Full text of "Oceanus"

Oceanus

Volume 30 Number 4 Winter 1987/88

.4*

Caribbean Marine Science

ISSN 0029-8182

Oceanus

The International Magazine of Marine Science and Policy

Volume 30, Number 4, Winter 1987/88

Paul R. Ryan, Ed/tor
James H. W. Main, Assistant Editor
T. M. Hawley, Editorial Assistant
Peter J. Buehler, Fall Intern

Editorial Advisory Board

1930

Henry Charnock, Professor of Physical Oceanography, University of Southampton, England

Edward D. Goldberg, Professor of Chemistry, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Gotthilf Hempel, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar Research, West Germany

Charles D. Hollister, Dean of Graduate Studies, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

John Imbrie, Henry L. Doherty Professor of Oceanography, Brown University

John A. Knauss, Professor Emeritus, University of Rhode Island

Arthur E. Maxwell, Director of the Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas

Timothy R. Parsons, Professor, Institute of Oceanography, University of British Columbia, Canada

Allan R. Robinson, Gordon McKay Professor of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Harvard University

David A. Ross, Chairman, Department of Geology and Geophysics, and Sea Grant Coordinator,

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Published by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Guy W. Nichols, Chairman, Board of Trustees
lames S. Coles, President of the Associates

John H. Steele, President of the Corporation
and Director of the Institution

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COVER: Underwater view of red mangrove. The red sponge growing on the arching prop roots is the Caribbean
fire sponge, Tec/an/a ignis. (Photo by Chip Clark)

Copyright 1987 by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Oceanus (ISSN 0029-8182) is published in
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SEA

FLOOR

2 Introduction: Caribbean Marine Science

by John D. Negroponte

9 Cooperative Coastal Ecology at Caribbean Marine Laboratories

by lohn C. Ogden

16 Mangrove Swamp Communities

by Klaus Rutzler, and Candy Feller

25 Petroleum Pollution in the Caribbean

by Donald K. Atwood, Fred /. Burton, lorge E. Corredor, George R. Harvey, Alfonso /.
Mata-limenez, Alfonso Vasquez-Botello, and Barry A Wade

33 Caribbean Marine Resources: A Report on Economic Opportunities

by A. Meriwether Wilson

42 Geology of the Caribbean

by William P. Dillon, N. Terence Edgar, Kathryn M. Scan/on, and Kim D. Klitgord

53 Changing Climate and Caribbean Coastlines

by Frank Gable

57 Changing Times for Caribbean Fisheries

by Mel Goodwin
65 Intermediate Technologies for Small-Scale Fishermen in the Caribbean

by Daniel O. Suman

69 Caribbean Mass Mortalities: A Problem With A Solution

by Ernest H. Williams, }r., and Lucy Bunkley Williams

76 Belize

by lames H. W. Hain

85 Jamaica: Managing Marine Resources

by Jeremy D. Woodley

87 Panama: Protection of the Tropics

by Jeremy B. C. Jackson

89 The Whalers of Bequia

by Nathalie F. R. Ward

94 The Future of the Panama Canal

by Ambler H. Moss, }r.

[ptroffoQ

Athelstan Spilhaus
Renaissance Man

by Paul R. Ryan

105

108 [)(

112 Index

/Books Received

COVER: Underwater view of red mangrove. The red sponge growing on the arching prop roots is the Caribbean
fire sponge, Jedania ignis. (Photo by Chip Clark)

Copyright 1987 by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Oceanus (ISSN 0029-8182) is published in
March, )une, September, and December by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 93 Water Street,
Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543. Second-class postage paid at Falmouth, Massachusetts; Windsor, Ontario;
and additional mailing points. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Oceanus Subscriber Service Center,
P.O. Box 6419, Syracuse, N.Y. 13217.

Gulf of Mexico

Bahamas

Tropic of

^Cayman Islands

Caribbean Sea

Costa
Rica

Introduction

Caribbean Marine Science

by John D. Negroponte

Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental

and Scientific Affairs

/\s you review the impressive body of marine scientific work described in this special
issue of Oceanus, keep in mind that the United States is very much a member of the
greater Caribbean* family of nations. We are linked by maritime boundaries with seven

Turks &

Caicos Islands

U.S. Virgin Islands

British Virgin Islands

Anguilla

St. Maarten

Barbuda

Antigua
Montserrat

Guadeloupe
Dominica

Martinique
St. Lucia
Barbados
St. Vincent
Grenada

21-

18-

15-

Puerto
Rico

St. Croix
St. Christopher
Nevis

Tobago
Trinidad

Venezuela

* For the purposes of this discussion, the greater Caribbean
includes the island nations of the Greater and Lesser
Antilles, the Bahamas, and countries bordering the
Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, with adjacent waters
under their jurisdiction out to 200 nautical miles.

