Grand Cayman - Where’s the fish?

[Saboteur]

Anyone been on GC recently who is very familiar with diving here notice the paucity of fish? Now I’m not the most well travelled diver and I’ve been to Cayman 7 times but not since 2019… but it seems like the reefs are barren. After 1 week, 2 stingrays, couple of nurses, couple of porcupine fish, 1 barracuda, 3 lion fish, no octos, no squid. Even the prolific fish such as Sargent majors and jawfish are sparse. Maybe it’s the post hurricane effect from three weeks ago or the stormy weather from last three days? It’s kinda disheartening after a three year hiatus.

 

[gstrek]

I was diving Grand Cayman in late August and noticed the diminished fish population at some sites more than others. We were trailed by nurse sharks for several dives and saw a few white spotted filefish changing colors, a squadron of squid, a couple of turtles and trumpetfish among the highlights. Much less than when I first started diving there 22 years ago. My computer also registered the water temp as high as 91º F. Perhaps the water temp was responsible?

 

[rmorgan]

I was diving Grand Cayman in late August and noticed the diminished fish population at some sites more than others. We were trailed by nurse sharks for several dives and saw a few white spotted filefish changing colors, a squadron of squid, a couple of turtles and trumpetfish among the highlights. Much less than when I first started diving there 22 years ago. My computer also registered the water temp as high as 91º F. Perhaps the water temp was responsible?

SCTLD killed a high percentage of the hard corals at, I believe, all GC dive sites. The fish left, or worse. We saw the same thing in St. Croix in early 2021. heartbreaking.

91º? That’s a shocking (to me) water temp . . . Can’t have helped. But SCTLD is the main problem, I think.

 

[uncfnp]

What part of the island were you diving?

 

[drrich2]

no octos

How many night dives did you do?

 

[Kimela]

I thought the same thing when we were there in July of 2019. We were diving the east end with Ocean Frontiers. We had stayed at Sunset House in July 2011 (thank goodness for Facebook!) and I thought there was a significant decline in marine life in that amount of time - but I also thought it could have been due to diving a different area?

 

[Damselfish]

We were last there I think April 2019 diving on the east end, and definitely missed the fish it was a change.

 

[Kimela]

Have any of you been to Brac or Little Cayman? I've heard such wonderful things about both of those locations. Do they look better? If the reason for the reduced marine life is warmer water I would guess that Brac and Little Cayman have approximately the same water temps. If it is some sort of algae or bleaching, again I would assume they're close enough it would spread. I wonder what's going on.

 

[tursiops]

My computer also registered the water temp as high as 91º F.

I'd be suspicious of your computer. The recorded data for Cayman never got above 87 in August.

Dive computers are typically spec'd to +/- 2 deg C, about 4 deg F.

 

[gstrek]

I'd be suspicious of your computer. The recorded data for Cayman never got above 87 in August.
View attachment 749675
Dive computers are typically spec'd to +/- 2 deg C, about 4 deg F.

That could very well be the case. I recorded the 91º temp at the beginning of the dive while still shallow (10-20 feet). This was a drift dive on the southern side of Grand Cayman entering at Kent's Cave and exiting at Ron's Wall.