global briefs
Fishy Business
Mucky Duck
The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) has urged governments to take action to save the planet’s remaining coral reefs and their attendant fish populations, because collective human impacts are leaving fewer places untouched, with only 15 percent of the Earth’s land mass formally protected and global biodiversity declining at an unprecedented rate. To that end, a new online data platform, MERMAID (DataMermaid. org) helps scientists and management officials collect, organize and disseminate data on reef fish biomass and diversity, as well as the cover of hard corals, fleshy algae and other benthic groups—all identified by ICRI as key indicators of coral reef health, integrity and function. The newly published 5th Global Biodiversity Outlook and other sources endorsed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services clearly indicate that governments are failing to meet existing global targets for biodiversity and that critical ecosystems like coral reefs will be altered to the point that the biodiversity they harbor, and the services they provide, will be irreparably damaged. Currently, only 2.5 percent of the world’s reefs are being actively protected.
The British-owned Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC), under a license from the Bahamian government, has begun exploratory oil drilling as deep as 18,000 feet in an area southwest of Andros Island and 150 miles from South Florida. Eighteen members of the U.S. Congress, including the entire South Florida delegation, have warned Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis of the potential for severe, even catastrophic impact if a spill occurs. BPC has made assurances that the exploratory well will be sealed and never used again after it completes its exploratory drilling, and supporters of the project say that the process is closely regulated and accidents are rare. Still, Floridians remember the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico that leaked an estimated 164 million gallons of oil and caused billions of dollars in economic and environmental damage. Even a minor accident that leads to a small oil spill could cost the state millions of dollars and disrupt tourism and businesses. Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, executive director of the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation, says that delicate areas of the Florida Keys would be particularly vulnerable to a spill.
Caribbean Offshore Drilling Threatens Florida Beaches
March 2021
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Saving Coral Reefs Worldwide
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