12-

Caribbean nations in addition to Mexico.
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands play a
large role in everyday regional affairs. Our Gulf
states, and Florida in particular, figure
prominently in Caribbean banking and
commerce. Much of our oil passes through the
region on its way to refineries around the Gulf
of Mexico, or bound for our West Coast via the
Panama Canal.

By and large, our Caribbean neighbors
share our democratic traditions of political and
intellectual freedom. We share historical
affinities and backgrounds, and in some cases,
common colonial origins and language. Millions
of Americans visit or live in the region. Many of

us are of Caribbean origin, beginning with
Alexander Hamilton and continuing to the
present.

Scientific interactions can do much to
build the regional ties and collegia! spirit
important to our mutual economic well-being
and security. Even during the most strained
periods of our relations with some of our
Caribbean neighbors, the exchange of
information on meteorological conditions,
hurricane predictions, and air traffic control
was never interrupted.

Aside from being a very agreeable place
to live or visit or work, the region is of
substantial and growing scientific interest to

Marine scientific research and Law of the Sea in the Caribbean.

Law of the Sea

Treaty

Max. Maritime Claim
(nm = nautical miles)

Research
Restrictions

(see Note 1 )

Signed

Ratified

Anguilla(UK)

200 nm Fisheries Zone (UK)

Antigua & Barbuda

02/07/83

200 nm EEZ

*Aruba(Neth.)

12/10/82

200 nm Fisheries Zone (Neth.)

Bahamas

12/10/82

07/29/83

200 nm Fisheries Zone

Barbados

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ

Belize

12/10/82

08/13/83

3 nm Territorial Sea

Brazil

12/10/82

200 nm Fisheries Zone

Brit. Virgin Islands (UK)

200 nm Fisheries Zone (UK)

Cayman Island (UK)

200 nm Fisheries Zone (UK)

Colombia

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ

Costa Rica

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ

Cuba

12/10/82

08/15/84

200 nm EEZ

Dominica

03/28/83

200 nm EEZ

Dominican Republic

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ

El Savador

12/05/84

200 nm Territorial Sea

*Fr. Guiana (Fr.)

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ (Fr.)

Grenada

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ

'Guadeloupe (Fr.)

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ (Fr.)

Guatemala

07/08/83

200 nm EEZ

Guyana

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ 2

Haiti

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ

Honduras

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ

Jamaica

12/10/82

03/21/83

12 nm Territorial Sea

'Martinique (Fr.)

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ (Fr.)

Mexico

12/10/82

03/18/83

200 nm EEZ

Montserrat(UK)

200 nm Fisheries Zone (UK)

Netherlands Antilles (Neth.)

12/10/82

200 nm Fisheries Zone (Neth.)

Nicaragua

12/09/84

200 nm Territorial Sea

Panama

12/10/82

200 nm Territorial Sea

Puerto Rico (U.S.)

200 nm EEZ

St. Barthelemy (Fr.)

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ (Fr.)

St. Christopher & Nevis

12/07/84

200 nm EEZ

St. Croix(U.S.)

200 nm EEZ

St. Lucia

12/10/82

03/27/85

200 nm EEZ

St. Martin (Fr. & Neth.)

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ (Fr.)

12/10/82

200 nm Fisheries Zone (Neth.)

St. Vincent & Grenadines

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ

Suriname

12/10/82

200 nm EEZ

Trinidad & Tobago

12/10/82

04/25/86

200 nm EEZ 2

Turks/Caicos Islands (UK)

200 nm Fisheries Zone (UK)

United States

200 nm EEZ

U.S. Virgin Islands (U.S.)

200 nm EEZ

Venezuela

200 nm EEZ

* Indicates territory or dependent of country shown in parentheses.

1 Legislation or decree stipulating scientific research jurisdiction.

2 Enabling legislation only.

Reference: Ross, David A. and Therese A. Landry, Marine Science Research Boundaries and the Law of the Sea. Woods Hole, MA: Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution, International Marine Science Cooperation Program, 1987. Table prepared by Judith Fenwick.

U.S. marine researchers. To put that into
perspective, one fifth of all U.S. marine
scientific projects requiring research vessel
clearance from foreign governments are
conducted in the waters of the greater
Caribbean. The actual number of projects has
doubled in the last five years. Because no part
of the Caribbean Sea is beyond 200 nautical
miles of land, all of it falls within some coastal
nation's potential jurisdiction over marine
scientific research. Although the United States
does not choose to exercise this right, most
other Caribbean countries do.

Thus, any single research cruise will likely
involve multiple clearances requiring
interaction with government officials and
participation of scientists in as many as a dozen
countries. Although this bureaucratic maze can
be difficult to negotiate, it also provides
opportunities for establishing institutional and
individual working relationships. These are
essential to developing an indigenous marine
science infrastructure adequate to address the
region's needs in marine research and
environmental resource management.

