By Reef Check Executive Director Dr. Gregor Hodgson
From April 14 to 18, 2010 I carried out surveys of two coral reef areas in Haiti to determine if any had been directly damaged by the January 7.0 earthquake that destroyed much of Port Au Prince and surrounding areas.
The two locations surveyed were:
1. The Arcadine Islands north of Port au Prince – these three small islands were mildly affected by the earthquake with little damage to buildings on the adjacent mainland coast. This survey was carried out with the help of FoProBim, a local environmental non-profit that generously provided a boat and guide.
2. Fringing reefs off the city of Jacmel on the south coast – an area very badly damaged by the earthquake with a high percentage of buildings destroyed.
As expected, no damage was found at the Arcadine Islands. Several years ago, Jean Weiner, the Haitian marine biologist heading up FoProBim, wisely recommended to the President of Haiti that this area become the first Marine Protected Area in the country. The reefs here are far from sedimentation that affects many coastal areas of Haiti due to runoff from eroded land. The Arcadine reefs are structurally complex with between 50 to 80% living coral. Coral diversity is high with both staghorn and elkhorn coral present. Reef Check high value human impact indicators such as grouper and lobster are rare. There are few fish and most are less than 20 cm in length.
I surveyed the reefs off Jacmel in 1984, so it was important to return there to compare the condition of those reefs. Driving over the mountains to Jacmel in post-earthquake Haiti is quite an expedition. The roads are a mess on the outskirts of the capital and pass through some of the most heavily damaged areas near the epicenter. Tent cities line the road throughout the entire journey, and collapsed buildings – some simply piles of rubble -- are everywhere.
In Jacmel, many coastal hotels were flattened or badly damaged. Surprisingly, the water was clear and the reefs were in similar condition to those in the Arcadines, with up to 80% living coral, a high level of diversity and excellent reef structure to serve as fish habitat.
Following the 2004 earthquake in Aceh, Indonesia, Reef Check surveyed the reefs of Aceh and found significant structural damage in some areas. While the survey of reefs in Jacmel was much smaller, surprisingly, there was no evidence of direct earthquake damage to reefs just a few yards offshore of heavily damaged hotels. Even very delicate structures such as 10 m long underwater arches and large coral heads balanced on thin pedestals were undamaged.
In fact, the several kilometers of reef surveyed off Jacmel are in better condition than many of those in Florida, and included large stands of the Elkhorn coral Acropora palmata, now on the US Endangered Species List. The long-spined black sea urchin Diadema – a Reef Check indicator -- is abundant, and schools of 50 to 70 small snapper and blue tangs are common. The surgeon fish and urchins have grazed the algae down to bare rock! No silt was present. Based on the colony sizes, the reefs of Jacmel are clearly in recovery mode following the 1980s die off of urchins, and the 2005 Caribbean bleaching event.
Like elsewhere in the Caribbean, Haitian reefs have been overfished resulting in a lowered abundance and small size of fish. It is very easy to overfish reef fish because many grow slowly, mature late, and often change sex. Healthy coral reefs can provide up to 35 metric tons of fish per square kilometer, whereas overfished reefs such as those in Haiti provide only one tenth of this amount. By setting aside areas of coral reef where reef fish can grow and breed without disturbance, more and larger (sexually mature) fish could produce millions of new young fish every year, increasing the available fish supply for hungry Haitians. Properly managed coral reef fisheries will not solve the food problem in Haiti – but they sure could help.
The reef could easily become an important source of desperately needed protein if they are properly managed to increase fish stocks. What is needed is the establishment of a network of Marine Protected Areas, education about the value of reefs and the benefits of reef conservation, and regular monitoring of reef status.
Even before the earthquake, Haitians were short of food with 58% of the population under-nourished and some children reportedly being fed mud cakes seasoned with salt. The 10 million people of Haiti make up 25% of the total population of the Caribbean and are growing rapidly at 2.5% annually. Sadly, one in five Haitians dies before the age of 40. Prior to the earthquake, Haiti was already trapped in a cycle of environmental degradation and ranks 148th of 179 countries on the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index; 76 percent of Haitians live on less than US$2 per day. Haiti imports 48 percent of its food. One third of newborn babies are born underweight.
It is a mystery to me why on an island surrounded by coral reefs, most international relief has focused entirely on terrestrial solutions, neglecting the potential that improved management of coral reefs and associated fisheries could play in improving food supply and nutrition. Apparently, many experts have assumed that Haiti’s reefs were destroyed long ago due to the highly visible sediment plumes during the rainy season. The reality is that many corals are resistant to sedimentation and the reefs in the areas surveyed have prospered.
Despite extensive survey work by Jean, Haiti’s reefs have never been completely surveyed. We are raising funds to complete a more detailed reef survey later in the year with FoProBim and with help from Reef Check Dominican Republic. Once the large scale survey is completed, we hope to help design a network of MPAs that will help increase fish stocks and hopefully provide more fish to eat as well.
As in most of the Caribbean, most Haitians do not learn how to swim, let alone snorkel and therefore never have the chance to appreciate their beautiful reefs. We hope to partner with an educational non-profit to create a program to remedy this issue. Finally, as the infrastructure in Haiti is rebuilt, there is a niche for small-scale ecotourism involving the Reef Check EcoDiver program. Just like neighboring Dominican Republic, Haiti is a beautiful country that could attract far more tourism dollars.
