OP
newmanl
Contributor
I really think any "storm damage" was obviously and more importantly, over-shadowed by the dramatic signs and effects of over-fishing and pollution. Bonaire's reefs, at least on the west side, are under-going what has been termed a "phase shift".
A phase shift is a process where a reef community dominanted by stony, reef-building coral species gradually gets replaced with algae covered "dead" reef structure. It is essentially caused by the removal of large picivorous species (the larger groupers) that would feed on aglae-farming damselfishes and large herbivores (parrotfishes) that would compete effectively with the territorial (algae-farming) damselfish. So, rather than having effective grazing (by parrotfishes) to expose fresh hard substrate for new coral settlement, the damselfishes farm it, and vigorously defend it, to grow their algae (that they feed on) which makes the site unsuitable for coral settlement. The decreased number of large grazers, such as parrotfishes, means that the damselfishes don't really have "anyone" to push their way in and scape off all their hard-grown algae. So, what was a coral site, now becomes an algae site.
I worked in Grand Cayman in 1984-85 and while my memory is no substitute for careful scientific observations, I don't remember ever seeing so many of the algae-farming species of damselfishes like we did in Bonaire last month. The reefs were full of them.
Also, the brown algae (diatoms and cyanobacteria) problem people often mention is another sign of eutrophication (pollution). At Invisibles we found it in plain view on the sand all the way down to 140'. That's not going away anytime soon unless changes get made to the run-off/sewage issue.
I'll confess I'm not familiar with all the activities of the park authority on Bonaire, but if they are truely interested in protecting the reefs, then the issues associated with fishing and pollution really need attention. Maybe they should partially fund the construction of a sewage treatment facility with a sewage tax on visiting divers...
Thanks for the kind words on the photos DiveMaven and melissabeads (enjoy the Carib Inn!).
Lee
A phase shift is a process where a reef community dominanted by stony, reef-building coral species gradually gets replaced with algae covered "dead" reef structure. It is essentially caused by the removal of large picivorous species (the larger groupers) that would feed on aglae-farming damselfishes and large herbivores (parrotfishes) that would compete effectively with the territorial (algae-farming) damselfish. So, rather than having effective grazing (by parrotfishes) to expose fresh hard substrate for new coral settlement, the damselfishes farm it, and vigorously defend it, to grow their algae (that they feed on) which makes the site unsuitable for coral settlement. The decreased number of large grazers, such as parrotfishes, means that the damselfishes don't really have "anyone" to push their way in and scape off all their hard-grown algae. So, what was a coral site, now becomes an algae site.
I worked in Grand Cayman in 1984-85 and while my memory is no substitute for careful scientific observations, I don't remember ever seeing so many of the algae-farming species of damselfishes like we did in Bonaire last month. The reefs were full of them.
Also, the brown algae (diatoms and cyanobacteria) problem people often mention is another sign of eutrophication (pollution). At Invisibles we found it in plain view on the sand all the way down to 140'. That's not going away anytime soon unless changes get made to the run-off/sewage issue.
I'll confess I'm not familiar with all the activities of the park authority on Bonaire, but if they are truely interested in protecting the reefs, then the issues associated with fishing and pollution really need attention. Maybe they should partially fund the construction of a sewage treatment facility with a sewage tax on visiting divers...
Thanks for the kind words on the photos DiveMaven and melissabeads (enjoy the Carib Inn!).
Lee