There are about 60 ongoing
internationally sponsored cooperative projects
or programs dealing primarily with marine
resources, pollution assessment, and
environmental management in the Caribbean.
A number of them are described in this issue.
Some are small-scale bilateral arrangements,
while others are long term and multilateral or
regional. Despite this large number of
programs, a 1983 survey by the United Nations
Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) counted only 1 1 7 marine scientists
in the island nations of the Caribbean, of whom
fewer than half are in the small island countries.
In Latin American countries bordering the
region, UNESCO lists 583 marine scientists, but
only 63 of them are in the small Central
American countries. It is difficult for these
individuals, who usually have full-time
responsibilities in their own institutions, to find
the time or energy to participate fully in
cooperative programs. Clearly, in the smaller
countries, the resources of the Caribbean
scientific community are being spread very
thin.

It we really want to do cooperative
research, it would seem prudent to place a
very high priority on building education and
training opportunities into ongoing programs to
develop new scientific talent in the region. I
would argue that these opportunities should be
made available by strengthening institutions
within the region as much as possible. The
classic "brain drain" scenario is all too real in
the smaller countries of the Caribbean

enthusiastic young marine scientists studying
abroad, but never going back because there is
no science infrastructure to support work in
their field, although their skills are sorely
needed. I commend the academic institutions
that are engaged in cooperative programs at
the institutional level, however modest. They
are wisely investing in the long-term future of
regional marine science collaboration by
strengthening the research capabilities of their
institutional counterparts.

Institution building is a slow process, but
there is much that governments can do in the
near term. While the State Department's
primary role in international scientific affairs is
policy guidance and coordination, we
advocate, when possible, research with
practical applications. In the Caribbean region,
marine science bears importantly on both
income generation and environmental
protection. We encourage all nations to treat
these two objectives together, and the
Caribbean countries recognize that tourism,
fisheries, and mariculture depend on a clean
and healthy marine environment.

In this connection, the United States
encouraged the recent establishment in
Kingston, Jamaica, of the Regional Coordinating
Unit (RCU) of the United Nations
Environmental Programme's (UNEP's)
Caribbean Environment Program. The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) has offered to make available a full-
time scientific advisor to the RCU. We also
supported the Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission's IOCARIBE
Secretariat in its first seven years, and are
pleased that it now has a permanent office in
Cartagena, Colombia. Both the IOCARIBE
office and the RCU can play useful roles in
coordinating regional marine research and its
application to environmental management
problems.

The United States also participated in the
UNEP-sponsored negotiation of the 1983
Convention for the Protection and
Development of the Marine Environment of
the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena
Convention see page 6) and the related Oil
Spill Protocol. We were an original signatory
and one of the first to ratify these instruments,
which entered into force earlier this year.
Additional protocols are envisioned to give
substance to the Cartagena Convention's broad
aim of marine environmental protection. The
First Meeting of Parties, held in October 1987,
decided to call a meeting of experts to draft a
Protocol on Specially Protected Areas and
Wildlife, and also agreed to actively pursue the
development of a Protocol on Marine Pollution

The Cartagena Convention

On March 24, 1983, the United States, 76 other
nations, and two economic organizations
meeting at Cartagena de Indias, Colombia,
adopted an international agreement pledging
cooperation among Caribbean nations to control
pollution and guide the development of the
region's marine resources in a manner that
protects the quality of the environment (see
Oceanus, Vol. 27, No. 3, page 85).

The Convention for the Protection and
Development of the Marine Environment of the
Wider Caribbean Region (the Cartagena
Convention), calls upon nations in the region to
assume the responsibilities to control marine
pollution from land-based sources, atmospheric
sources, dumping, seabed activities, and vessels.
It announces a common commitment to
principles of sustainable development and
environmental stewardship to guide exploitation
and protection of the region's marine resources.

The Cartagena Convention entered into
force in October 1 986, after winning formal
approval by nine nations in the region. The
United States played a leading role during the
negotiations and was one of the first nations to
ratify the treaty. In transmitting the treaty to the
Senate for its advice and consent, President
Reagan called it "an important step in creating, in
the region, marine pollution standards which are
generally higher [than current standards]." To
date, the following countries have ratified the
Convention and its associated protocol on
cooperation in combating oil spills: France, the
United States, Britain, Antigua and Barbuda,
Barbados, the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago,
Jamaica, Mexico, and Venezuela. Grenada and
Saint Lucia have ratified the Convention
(document containing the broad principles) but
have not ratified the protocol (addendum
agreement setting forth more specific obligations).

The Cartagena Convention, like others
developed under the Regional Seas Program of
the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), was designed to be an "umbrella"
agreement articulating general principles. During
the years ahead, additional protocols will be
developed under the "Cartagena umbrella" to
spell out in more detail legal duties to be
undertaken in connection with the treaty's
announced principles. By negotiating broad
principles first, differing interests and perspectives

were accommodated. It is hoped that over time,
governments will be able to accept increasingly
specific obligations as set forth in additional
protocols.

