'Magic' act a class act: Time to take a bow :: Cayman Compass
More about Reef Recovery
Reef recovery effort continues :: Cayman Compass
Organizers of the “Magic Reef Restoration Project” have announced that their efforts to salvage a George Town harbor reef, which was seriously damaged in late August 2014 by a cruise ship anchor, will conclude around the end of this year.
We’ll take this opportunity to give a pat on the back to this group and its volunteers, mainly comprising members of the Cayman Islands dive community, for the efforts and sacrifices they have been making over these past months. We’d also like to acknowledge the significant financial contributions from the Carnival Cruise company, which made a voluntary pledge of $100,000 to aid in the recovery effort.
Although the offending anchor belonged to the Carnival Magic cruise ship (which has subsequently become eponymous with the damaged reef), it appears that neither Carnival nor the ship captain bears responsibility for the destruction that occurred.
As our readers will recall, on Aug. 27 — a day of rough winds — the Magic cruise ship was guided by a Bodden Shipping Agency pilot boat to an area 650 feet outside the designated public port anchorage, where it dropped its anchor on a previously untouched patch of coral. Nearly 12,000 square feet of reef was damaged, to varying degrees.
The Department of Environment’s initiative to build a possible criminal case went nowhere, and the three parties involved in the incident — Carnival, Bodden Shipping and the Port Authority — weren’t about to shoulder the blame. Of those, only Carnival stepped up with checkbook in hand.
Most striking and (considering the economic importance of our country’s coral) most puzzling, has been the lack of financial support from Cayman’s government.
Despite the formation of a much-ballyhooed National Conservation Council, and the accumulation of $52 million in the country’s so-called “Environmental Protection Fund,” not one penny was allocated to address directly the clear and present environmental catastrophe at the Magic Reef. The government did, however, recently siphon off $5.1 million from the Environmental Protection Fund — with most of that going toward consultants and the completion of studies and reports, including the cruise port environmental impact assessment ($2.5 million), Integrated Solid Waste Management project ($1 million) and various DOE projects, including studies of blue and green iguanas ($1.5 million).
The good people of Cayman should consider this as an instructive introduction to the practice of natural conservation by government committee.
The cruise port EIA has drawn much attention for consultants’ estimates that some 30 acres of reef and associated marine habitat in George Town harbor could be destroyed or negatively impacted by the construction of the cruise berthing project. The consultants broached the idea of “relocating” some of that affected reef, with the caveat that there is no guarantee of success, and the caution that such an endeavor could cost $13 million or more.
The Magic Reef Restoration project, we think, has illustrated a few points that are relevant to the broader cruise berthing debate.
First, it shows how difficult, expensive and time-consuming the process of trying to “save” live coral is.
Second, it shows who has been willing to demonstrate, with deeds and not just with words, how much they care about Cayman’s coral — that is, restoration project organizers, volunteers and donors (including Carnival, dive shops and other local businesses).
Third, it shows, by omission, who wasn’t there, who didn’t lead the charge, and who wasn’t willing to allocate money and resources for the coral restoration — the Cayman Islands government.
More about Reef Recovery
Reef recovery effort continues :: Cayman Compass
Volunteers with the Magic Reef Recovery project have spent nearly 1,000 hours working to restore a large patch of reef that was destroyed by a cruise ship anchor last year. They have cleared tons of rubble, built coral nurseries and painstakingly rebuilt pieces of coral, cementing pieces together, but there is still much work to be done, organizers of the recovery work say. In August 2014, the captain of the 1,000-foot Carnival Magic cruise ship mistakenly anchored in an unauthorized zone outside of Don Foster’s dive shop. The cruise line has maintained that it was directed to anchor at the site by Port Authority officials.
According to volunteer Ralph Ariza, organizers had hoped to finish the restoration effort by October, but will likely continue to work until December.
“Definitely by the end of this year, we will evaluate if it makes sense to continue going or if we just need to leave it alone,” Mr. Ariza said. “It’s pretty near and dear to us, so as much as possible, I think we’re still going to want to go out there even if the project is not officially going on.”
Between coordinating volunteer schedules and waiting to receive necessary resources, “it’s taken us a long time to get things running the way we wanted to,” he said.
Jo Bond, who has been volunteering with the project since it began, says they have been able to save “crates and crates” of live coral, but that she didn’t “really appreciate at first look just how much there was to do.”
The recovery project is considered to be one of the largest volunteer-led operations of its kind, Mr. Ariza said.
There have been larger reef restoration projects around the world, he said, but they have typically been funded by governments or universities. After Holland America’s Maasdam ran aground on Soto’s Reef off George Town in 1996, the cruise company financed the restoration effort, paying divers to work full time. Mr. Ariza estimates that recovery project took at least 9,000 hours of labor.
The Magic Reef Recovery effort does not have the same type of backing. Its lifeblood has been community support, individuals volunteering their time and businesses donating their resources, from dive equipment, to boats to fuel for those boats. In the spring, the project was boosted by a fundraiser that raised nearly $30,000, as well as a $100,000 donation from Carnival Cruise Line, owners of the Carnival Magic cruise ship. With those funds, the group has been able to buy a boat and has begun to pay its regular volunteers.
The group spent nearly $16,000 on a 24-foot Sportfish called the Honey Badger. Previously, volunteers had to either swim from shore, which limited their dive time, or depend upon donated boat time from local dive operators. The Honey Badger is launched from Don Foster’s dive shop, which has donated the use of its dock.
The boat, which the group has been using since May, allows volunteers to go out more regularly, said Mr. Ariza. In the past few weeks, volunteers have been going out every Saturday and Sunday and sometimes another day during the week. The boat can accommodate six people, including the driver. Ms. Bond said the boat has allowed volunteers to make more dives per day.
“We’re getting three times as much work done a day now,” she said.
Volunteers have been salvaging live coral from the rubble and are now beginning the painstaking process of reattaching it to the reef using marine epoxy.
Mr. Ariza said the project needs regular volunteers more than anything else.
“As the months have gone on, we’ve had quite a bit of fluctuation in the number of people that have been coming out to help us,” he said. “In the first few months, there were times that boats were fully packed and you didn’t have enough space for people who wanted to volunteer, and you would have times where the boats wouldn’t run because you would have so few people.”
The organization is now able to offer regular volunteers $30 per dive. The payment, which began at the end of June, has not led to an increase in volunteers, said Mr. Ariza, but it has made it easier for regular volunteers to continue their work.
“We’ve all been juggling full-time jobs in addition to trying to go out there as often as possible, so now it’s a little bit better in that you can maybe take a day off work and go out there and dive,” he said.
Individuals who wish to volunteer with the reef recovery effort need to be open water certified and have DAN (Divers Alert Network) accident insurance. Volunteers need to come out at least three times in order to be eligible to receive payment. Details of restoration dives are posted on the group’s Magic Reef Restoration Facebook page.
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