Have you noticed anything different?

[Guba]

As a volunteer with a NOAA organization, I get info and data on a regular basis. Perhaps the most unsettling to me as a diver are the updates about the condition and health of reef systems, particularly in the Caribbean. As most of you know, these ecosystems experienced a severe bleaching event last fall. There are many reports of extremely sick and decimated coral environments throughout the Carib, many of which are favorite dive sites.
My question is...have you witnessed firsthand the damage that is being reported? How extensive was the damage and what do you think the long term effects will be?

We, as divers, have the ability and power to change the way our world thinks about the oceans.

 

[Fastmarc]

As someone that is really into corals and has successfully kept a reef aquarium for years, I was really saddened to see all the bleaching on my first few dives (late last year).
The only encouraging thing is that most that I have seen are showing signs of recovering.