The first meeting of nations that have
deposited instruments of ratification to the
Cartagena Convention was held October 26 to
28, 1987, on the French island of Guadeloupe. At
the first meeting, parties to the treaty agreed to
defer the adoption of rules of procedure until the
next meeting, in 1 989. Parties a/so agreed to
further pursue additional protocols to be
developed under the Convention, including one
on specially-protected areas and wildlife, and one
on land-based source pollution.

The Wider Caribbean region defined in the
Cartagena Convention encompasses the marine
environment of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of
Mexico, including the waters of the United States
Exclusive Economic Zone (within 200 miles of
U.S. shores) south of 30 degrees North latitude
(approximately 50 miles south of the Florida-
Georgia border). The 27 countries located in the
Wider Caribbean region are linked by certain
shared living resources, and similar coastal
development and resource management
dilemmas.

Vast differences in wealth among nations
in the region have led to unequal abilities to
actively participate in solving regional problems.
Given the economic difficulties facing many
nations in the Caribbean, it is vital that the United
States follows through on President Reagan's
recommendation in 1983 that the United States
play a "leading role in the effective
implementation of the Convention."

Miranda Wecker,

Council on Ocean Law,

Washington, D.C.

Acknowledgment

Support for a joint project by the Council on Ocean
Law and the Coastal States Organization has been
provided by The William H. Donner Foundation. The
goal of the project is to bring this regional treaty process
to the attention of the U.S. states and affiliated islands in
affected areas, and identify priorities to be addressed at
meetings of the Cartagena Convention.

from Land-based Sources. Both are potentially
valuable, and we expect that scientists familiar
with these problems will be willing to
contribute to their framing and
implementation.

While we look forward to working with
other signatories within the provisions of the

Convention, we also have initiated a number of
region-wide activities on our own. The
President's Caribbean Basin Initiative, enacted
by Congress in 1983, is intended to provide
special incentives for U.S. -Caribbean trade,
balance of payments support, and
development assistance, thereby promoting the

The Caribbean Basin Initiative

I he Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) is a program
to promote economic development and political
stability in Central America and the Caribbean
Islands through private sector initiative. The goal
is to attract foreign and domestic investment to
these countries in new industries, diversifying the
economies, and expanding exports.

The major elements of the program are:

Duty-free entry to the United States for a
wide range of products manufactured in
CBI countries, as an incentive for
investment and expanded export
production.

Increased U.S. economic aid to the region
to promote trade, investment, and private
sector growth. Aid has more than tripled
during 1981 -1986 and is being used to
finance critical imports from the United
States, establish development banks,
provide project financing, fund market
research and other technical assistance for
exporters, to train management and labor,
and build free trade zones.

Caribbean Basin country self-help efforts to
improve the local business environment
and eliminate excessive bureaucratic red-
tape for investors and traders.

A deduction on U.S. taxes for conventions
and business meetings held in qualifying
CBI countries, to stimulate tourism.

A wide range of U.S. Government, state
government, and private sector business-
support programs, including trade and
investment financing, technical assistance,
and business development missions.

Multilateral support from other trading
partners, and from such development
institutions as the Inter-American
Development Bank and World Bank. For
example, Canada is implementing
Caribcan, providing duty-free entry to

Canada for products from the
Commonwealth Caribbean.

The 22 participating Caribbean Basin
countries are: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba,
Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands,
Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic,
El Salvador, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago,
Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, /ama/ca, Montserrat,
Netherlands Antilles, Panama, St. Christopher-
Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the
Grenadines. Countries eligible, but not
participating in the CBI, are Anguilla, Cayman
Islands, Guyana, Nicaragua, Suriname, and Turks
and Caicos Islands.

CBI Progress

Although U.S. imports from CBI countries
decreased 22 percent during the first two years of
the CBI program, this decline can be accounted
for entirely by the substantial drop in the value of
petroleum imports from the region.

The good news is U.S. imports of
nonpetroleum products from the region grew
more than 12 percent in 1984-85. High growth
rates were registered for a variety of
nontraditional products, such as apparel, fruits,
and vegetables. The seafood sector performed
even better.

There is strong interest among U.S.
investors. Between September 1 983 and
November 1 986, the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation provided $168 million in financial
support for 59 projects in the CBI region, and
insured 129 investments totaling $793 million.

The CBI is having an impact, but there is
no dramatic difference yet in living standards in
the Caribbean Basin. Real Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) growth in the CBI region was
around 2 percent in 1986. This is encouraging
when compared to the declines in GDP
experienced by many of these countries in the
recent past, but is still below population growth.

For further information, contact the CBI
Center at (202) 377-0703. The Center is located
in Room H-3020, U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20230.

economic development and political stability of
Basin nations through private sector initiatives.

