Reef condition

[dolesorchard]

How is the reef doing? I was there two years ago and, except for right around town, it was recovering nicely from the bleaching in 2011. Is it still on the mend?

 

[darook]

Overall, it is doing fine. I saw some areas of the hard coral that were showing stress a few weeks ago but the soft corals looked fine. I think now that we are past the Fall warm water period it will recover fully. I will know in about 7 weeks when I get back. I thought the sites south of the Salt Pier looked best but the usual critters were in their usual spots regardless of location.

 

[Kharon]

I was there Oct 28th to Nov 5th. Here is some random vid of coral. Should give you an idea.

 

[uncfnp]

Here are some other recent clips.

Bonaire December 2017 trip video.

And starting page 9 here.

December 2017 Scubaboard Microsurge

 

[Doctorfish]

I've been going to Bonaire for over 20 years and witnessed a significant deterioration in the coral and fish life. I was there a week ago and noticed lots of bleaching, dead coral and algae. There are very few large fish other than tarpon, and in a week I saw only one small Nassau Grouper and one small Tiger. Every morning, I saw boats fishing right on the reef in front of Buddy Dive including charter fishing boats. There are still lots of macro critters on the reefs and much to see, but no doubt in my mind that Bonaire reefs are not what they used to be. I'm sure there will be disagreement but I am just stating an opinion. One thing I was pleased to observe was the DMs on the boat dives rigidly enforcing the don't touch anything rule.

I guess the increase in population, number of divers, and the increase in cruise ship traffic have been contributors to reef deterioration, as has climate change.

 

[wwguy]

I agree with Doctorfish. We've also been regular visitors for over 20 years and last time I tallied my dives here I was approaching 350 hours of Bonaire bottom time over that period. Rising sea surface temperatures, increased nutrient levels, and decline of algae grazers are all leading to continued (and perhaps increasing) decline in reef health. There are occasional periods of recovery, but overall the long-term trend appears to be negative as the stressors persist or recur. This of course leads to further episodic coral bleaching and spread of red algae at rates that exceed the reef's ability to recover.

Some sites, such as The Cliff, Oilslick, Jeff Davies, and Webers Joy seem to be declining faster than others. I dove Oilslick yesterday afternoon and had a hard time finding anything nice to write about it in my logbook. (I think I ended writing the comment "Meh. Stay away from this site for a while".) I currently feel similarly about The Cliff, a beloved site and frequent "house reef" that I've enjoyed dozens of dives on over the years. The changes there since 2010 or 2011 simply make me sad.

We've been on the island for 2 weeks now and some newly certified friends from home will be joining us this weekend for their first warm water diving experience during our final week for this trip. They're really excited to start their diving experience here. I'm really sad that they'll never get a chance to see how healthy the reefs were 20 years ago (or even 10 years for that matter.) Sometimes I wonder if I'm just misremembering my early experiences here... and then I take out one of my old photo albums and see the obvious differences. It's really sad.

We love the island, both above and below the waterline, and will continue to return and enjoy diving for the foreseeable future. There's still plenty of beauty to be found underwater here, but I found that I have to work harder (and drive farther) to find the healthier reefs. Like the old folk song goes... The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be. Plans like this, which proposes increasing Bonairean tourism by 5% annually for 10 years from the current 140,000 stay-over tourists to over 200,000 annually without plans regarding impact on environment and infrastructure, aren't going to help.

 

[jimw]

32 years and still going--the 2 above opinions are sadly accurate in my view. But don't let that stop ya!

 

[herman]

A lot of the damage was from several hurricanes since 99. I have been back every year since 99, some times a couple times per year and I saw a lot of damage after each one, all of which was caused by the hurricane. I am seeing a lot of new hard and soft coral, esp down south.

 

[tarponchik]

@Doctorfish and @wwguy I agree with you both. I do not think we'll ever go again to Bonaire or Curacao. It's too much disappointment. Freaking mass tourism ruins everything that survives global warming.

 

[uncfnp]

What Eric and I both noticed is as Doctorfish mentioned, the lack of sealife. Yes, the west side is not known for turtles but we usual see at least one most days but not this past trip. In fact it was not until our last two days that we saw any squid, what I call the flash mobs of blue tangs or many eels. We only saw one ray of any kind and one moderate sized grouper and again it was the last day. The barracuda were even rare. No baitballs. And where are those near endless streams of creole wasse?

wwguy. There were several dives I didn’t make any comment entries.

We have never been in December so thought it might be the time of year or we were just unlucky in,our choice of dives that week.