Little Cayman reefs show resilience

From an article by James Dimond posted on cayCompass.com:

Coral reefs around Little Cayman have almost completely recovered from a 2005 ocean warming event that caused the most extreme coral bleaching and mortality ever seen in the wider Caribbean.

Marine scientists at the Central Caribbean Marine Institute’s Little Cayman Research Center carried out a survey of reefs around Little Cayman in January.

While the bleaching that was recorded in 2005 – the hottest year on record in the Northern Hemisphere – was the worst ever seen in the Cayman Islands, reefs in Little Cayman have come back stronger than most other Caribbean reefs, they say.

According to a report published by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network in January, other reefs in the region have not fared so well. The US Virgin Islands lost over 50 per cent of coral reef cover; Barbados experienced 17 per cent to 20 per cent coral mortality; losses in the French West Indies ranged between 11 per cent and 30 per cent; while sites in the Dominican Republic suffered up to 38 per cent mortality.

“The reefs are regenerating at a high level,” said CCMI President Ms Carrie Manfrino. “This is very good news and illustrates a level of resilience in Cayman that is not common on Caribbean reefs.”

Ms Manfrino said the resilience of Little Cayman’s reefs is probably a reflection of the fact that they are subject to less human induced stresses than reefs in more populated and industrialized areas, and are therefore better able to respond to threats like the 2005 bleaching event.