The United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) is
supporting the development of promising
agriculture and mariculture activities in the
Caribbean. Two new multipurpose marine

parks are being created with USAID funding in
Belize and Haiti to promote sustainable use of
marine resources. The Ocean Studies Board of
the National Academy of Sciences, at my
request, developed a scientific plan for a
resource-oriented marine science initiative in
the region. This plan has already served as a

catalyst for scientific activities in the region,
such as the proposal prepared by the
Association of Island Marine Laboratories of the
Caribbean (see page 13). Elsewhere in this
issue (page 33) is a summary of an Inventory of
Caribbean Marine Resources produced by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration in collaboration with USAID
and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Commission.

The list could go on, but I think I have
made my point. The Caribbean is important to
us, and cooperative marine science activities
serve vital U.S. interests in the region in
improving international relations, in enhancing
environmental quality, and in promoting
mutual economic interests. I am pleased to
have the opportunity to introduce this special
issue of Oceanus, and I commend the scientific
community for its contributions to the region,
as reflected in the articles that follow. Keep up
the good work!

John D. Negroponte was confirmed as the Assistant Secretary
of State for Oceans and International Environmental and
Scientific Affairs in July 1985. From November 1981 to June
1 985 he was U.S. Ambassador to Honduras. Since this article
was prepared, the author has been appointed Deputy
Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

Acknowledgment

Oceanus magazine would like to thank the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Sea
Grant Program for its support of this issue.

Special Student Rate!

We remind you that students at all levels can
enter or renew subscriptions at the rate of
$17 for one year, a saving of $5. This special
rate is available through application to:
Oceanus, Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, Woods Hole, Mass, 02543.

AIMLC Meeting

The 2 1 st Annual Meeting of the Association of
Island Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean will
be held May 24-27, 1988 at Mote Marine
Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. Sessions on
marine biology, chemistry and toxicology,
geology, fisheries, underwater park
management, seagrasses, mangroves, and coral
reefs will be highlighted as special areas of
study. For more information, contact Linda
Franklin at Mote Marine Laboratory 1600 City
Island Park, Sarasota, Florida 34236. Phone
(813)388-4441.

Cooperative Coastal

Ecology

at Caribbean Marine
Laboratories

by John C. Ogden

I he Caribbean is a microcosm of tropical coastal
seas throughout the world, containing political,
economic, and environmental problems common to
similar areas in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Its
waters, from Central America north to the Bahamas
and east to the Lesser Antilles, are shared by many
nations of various sizes. So the Caribbean, more than
any other sea except perhaps the Mediterranean,
offers ecologists a challenge, an opportunity, and
even an obligation for cooperative international
marine research and resource management.

During the next decade, the region will
undergo significant changes. Population is
exploding, and lands are being developed at an ever-
increasing rate. We are expecting to see more cases
of over-exploited fisheries; on Jamaica's north coast
this situation has already virtually emptied the reefs
of many species of demersal, or bottom-feeding,
fish. Agriculture, industry, and tourism are
responsible for poor land-use practices near large
and small rivers on practically every coast in the
Caribbean. The increasing population, and hillsides
stripped of vegetation, send large volumes of
sediment into the coastal zone, destroying mangrove
forests, and smothering seagrass beds and coral reefs
under a load of silt and sewage reminding one of
the similar ecological disaster at Kaneohe Bay on the
Hawaiian island of Oahu.

Governments are aware of the need for
information on their own marine environments, but
until now have been reluctant to pool their
respective resources and address the problems on a
regional basis. However, through the efforts of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) Coastal Marine Program
(COMAR), and the Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the political
groundwork has been laid for international
cooperation in marine science and resource
management. Marine scientists in the Caribbean, for
their part, have begun networking among themselves

to establish procedures that will build a regional
body of knowledge. One example of such
cooperation is the Caribbean Pollution Research and
Monitoring group, CARIPOL (see article, page 25),
formed as a specialized venture of the IOC.

A Unified System

The Caribbean measures approximately 500 miles by
1,200 miles a relatively small area, oceano-
graphically speaking and is swept from east to west
by the Caribbean current, with coastal counter-
currents and several large gyres. Because most of the
marine plants and animals in the Caribbean have a
planktonic larval phase that lasts from several weeks
to more than a year, and the propagules are carried
long distances by the east-west current, the
homogeneity of species associations in these waters
is striking.

The homogeneity of the Caribbean was
dramatized in 1983-84 by a mass mortality, killing 95
to 99 percent of the long-spined black sea urchin,
Diadema antillarum (see article, page 69). Haris A.
Lessios, a biologist at the Smithsonian Tropical
Research Institute in Panama, believes the mass

The surface currents of the Caribbean Sea.

