The Tribune

“The most lethal coral disease ever recorded is spreading across the Caribbean. Over 30 known species. More than 25 nations. No known cure.”

So says the website of the Perry Institute for Marine Science, which has been on the frontline for tackling stony coral tissue loss disease for some time now.

The disease affects coral growths across the region – and in The Bahamas, according to the Bahamas Protected Areas Fund (BPAF), it is already affecting about four-fifths of coral species in the country.

Karen Panton, the executive director of the fund, said the disease “is one of the greatest threats facing our reefs today”.

The fund is calling for greater action, including surveillance, research and intervention – but the rallying cry is not new, and the fact it is needed shows that previous alerts have been neglected, and that a response is long overdue.

What does it mean to us? Well, back in 2022, the warning was that it could decimate tourism and other industries related to reefs.

Environmentalist Eric Carey, who then headed the Bahamas National Trust, warned it could “be disastrous and potentially decimate any tourism related to any diving of recreational fishing”.

He added: “It could potentially decimate Bahamian fishing, any species associated with coral reefs, our lobsters and so much of our reef fish could be devastated. From an ecological perspective, because coral reefs are key ecosystems and centres of fisheries, their loss would be catastrophic for the marine environment.”

As a country, we have spoken strongly internationally about our environmental credentials – although how strongly we have lived up to those comments closer to home is open to question.

But here is a situation where we have long been warned of the potentially harmful consequences and yet here we are, years on, still ringing the alarm bell and wondering where the response is.

In that same meeting in 2022 where Mr Carey spoke, the Perry Institute issued a statement saying: “The Bahamas missed a critical window to contain the fatal coral disease after it was first identified over two years ago.”

The institute at the time pointed to a blockage of scientific permits that stopped investigators from tackling the early stages of the disease.

The institute said: “This earlier government work stoppage allowed the coral disease to spread to eight major islands: New Providence and Rose Island, Abaco, Grand Bahama, San Salvador, Long Island, Eleuthera, Exumas and the Berry Islands. After mounting pressure from an alliance of local conservation organisations and a widely-covered March 2022 news conference, however, DEPP finally issued a temporary yet highly restrictive research permit mid-March 2022.”

A battle to save our country’s coral, where the coral is being strangled by a disease, and the rescue was strangled by red tape.

This year, institute director Craig Dahlgren pointed out that it is more likely that coral will have been affected rather than otherwise now.

"There are some reefs where it hasn't quite reached yet, but those are becoming fewer and farther between with every day,” he said last month to The Tribune.

“We went from 100 colonies alive to 11 colonies alive in 13 months," said Mr Dahlgren. "Over 90 percent mortality rates in that time." He warned that some species may face extserious long-term survival challenges.

"We might be seeing an extinction event with some of these corals.”

Extinction event. Consider that. For all our talk of protecting our waters, they are dying in front of our very eyes.

When coral dies, a whole ecosystem dies. Areas that suffer coral death see a massive loss of marine biodiversity. That includes fish, and by a knock-on effect, the fishing industry. Coral reefs also serve as breakwaters – so that means when they go, so too does our storm protection.

So what are we doing about it? Well, in 2023, then Environment Minister Vaughn Miller said the Davis administration had established a taskforce to tackle the issue more aggressively.

Sadly, Mr Miller is no longer with us, but we hope the administration would step up and provide an update on what that taskforce has done in the intervening three years.

The importance of coral was well recognised by the minister at the time. He said that when coral reefs suffer, “so does our culture”.

He said:  “The Bahamas SCKTD Taskforce and the taskforce has been assigned to one, develop and implement strategies to prevent the spread of SCLTD. Two, to help us understand how reef condition varies in space, time and under different threat regimes.”

“Thirdly, to explore how protection and restoration can reduce or even reverse the decline of coral reefs and fourthly, to seek to prevent permanent loss and damage of our culturally and economically important reef-building system.”

As the BPAF calls for action, we cannot help but think that the first action must be for the taskforce leaders to come forward and detail what has been done, what has been evaluated and what comes next.

It has, however, been very quiet since 2023, so we would appreciate some acknowledgement that the urgent work Mr Miller recognised as necessary has indeed been carried out.

One thing is for sure, we should not keep sounding the same alarm bell and then not taking the next steps to do something about the problem. Otherwise, all our talk about protecting our environment is just that, talk.