Times of the Islands Summer 2020

TCI Government distributed a daily COVID-19 report, showing how
well the country made it through the pandemic.
permits, the Turks & Caicos Reef Fund (TCRF) was only
able to start treating the corals less than a month before
the lockdown and had done one treatment transect. They
used a low-dose Amoxicillin mixture that is specifically
designed for this treatment method. According to TCRF
Project Manager Alizee Zimmermann, the combined ointment
is designed to expand into the grooves of the coral
along the disease margin and to minimize leaching into
the water. The treatment goes directly onto the coral
where it stays and is absorbed.
Prior to the pandemic, the disease had already spread
to Grand Turk, West Caicos and Providenciales, and the
concern was that with the cooler temperatures of the sea,
and TCRF’s inability to continue monitoring and applying
treatments; the disease may be spreading at an alarming
rate. The priority of this type of treatment is to save the
older, bigger colonies, as they have survived for 50–200
years. When the world came to an abrupt and complete
halt, the treatments stopped and the health and/or survival
of the corals was left to fate.
When TCRF divers were finally able to get back in
the water for the first time, they saw very clearly that
SCTLD has continued to spread on the reefs, but there is
some good news as well. One of the corals treated over
two months ago had not been taken by the disease, and
more importantly, had no new lesions. This is such a positive
discovery! With continued and consistent treatment,
there may be a good chance of preserving enough reproductive
tissue on the affected corals for them to continue
to populate the reef. So while the world above is fighting
the pandemic, the aquatic world has been fighting its
own battle in silence; now the treatments can continue in
hopes for a positive prognosis.
The lockdown time did not go to waste. The TCRF and
Ms. Zimmermann put together online, educational video
sessions for those interested in learning how to identify
infected corals and report them. They also learned other
ways to participate with the TCRF and be ocean warriors,
guaranteeing the future of protection and conservation
efforts in TCI.
With the absence of human presence, the overall
effects on the reefs will be positive; a regenerating and
recovering period; a time for them to rest undisturbed.
Another area of recovery that could be positively
affected by this situation is the conch population in the
Turks & Caicos Islands. The Caicos Conch Farm used to
be one of only two productive conch farms in the world,
and the largest worldwide exporter of the mollusk.
Hurricane Irma destroyed the farm, and to date it has not
been rebuilt. Without the farm to help supplement the
population and the over-harvesting of wild conch, natural
reproduction could not replenish them fast enough and
their numbers started to decline to the point of landing
conch on the endangered species list.
Most restaurants in the country serve the tasty white
meat in a number of forms, tourists buy the shells and
recreational operators prepare them for guests as ceviche
on the beach. Now with restaurants closed, no tourists
and boats ordered to stay in port, conch are safe from
human predation and can start to regain their numbers.
As well, natural predators of conch leave when
their food source dwindles, so without the intrusion of
humans, their numbers can make some gains. This is not
only good for them, but good for the creatures that hunt
them. This could mean an increase in population of eagle
rays, nurse sharks and loggerhead turtles in the Turks &
Caicos Islands—all of which attract snorkelers and divers.
More than a million tourists clammer to the TCI each
year. They come to soak up the sun on picturesque fine
sandy beaches, swim in the truly turquoise water and dive
the stunning reefs and dramatic walls. Tourism is the
main source of revenue and the absence of that income
is on everyone’s minds.
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