“Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease is a dire threat to Virgin Islands coral reefs. It will take an enormous coordinated effort to understand and combat it.”
– Dr. Marilyn Brandt
In The News: SCTLD In The US Virgin Islands
Caribbean corals under siege- Paul Cater Deaton
As if the coral reefs of the world didn’t have enough problems, including climate change, pollution, overfishing and habitat loss, an aggressive, new disease is causing grave concern in parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It’s being called the deadliest coral disease ever recorded.
Believed to have hitched a ride from Florida in the ballasts of commercial vessels, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease has infected large reef areas in the Florida Keys, and has leapfrogged across the Caribbean. It has now been found in such places as the Turks & Caicos, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and the Virgin Islands. Species like pillar corals have already sustained heavy losses, and scientists, educators, divers and community organizers have mobilized to try to save what they can of what’s left.
Includes interviews with Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Marilyn Brandt of the University of the Virgin Islands, and Kitty Edwards, of the Coastal Zone Management Division of the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources.
Video 1st Premiered at Boston Sea Rover Film Festival.
Learn more about Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in USVI with the Reuters infopage
Presented by Caribbean Fishery Management Council
SCTLD in the US Caribbean
Presented by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Diseased corals on Flat Cay reef, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Speakers: Marine biologist, ocean explorer, and conservationist Sylvia Earle, University of the Virgin Islands coral disease ecologist Marilyn Brandt, and WHOI marine microbial ecologist Amy Apprill.
USVI CBS News Reports
