOM–then a–SPLASH. Two strong men came
to help all. All of them together lifted the anchor
and set it somewhere else. They lifted the anchor
slowly and moved it away from the turtles.
Two men lifted the turtles out to the shore…
A few days later, the turtles went into a sanctuary…
they found 56 bags of plastic in them.
We are sea turtles no more.
We are green turtles no more.
We can no longer swim far and wide,
queens of our beautiful blue wilderness.
STOP THIS PLASTIC POLLUTION BEFORE WE LOSE
ALL OF OUR BEAUTIFUL TURTLES!!
This poem was written by Ziahon Taylor,
a Grade 4 student from the International School of
the Turks & Caicos Islands.
She wrote the poem following the school’s “Zero
Waste Week” and subsequent DECR visit.
Times of the Islands Summer 2019 39