Land

Mangrove
, Stand

Terrestrial Influence

The Caribbean coastal
seascape, showing the
relationships of coral reefs,
seagrasses, and mangroves. The
arrows show generalized
gradients of terrestrial and
oceanic factors that influence
the distribution, structure, and
productivity of these coastal
ecosystems.

mortality was caused by a pathogen such as a virus,
protozoan, or fungus. The mortality was remarkably
species-specific, and spread without loss of severity
along surface current patterns. The disappearance of
the heretofore abundant plant-eating urchin in turn
caused an eruption of algal growth, destroying corals
and other reef-dwelling organisms.

Most island and mainland coastlines drop
precipitously to depths of more than 2,000 meters
within a few kilometers of shore, so the total area of
the coastal zone the shallow water (less than 200
meters deep) that man is most dependent on for
food, and the zone most susceptible to the influence
of man is small. Typical of tropical seas, however,
is the fact that the warm surface waters of the
Caribbean rarely mix with the nutrient-rich, cold
waters below. Nutrients, particularly inorganic
nitrogen and phosphorus, are regenerated from
decaying plant and animal material by bacteria, and
are the fertilizers of the plant growth that supports all
other forms of life. Because these nutrients remain
locked away in the deep, cold waters offshore, the
primary productivity, or the rate at which plant
material is produced in photosynthesis, of the open
sea is low. Most fisheries and renewable marine
resources are located in the coastal zone where
nutrients are concentrated from other, land-based,
sources and primary productivity is high.

Given its range of island sizes, the size of their
coastal zones, and the uniformity in distribution of
many of its plants and animals, the Caribbean
presents marine biologists with a unique opportunity
to discover the factors that control the distribution
and abundance of organisms, and those that control
the productivity of coastal ecosystems. As the
foundation of this basic regional information
becomes more firmly established, critical resource
management problems can be addressed more
effectively.

The Caribbean Coastal Seascape

The coastal seascape of the Caribbean supports a
complex interaction of three distinct ecosystems:
mangrove stands, seagrass beds, and coral reefs.
Distinct in their solutions to the ecological "problem"
of obtaining the nutrients lacking in warm surface
waters, these tropical marine ecosystems are among
the most productive in the world. In terms of

biomass production per unit time, they exceed even
intensively cultivated crops such as sugar cane.

Lush mangrove forests, consisting of several
species of trees, are found in river basins, coastal
floodplains, and estuaries. In these and other
protected areas, their root systems collect the
abundant nutrients from runoff and river discharge.
There appears to be a gradient in the size of
mangrove stands in the Caribbean, with the most
impressive forests along the coasts of the Greater
Antilles with their extensive river systems, and a
virtual absence of mangroves on the smaller islands
of the eastern Caribbean.

Similarly, the most productive seagrass beds,
dominated by turtle grass, Thalassia testudinum,
occur where their roots take advantage of the
nutrient enhancement from river runoff or outwelling
from coastal mangrove lagoons. During times of
highest tides and during storms, the nutrients
collected in these lagoons get flushed out into the
open water, fertilizing the rooted plants growing
there. In a gradient that mirrors that of mangrove
stand sizes, the seagrass beds become increasingly
diverse, with turtle grass decreasing in importance in
favor of seagrasses with lower nutrient requirements,
as one moves from larger to smaller islands.

Corals contrast with both seagrass and
mangroves by regenerating nutrients internally,
rather than collecting them through roots. In their
association with unicellular algae called
zooxanthellae, corals are able to thrive in the warm
and shallow, but nutrient-poor waters at the edge of
the coastal shelf. Algal turfs, containing nitrogen-
fixing blue-green algae, are responsible for a large
component of the high productivity of coral reefs.

Interaction of Caribbean Coastal Ecosystems

The dynamics of nutrient exchange, and other basic
aspects of how mangrove, seagrass, and coral
ecosystems interact in the Caribbean are only now
beginning to be understood. The Smithsonian
Institution's National Museum of Natural History is
helping this effort by sponsoring a regional program
of research known as Caribbean Coral Reef
Ecosystems (CCRE), headquartered in Belize, but
with additional research sites planned for elsewhere
in the Caribbean (see box, page 1 1 ).

Coral reefs buffer the impact of the ocean on

Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems (CCRE)

I he Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems (CCRE)
program has its roots in a collaborative field
research project conceived by six. National
Museum of Natural History scientists more than
75 years ago. This initial group of Smithsonian
researchers represented several major disciplines
that are essential in the study of reef ecology:
zoology, botany, carbonate geology, and
paleobiology. The immediate aim was the
synoptic investigation of Caribbean coral reefs.
Since it was expected that comparative studies
would eventually be carried into other littoral
(shoreline) environments, the original program
was named Investigations of Marine Shallow
Water Ecosystems (IMSWE).

