Tag: Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease
Global coral bleaching will degrade local reefs
(CNS): The Cayman Islands is facing the possibility of further degradation of its reefs as another coral bleaching event is impacting reefs around the world this year. According to experts at the Department of Environment, our coral reefs are slowly dying, and every year we can expect fewer of them to bounce back for another […]
Sea temperatures put local coral at more risk
(CNS): The record-breaking local sea temperatures this summer have already gone beyond the threshold that coral reefs can comfortably tolerate, more than a month ahead of the expected seasonal peak. Department of Environment (DoE) Deputy Director Tim Austin, a marine scientist, has said this is causing real concerns. The DoE has been monitoring the marine […]
Over 42,000 corals treated in SCTLD crisis
(CNS): Dr Croy McCoy, a senior marine biologist at the Department of Environment, has warned that coral reefs are in crisis and the current generation of scientists may be the last people who can do anything about their survival. A team of divers has treated over 42,000 corals in Cayman Islands waters with an antibiotic […]
DoE warns of SCTLD holiday risk to Sister Islands
(CNS): The devastating spread of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) to all of the reefs around the entire coastline of Grand Cayman has still not yet reached the Sister Islands. But the Department of Environment is worried that this extremely contagious and fatal disease could be easily transferred by boaters over the Easter holidays […]
Battle against coral disease makes slow progress
(CNS): For over 18 months the Department of Environment has been battling the devastating impact of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) on local reefs and that persistent work is beginning to have an effect, officials have revealed. Direct application of antibiotic ointments to living corals that are not infected, repeated daily by the response […]
Dedicated DoE team continues work on SCTLD
(CNS): The spread of the stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) across most of the reefs around Grand Cayman is of significant concern, and with very little known about the latest threat to the coral reefs, the Department of Environment now has a dedicated team of ten people solely dedicated to mitigating the spread and impacts on Cayman’s delicate […]
Impact of coral disease on spawning under review
(CNS): Researchers from the Department of Environment were out diving Sunday and Monday night to assess the impact that stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is having on the annual coral spawning. The DoE team went on dives in East End and West Bay both nights with local scuba operators to monitor multiple species of […]
Scientists find key piece in coral disease puzzle
(CNS): Researchers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have found what could prove to be an important piece of the puzzle in what is causing the stony coral tissue loss disease, which is killing coral reefs in the region. SCTLD was first reported off the Florida coast in 2014 and over the last […]
Ship wastewater linked to fatal coral disease
(CNS): Commercial vessels, including cruise ships, could be linked to the virulent and rapidly spreading coral disease that has swept through the Caribbean region over the last two years killing significant amounts of coral reefs in its wake, according to the latest research. Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) has already had a devastating impart […]
Divers could be spreading fatal coral disease
(CNS): The deadly Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease has until very recently been advancing in a uniform path, but with reports of it appearing in random unconnected sites, the Department of Environment is now worried that divers and boat operators may unwittingly be spreading the disease. This latest fatal coral disease was first spotted in […]
Deadly coral disease continues advance east
(CNS): The Department of Environment has issued another update on the relentless advance of the highly contagious Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. The disease has now progressed towards East End and is infecting corals beyond Spotters Bay. Just over one week ago the DoE confirmed that the disease had already rounded North West Point and […]
