Info SCTLD closures on Bonaire

[bubblealgae]

What is the link for this map? There is only one official map, and that is from STINAPA.

Buddy Dive is Red, which does NOT mean closed. The only closed sites are Klein after 2pm, and north of Karpata....although if you drive into the Park they will decontaminate your gear and you can go diving.

My error: it was not a map, it was this list of dive sites from Tripadvisor. It uses the same colors with different meanings, hence my confusion. Probably not worth the click but I'll leave it here in explanation.

Coral Disease Update - Bonaire Forum - Tripadvisor

Again, thank you for clarifying. I'll stick to the official map.

In the end it's only unfortunate and a little inconvenient that we can't just dive the house reef for breakfast then head wherever we choose for the remainder of the dives for the day.

 

[tursiops]

My error: it was not a map, it was this list of dive sites from Tripadvisor. It uses the same colors with different meanings, hence my confusion. Probably not worth the click but I'll leave it here in explanation.

Coral Disease Update - Bonaire Forum - Tripadvisor

Again, thank you for clarifying. I'll stick to the official map.

In the end it's only unfortunate and a little inconvenient that we can't just dive the house reef for breakfast then head wherever we choose for the remainder of the dives for the day.

That list on Trip Advisor is not only 3 months out of date, it was wrong as published.

You can certainly dive Buddy Reef in the morning and then go elsewhere, and you should decontaminate your gear over breakfast, after diving Buddy Reef, before going elsewhere. Not a big deal. The BD staff will be helpful.

 

[wgw04024]

I wonder how long they are going to keep this up? Commendable how they are able to keep the water from moving all around the island like that... /s :/

 

[tursiops]

I wonder how long they are going to keep this up? Commendable how they are able to keep the water from moving all around the island like that... /s :/

Do you think the procedures in place are doing any harm to the reef?

 

[staggsSevin]

There's not a lot of green left to dive on the south side, mostly Orange and Red. South that is still green is Sweet Dreams/ Blue Vista, which I typically try to hit once per trip....never dove any farther south (I hadn't looked at that map in months).

I'm a couple of weeks away from heading to Curacao for a week and then to Bonaire for a week. It'll be interesting to see how Curacao looks as SCTLD is there, but I don't see any information on it, hardly compared to Bonaire.

 

[tursiops]

There's not a lot of green left to dive on the south side, mostly Orange and Red. South that is still green is Sweet Dreams/ Blue Vista, which I typically try to hit once per trip....never dove any farther south (I hadn't looked at that map in months).

I'm a couple of weeks away from heading to Curacao for a week and then to Bonaire for a week. It'll be interesting to see how Curacao looks as SCTLD is there, but I don't see any information on it, hardly compared to Bonaire.

The CARMABI Marine Research Station in Curacao has a Facebook Page with mention of SCTLD on Sept 4, saying that it was not seen at the same site two weeks earlier. So they are running some months behind Bonaire re dates of infections, even though they apparently also found it back in March-April when Bonaire did.. CARMABI is the rough equivalent in Curacao of STINAPA in Bonaire, but seems to have less power and influence.
On June 27 the FB said:

"SCTLD update and a question : we have received many reports on the distribution of SCTLD around Curacao and it seems that it occurs pretty much all around the island... surveys continue and more updates will follow soon... we are also looking for a place that "has a lot of SCTLD affected corals" to sample for potential microbial/ viral pathogens.. Does anyone have a good suggestion (and hopefully a landscape picture) of a reef that has a lot of SCTLD affected corals growing on it? Please send it over in a PM.... Thanks!"​