Program logistics and financial constraints
made it advisable to establish a field station in
one representative location, rather than travel as
a group to different places to carry out studies.
After a number of dive surveys conducted by us
and colleagues from other institutions, we chose
the barrier reef of Belize (then British Honduras).
This reef complex turned out to be the most
diverse in structure, habitat types, and animal and
plant species of all locations examined. It could
also be considered the most pristine system, with
only minimal disturbances from the distant land
mass, such as silting and run-off of nutrients and
pollutants, and only moderate fishing activities by
natives and a few tourists.

In February 1972, Carrie Bow Cay, a 0.4
hectare (1 acre) sand island on top of the
southern Belize barrier reef was chosen as the site
for our field laboratory. During the following
decade, some 65 scientists and graduate students
worked at the station, and more than WO
research papers were published on the fauna,
flora, and geology of the Carrie Bow reef tract,
culminated by the multidisciplinary volume
entitled The Atlantic Barrier Reef Ecosystem at
Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, I: Structure and

Communities (K. Rutzler and I. G. Macintyre,
eds., 7982; Smithsonian Contributions to the
Marine Sciences, 12).

Grants from the Exxon Corporation's Public
Affairs Department (Central and South America)
aided the program soon after its inception and, in
the early 1980s, stimulated a new focus:
ecological study of Caribbean mangrove swamp
communities. This new program became known
as the Smithsonian Western Atlantic Mangrove
Program (SWAMP) and, in addition to the Exxon
support, earned a 2-year Smithsonian Scholarly
Studies Program award for its 18 staff scientists.
Carrie Bow Cay continued to serve as logistical
base, with nearby Twin Cays chosen as the
model mangrove system.

Beginning in Fiscal Year 1985 (October 1984)
the National Museum of Natural History,
strengthened by the research experience derived
from the IMSWE and SWAMP programs, received
an increase to its budget base for the study of
Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems. This
"umbrella" program, now known by its acronym
CCRE, encompasses reef, mangrove, seagrass
meadow, and plankton community studies, and
maintains its primary focus on the Carrie Bow
Cay, Belize, region. To date, about 50 scientists a
year have conducted studies there. In addition,
comparative studies in other places in the
Caribbean basin have been initiated or are
planned. Sites under consideration are: Yucatan
(Mexico), Venezuela, St. Vincent, Barbados,
Martinique, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Bermuda, and
coastal Florida. The possibility of conducting
deep-water studies along the fore-reef slope of
the Belize barrier reef is under review. A modest
sub-program of fellowship support is augmenting
Smithsonian staff research under this program.

Klaus Rutzler, and Marsha Sitnik

the coastal zone, creating lagoons and protected
waters that favor the growth of seagrasses and
mangroves. Mangrove forests and seagrass beds
buffer coral reefs from contact with land, and
promote reef growth offshore by trapping sediments,
removing excessive nutrients, and interrupting
freshwater discharge, thus stabilizing the salinity of
the coastal zone. Because their environmental
requirements are so different, coral reefs and
mangroves rarely occur next to each other. It follows
then, that some of the most productive coasts are
those where broad seagrass meadows are interposed
between mangroves and coral reefs.

An example of nutrient exchange among
these ecosystems is related to the daily or seasonal

migration of animals from one ecosystem to another.
Judy L. Meyer, an ecologist at the University of
Georgia, found that schools of juvenile reef-dwelling
grunts, Haemulon spp., act as nutrient transporters;
they forage by night among the seagrass beds and
defecate by day in the reefs, measurably increasing
the nutrient concentrations over coral colonies.
Corals with resident grunt schools, carrying these
additional nutrients, grew faster than those lacking
schools.

Seagrass beds and mangroves have been
recognized as important nursery areas for many
species of reef fishes and invertebrates. Numerous
studies at the West Indies Laboratory on St. Croix
have shown that the planktonic larvae of the French

grunt, Haemulon flavolineatum, preferentially settle
in seagrass-covered lagoons where they spend the
first few months of their life, moving gradually to
coral reefs as small juveniles.

As previously mentioned, there seems to be a
relationship between the form that mangrove stands
and seagrass beds take, and the size of the land mass
they are associated with. Research into varying
properties of coastal ecosystems in relation to land-
mass sizes is an important program, and one that
demands international cooperation throughout the
Caribbean. By comparing one site to another over a
long period of time, the observed differences and
similarities may be correlated with particular factors.
The insular nature of marine biological research in
the Caribbean until now has made comparison
between sites difficult because of differing objectives
and methods. For this reason, generalizations
developed at one site may not apply to other sites.

