We just returned to Cayman Brac for shore diving after a three-year absence. After a week diving nearly a dozen sites around the island, we are seeing widespread algae cover and few fish, plus a lot of bleaching. We've been asking around, but nobody seems able to say when this happened and what may have caused it. Has anyone seen or heard anything similar?
Algae-covered reefs, few fish around Cayman Brac
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Saboteur
Contributor
I just came back from GC and made a similar thread a week or so ago. Less fish compared to my recollection of previous years. We stay at the south end of 7MB and our afternoons are often snorkelling the old “dead” reef, wreck of the Cali or lounging in the water. We used to see quite a few fish considering it is “dead” and always had sergeant majors and Bermuda chub hanging around… very few in my observation. Even the “reef balls” at the Marriott used to have fair activity considering location and traffic… virtually nothing there now. I didn’t see a tremendous amount of bleaching and corals to me looked for the most part ok (I’m no expert) but there is a lot of construction on the west side and I can’t help wonder if that is contributory.
BrackaFish
Contributor
We go to Cayman Brac several times a year and mostly shore dive. There is definitely more algae on the coral than there was in the early 2000s when we start going the the Brac. I did seem to notice a change after Hurricane Paloma, but am not sure if this is related or not. The past several years have seen large amounts of Sargassum and this maybe contributing to the algae problem. That would be a question for our SB marine scientists. The Southside is in better shape than the Northside, but as you know there are more and easier sites for shore diving on the Northside. King’s Point on the Southside is still my favorite shore dive, but rarely done due to wave size and direction. Sea life seems to wax and wane during the year and between the different years, but the large schools of fish are rarely seen. However when it is all said and done, the low crime, easy shore diving and overall feel of the island keeps us coming back again and again.
I believe that you are seeing the results of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease as it spreads through the Carribean. I recently returned from Roatan and was stunned by the condition of the reefs. I had been in Oct of 2019 and October of 2021 and the reefs looked relatively fine. In the last year SCTLD has killed so much coral. We did not see a single live pillar coral and I was told that there is only one living pillar coarl left on all of Roatan and it is infected. I have always joked that I only care about fish, but the fish I love need coral. So many groups of fish that I have been seeing for years were just missing.
Sadly, I think that what you saw will become all too common throughout the Carribean.
Sadly, I think that what you saw will become all too common throughout the Carribean.
AggieDiver
Contributor
Unless I missed it, SCTLD has not been found in the Cayman Sister Islands (yet). I did not have this same experience diving on Little Cayman a month ago. It looked healthier than I have seen it in probably 10 years and there were lots of fish. I do think the algae probably comes and goes with the excess organic matter from large rafts of sargassum degrading on the shallow reefs. While the lagoon in LC was kind of murky at times from the degradation of the sargassum, there did not seem to be large quantities washing in while we were there.
AggieDiver
Contributor
So, I am correct that it has not been found in the sister islands...yet. Thanks for posting the confirmation.
I haven't found anything more recent, but this link contains information from the Cayman DOE (April 2022) regarding practices to prevent the spread of stony coral disease to the sister islands:
cayman.loopnews.com
DoE warns about Sister Island travel and spread of coral disease | Loop Cayman Islands
The Department of Environment (DoE) has issued an advisory informing travellers that if they are planning to travel from Grand Cayman to Little Cayman or Cayman Brac, they should know about Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease or SCTLD in order to pr
AggieDiver
Contributor
So how are they applying that decontamination requirement to the Aggressor?I haven't found anything more recent, but this link contains information from the Cayman DOE (April 2022) regarding practices to prevent the spread of stony coral disease to the sister islands:
DoE warns about Sister Island travel and spread of coral disease | Loop Cayman Islands
The Department of Environment (DoE) has issued an advisory informing travellers that if they are planning to travel from Grand Cayman to Little Cayman or Cayman Brac, they should know about Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease or SCTLD in order to pr
You would have to ask them
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