On April 28 they posted:​

Carmabi Marine Research Station​

·

the outbreak of SCTLD: why is Carmabi not doing anything???
Recently some “critiques” have surfaced wondering “why Carmabi does nothing about the recent SCTLD outbreak”? This message hopes to clarify that, in contrast to these commonly voiced opinions, Carmabi does take the recent outbreak very serious and is undertaking action where possible.
Already last year, the microbial communities on healthy corals in Curacao were sampled and compared to those in places where corals were affected by SCTLD to hopefully identify the pathogen responsible. This work is ongoing as microbial, viral and histological studies are inherently labor intensive. Similar samples from Curacao were recently collected by researchers from the University of Miami in hope to identify a microbial or viral pathogen. Knowing what pathogen is responsible will hopefully help guiding strategies to fight it.
The pathogen causing SCTLD is thus not yet known (despite labs in the US and elswhere trying to identify it for more than ~ 10 years). With the underlying pathogen not known, there is little evidence for the need to “sterilize dive gear” although doing so probably doesn’t hurt from a “precautionary principle” perspective.
Surveys were conducted and are ongoing to determine the spread and severity of SCTLD around Curacao. SCTLD has been observed between Westpunt and Oostpunt and thus is present all over the island, though most affected sites occur near Willemstad. This distribution is very similar to the distribution of SCTLD on Bonaire that is also concentrated near town/ harbor/ (mega)piers.
A map was also produced indicating the abundance of SCTLD prone species along Curacao’s southwestern coast (see picture) illustrating that Curacao could loose an estimated ~25 % of its corals over the coming years. Subsequent surveys (up to 60m) are ongoing and planned for the coming weeks.
We have tried to design a UV lamp that can be brought underwater to “kill” affected areas of SCTLD infected corals. While the lamp proved somewhat successful in doing so in the lab, its use underwater is to complicated to be used easily in fighting SCTLD on an island wide scale.
Carmabi does not have any authority to decide what divers should or shouldn’t do in the waters of Curacao (not even in the Curacao Marine Park). The government manages the island’s marine resources and is the only entity that can stipulate guidelines to limit the spread of SCTLD. Carmabi provides information to design such guidelines and assists the Ministry of GMN with determining the feasibility of a program using a specific paste with antibiotics (Amoxcilin) that has proven successful in halting SCTLD elsewhere. Importing this antibiotic is unfortunately very expensive and logistically complicated (due to regulations). Details regarding this program will follow soon.
Hopefully the above shows what types of "action" Carmabi iundertakes in response to the SCTLD outbreak. Many of the activities mentioned above take quite some time (microbial analyses, analyzing survey photographs etc.) which hopefully explains why information is not “pouring out” as some seem to expect. If any other questions remain, please contact us through the usual channels.



Carmabi Marine Research Station
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)

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[staggsSevin]

ah interesting, I hadn't seen this yet! Thanks I've never been to Curacao before, so I won't have any previous trips to compare to.

This will be my 9th or 10th trip to Bonaire, and was there last December, so will have plenty to compare to on that side.

 

[tursiops]

ah interesting, I hadn't seen this yet! Thanks I've never been to Curacao before, so I won't have any previous trips to compare to.

This will be my 9th or 10th trip to Bonaire, and was there last December, so will have plenty to compare to on that side.

The CARMABI report for Curacao focusses on corals that are "susceptible" to SCTLD, but is a bit disingenuous as to what fraction of their corals species will be affected. for example, in one report it is stated that "The disease destroys the soft tissue of at least 22 species of reef-building corals and kills them within weeks or months of becoming infected. That’s a third of all coral species on the island of Curacao, and the cause is still unknown." Nonsense. The number 22 comes from the Florida Reef Tract work; in contract, Bonaire has found only 6 species actually affected, and they are not even the dominate species on the island. So even if 10% of the species are affected, the coral coverage reduction is a lot less than 10%.

 

[wgw04024]

Do you think the procedures in place are doing any harm to the reef?

Do you think it's doing any good? If so, please elaborate exactly on how and why you think so.

It seems very trendy these days, to take the position that anything is helping, and anything is worth doing 'for the cause'. To tell me that rinsing the gear, when there are ocean currents, fish, and cruise ships that are not doing the same thing, is beyond laughable.

edit: This feels alot like covid...

 

[tursiops]

Do you think it's doing any good? If so, please elaborate exactly on how and why you think so.

It seems very trendy these days, to take the position that anything is helping, and anything is worth doing 'for the cause'. To tell me that rinsing the gear, when there are ocean currents, fish, and cruise ships that are not doing the same thing, is beyond laughable.

edit: This feels alot like covid...

We'll never know if it did any good; there are no controls, it is not an experiment. It is a precautionary measure NOT designed to stop the spread, but rather in the hope of slowing it down, if only slightly, to buy some time while understanding and mitigation measures are developed. It might help, but won't hurt. It is a minor imposition on the divers. I just returned from 4 weeks there. Not a big deal.