CCMI begins healthy reef campaign

CNS Editor | 18/02/2019

(CNS Local Life): Following on from last year’s International Year of the Reef outreach efforts, the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) has launched its “Healthy Reefs” campaign. Throughout 2019, CCMI will work to “spread the love for healthy reefs” to a variety of audiences comprising watersports and dive operators, students, teachers, tourists and general members of the community.

CCMI plans a wide-reaching campaign that currently includes a public Reefs Go Live broadcast, educational posters and resources, special events and experiences, the annual Festival of Seas gala and volunteer opportunities, stated a CCMI press release.

“Putting the focus on the health of our reefs – what their status is currently, how their health is trending over time and what we as individuals and a coastal community can do to ensure our reefs are healthy going forward – that is what this campaign is about,” said Kate Holden, CCMI Director of Advancement. “We at CCMI love healthy reefs, and our team is dedicated to reminding Cayman why they should also love healthy coral reefs, too.”

Kicking off public awareness efforts for the year is the first in the annual Reef Lecture Series, “Cayman Islands Reef Survey Report 1999-2018”, which will be held on Thursday, 28 February 2019 at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands.

In July 2018, a team of six science divers and one boat captain from CCMI concluded surveys of 25 reefs across the three Cayman Islands (eight reefs in each of the Sister Islands and nine on Grand Cayman), the same reefs which CCMI had originally surveyed in 1999.

Using the same Atlantic & Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) protocol as was used in the original 1999 survey, revisiting the same sites 20 years later would provide an accurate assessment of the change in reef health over the intervening years. CCMI will share the recent survey results and compare those to what was seen 20 years ago.

The presentation will begin at 5:45pm, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end. This event is free and open to the public, who should register online.