Inside the race to save Cuba’s coral reefs
Inside the race to save Cuba’s coral reefs
Kyle Deas • May 26, 2016
For years, it was an open secret among divers and researchers alike that the coral reefs of Cuba were spectacular. The few who found a way to dive off the coast of the island came back with tales of the seagrass beds of the Gulf of Batabanó, of shipwrecks and caves along the Isla de la Juventud, and of the lush reefs and mangrove forests of the Jardines de la Reina archipelago.
Decades of limited development and tourism took a toll on the Cuban economy, but they also helped the island’s major reef chains to escape much of the destruction that affected reefs elsewhere in the Caribbean. In many of Cuba’s gulfs, the corals quietly thrived.
Today, with the relationship between the United States and Cuba improving, more collaboration is possible on scientific topics than ever before. That means that researchers and conservationists are now scrambling to collect data on the coral reefs — before climate change destroys their preserved state.
Fernando Bretos, the director of the Cuba Marine Research and Conservation Program (CubaMar) of the Ocean Foundation, is one such conservationist. Bretos first visited Cuba in 1999. At that time, he had taken a position focusing on the Caribbean at the Ocean Conservancy. “I was selected because I spoke Spanish and knew Latin America,” he says. “The position involved considerable work in Cuba, and, at the time, there were very few U.S. organizations on the island.”
More:
http://progresoweekly.us/inside-race-save-cubas-coral-reefs/
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Interesting photos cuba coral reef snorkeling:
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1356&bih=631&q=cuba+coral+reef+snorkeling&oq=cuba+coral&gs_l=img.1.1.0l2j0i8i30l8.1314.4701.0.12856.12.11.1.0.0.0.184.1732.0j10.10.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..1.11.1737...0i10j0i30.yz67ZKD8NdE#imgrc=_
