BONAIRE'S REEFS THE BEST - LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY!

I'm sure that all of us at one level or another buy into the image that Captain Don so successfully created for Bonaire and promoted to the world of diving. We have no spectacular drop offs or walls, few wrecks and no year round "charismatic mega fauna" such as whales, sharks or stingrays, yet Bonaire has long cherished that idea that our reefs are simply the best. And indeed, Bonaire has consistently been ranked in the top ten dive destinations world wide.

Now Bonaire is coming in tops with scientists too. Who says Bonaire's reefs are the best? Actually it's Dr Robert Steneck, a marine ecologist at the University of Maine, Dr Steneck is a distinguished fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and received a Pew Fellowship for his pioneering work on how fishing has impacted on kelp forests and coral reef ecosystems. He was one of the key scientists who, together with Dr Robert Ginsburg, developed and implemented the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA), a monitoring protocol designed to evaluate the "health" of reef ecosystems. He is also a humourous and approachable man who is committed to his work and believes passionately in conservation.

According to the AGRRA survey results, of 23 countries surveyed, Bonaire's reefs were ranked the best in the Caribbean. According to Dr Steneck this should be no surprise. What we have is very high coral cover on our reefs with low macro algal (plant) abundance and high parrotfish densities. "It seems that all of these factors are strongly correlated with the health of the reef and the secret seems to lie in the parrotfish" Bob Steneck explains. "The parrotfish are out there in very high numbers and they are just mowing the lawn. This keeps the amount of plant material on the reef down and allows the corals to thrive".

"Fish populations are hugely important to the health of coral reefs" Bob Steneck continues, "and parrotfish seem to play a particularly important role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Bonaire's reefs have come out on top largely because of the high numbers of parrotfish." In other words what has saved our reefs so far has been our fishermen. Traditionally they have not taken parrotfish. No self respecting fisherman would choose parrotfish over grouper, snapper or grunt. And this is why our fishermen have continued fishing with hook and line and rarely use fish traps.

Dr Steneck's fascination with Bonaire began in October 2003 when he came to Bonaire to attend a Pew Fellows meeting. There he met and spoke with other coral reef scientists such as Professor Rolf Bak, Dr John Ogden and Dr Callum Roberts who were familiar with Bonaire's reefs from years ago. What they were all concerned about was what they believed was a sharp drop in the numbers of predatory fish on Bonaire's reefs. The idea haunted Dr Steneck and within six months he was back on Bonaire collecting baseline data on Bonaire's reef fish populations. Sure enough, when the present day populations of grouper, snapper and grunts are compared to data collect by Dr Callum Roberts in 1994 and to records of Prof Bak's from 1974, our reef predators have taken a nose dive. Their numbers are now shockingly low.

"What we have to remember here is that everything is inter-related on the reefs and that coral reefs are very fragile ecosystems. Bonaire has done well so far but Bonaire's reefs are fragile too." says Bob Steneck, "Grouper, snapper and grunt are all slow growing fish. They are easy to wipe out. But you take away those top predators and there is no doubt that Bonaire's reefs decline too".

Tradition has taken us so far but the demand for fish is higher now than at any time in the past. Fishermen all agree that catches are down because the fish have declined. Before they are wiped out we need to take action and set aside areas of reef, which are completely unfished. Let's call them "Fish Protection Areas". Places where our grouper and snapper and grunts can safely grow to maturity, where they can reproduce and begin the slow task of recolonizing our reefs before it's too late.

We have the best reefs in the Caribbean - the challenge now is to keep them that way!