Reckless tourism, climate change wrecking coral reefs in Cayman Islands

9 May, 2007: The precious coral reefs in Cayman Islands are facing extinction thanks to climate change and rash, reef-oriented tourism industry.

Cayman Islands is ranked among the top 10 scuba-diving destinations in the world. The reef system of the western Caribbean territory has lost 50% of its hard corals in the last 10 years despite strong laws intended to protect the environment, according to scientists.

“We are at a very critical time in the history of coral reefs,” warns Carrie Manfrino, president of the Central Caribbean Marine Institute on Little Cayman Island.

Carrie Manfrino says it is like working with a sick patient. How well we treat that patient will determine if that patient survives. We could potentially see the end of hard coral reefs in our lifetime.

The tourism industry of Caymans Islands, which represents about 50% of the colony’s gross domestic product, started in 1957 when Bob Soto, pioneer of the dive industry, opened the first scuba-diving operation in the Caribbean.

Now, 50 years later, about 2 million visitors arrive in Caymans Islands every year, with most of them either diving or snorkelling on famous sites like the North Wall or Stingray City.

The sport did help transform a sleepy territory of 8,500 people – subsisting on fishing and seafaring – into a luxury tourism destination and sophisticated offshore banking centre.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations commission, has warned that the world must make sweeping cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid a rise in temperatures that could inundate islands and coastlines under rising seas, and eliminate the world’s temperature-sensitive coral reefs.

In a report issued in the first week of May 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that keeping the increase in temperatures within 2 degrees Centigrade would only cost 0.12% of the world’s annual gross domestic product.

To residents of Cayman Islands, who depend on tourism, that would be a small investment if it were enough to save the coral reefs, the report added.

Global warming is heating sea water, which leads to coral bleaching, an affliction that causes normally colourful corals to turn white, and also white plague, a disease sweeping and killing coral around the world.

Another threat to Cayman Islands is from cruise ships, which have damaged large areas of living coral with their anchors and chains, according to Gina Ebanks-Petrie, director of the Cayman Islands Department of the Environment.

At the same time, cruise ships play an important role in Cayman Islands’ tourism industry – with 36% of tourist revenue coming from 1.7 million passengers visiting each year. More cruise ships expected to call Cayman Islands.

However, even with a 50% decrease in hard corals, reefs of Cayman Islands are still considered among the healthiest in the Atlantic Ocean. This is mainly because, scientists say, the islands are geographically isolated by surrounding water 1,830 metres deep, which minimises the impact of pollution from other countries.