Our team continues to fight SCTLD. We have continued with our monthly monitoring in 21 sites around the island. On the South and West of the island, the disease has progressed rapidly and is now in what we call the “epidemic” phase, where we have lost most of the highly susceptible species like the pillar and maze corals.
The North and the East side are now in the “epidemic” phase, where the lesions are on most of the susceptible species. SCTLD is now present in 95% of the island. Although this is some sad news for the island, we encourage everyone to keep working on saving the reef and to follow all the gear disinfection guidelines. We continue to treat corals with Base 2B and amoxicillin mix; we have successfully tagged 1472 corals and done 1242 reassessments on 63 sites across the island. On some really good news, our research team has now started monitoring coral spawning with the help of citizen science and we are happy to tell you that the few pillar corals that are left are spawning, as well as other stony coral species.
We are happy that the early response for SCTLD has given these species a fighting chance to reproduce and produce more resilient coral recruits. RMP is working on opening the Coral Restoration Center of Roatan with the objective of upscaling its current coral restoration projects and preserving the biodiversity of the coral reefs in the Bay Islands.
Our research team is working on elaborating a coral spawning calendar for Honduras, this will yield important information for coral restoration and management strategies. In the following months, the team will continue with intervention actions as well as monitoring. Keep an eye out for our social media to see how you can help us fight SCTLD and preserve the marine biodiversity of the Bay Islands National Marine Park.
Written by: Zara Guifarro, RMP Research Coordinator
📸 Credits: Weaver Photography