For example, the population density of the
common striped parrotfish, Scarus iserti varies
directly with the gradient of decreasing land
influence from Panama to St. Croix. Its behavior also
changes dramatically along the gradient. In Panama,
striped parrotfish show an elaborate territorial
behavior in addition to group foraging behavior. In
St. Croix, territories are not found, and the fish
forage over a wide area in small groups. The
hypothesis is that territorial behavior in striped
parrotfish is possible only where productivity is
enhanced and food resources are concentrated. In
St. Croix, productivity is depressed and food
resources are more widely distributed. The parrotfish
adopt a foraging strategy to match their resources.
Other relatively simple measures of community
structure and function made over long periods of
time, along geographical gradients, could resolve
important pathways of interaction and tell us a great
deal about the factors influencing the structure and
productivity of coastal communities.

A Cooperative Network

There are more than 17 marine laboratories in the
Caribbean region, many of which have a long
tradition of sharing research results. This is fortunate
because many of them such as the Bellairs Institute
of McGill University in Barbados are just field
stations with facilities for about 10 scientists.
Individually, their small sizes limit their ability to
carry out large research projects independently; but
spread out over the Caribbean as they are, together
they can take on the sort of regional research
necessary for crucial resource management issues.

The Association of Island Marine Laboratories
of the Caribbean (AIMLC) (page 13), with 24
member laboratories including Florida and Bermuda,
was founded in 1 957, and hosts a meeting at a
member laboratory nearly every year. At several
workshop meetings of Caribbean marine scientists,
held at the West Indies Laboratory in St. Croix and
the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory in Jamaica in
1 982 and 1 985, under the sponsorship of the
National Science Foundation (NSF) and UNESCO, a
program of sustained ecological research, involving a
cooperating network of Caribbean marine

laboratories was designed. The program, called
Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity
(CARICOMP), will establish research sites; map the
distribution of coral reefs, seagrasses, and
mangroves; and collect monitoring data using
standardized methods and techniques. For example,
one of the most simple yet useful measures that
integrates many aspects of the environment is the
growth rate of principal coral, algae, seagrass, and
mangrove species. This information, combined with
basic physical and chemical data, will be centrally
processed and incorporated into regional models of
coastal productivity.

This developing data base from sites
surrounding the Caribbean will suggest further
specialized research projects. Research of a regional
character, directed at an understanding of the factors
controlling coastal ecosystem structure and function,
will be the result.

The training of Caribbean scientists and
technicians in the application of modern techniques
in marine science is central to the network. This
training should include remote sensing, manned
submersibles, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs),
and the latest diving technology exemplified by
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's (NOAA's) new underwater
laboratory, Aquarius (see box, page 15). The network
will make the best information available for
management of marine resources on a regional scale,
while stimulating basic research in areas where
information is lacking.

Research on Various Timescales

The network of Caribbean marine laboratories will
be able to anticipate and study regional events on
short and intermediate timescales, such as
hurricanes, larval distribution patterns or mass
mortalities, and make real-time maps on a region-
wide scale. For example, hurricanes regularly
traverse the Caribbean, and may be involved in fish
kills caused by phytoplankton blooms stimulated by
storm-driven upwelling of nutrients from deep water.
Hurricanes destroy the dominant coral species on
shallow reefs at intervals, opening space that is re-
colonized by a variety of species, and promoting
biological diversity. The potential for long-distance
distribution of larvae by currents presently makes
identification of fisheries stocks difficult, and single-
point management of fisheries resources impossible.
New techniques involving genetic markers may
identify points of origin of larvae and track
distribution patterns, providing a rational basis for
regional fisheries management.

As an example of an event taking place on a
longer time scale, "white band disease" of elkhorn
coral, Acropora palmata, the principal reef-building
coral of the Caribbean, has killed more than 90
percent of this species at Buck Island Reef National
Monument in St. Croix, managed by the National
Park Service as one of the nation's first underwater
parks. The cause of the disease is unknown, but it is
found through the islands of the eastern Caribbean
and may move to mainland coasts to the south and
west. The network could rapidly assemble a picture
of such events; relate them to micro- and meso-scale

Association of Island Marine Laboratories

(AIMLC)

ie Association of Island Marine Laboratories of
the Caribbean (AIMLC) represents 24 member
marine laboratories, primarily in the greater
Caribbean basin, and more than 500 individual
members with interest in Caribbean marine
science.

The Association advances Caribbean
marine science by arranging meetings; fostering
personal and official relations among members;
assisting or initiating cooperative research

Bellairs Research Institute of McGill University

St. lames
Barbados

Bermuda Biological Station

St. George's West
Ferry Reach 1-15
Bermuda

Bitter End Field Station, Virgin Gorda

Fisheries Research Laboratory 6-22406
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Carbondale, IL 62901

Caraibisch Marien Biologisch Instituut

Piscadera Baai
P. O. Box 2090
Willemstad, Curacao
Netherlands Antilles

Caribbean Marine Research Laboratory

Lee Stocking Island
Bahamas

Center for Energy and Environmental Research

University of Puerto Rico
Mayaguez, PR 00708

Centre de Investigaciones de Biologia Marina

Presa de Tavera # 302
Ciudad de los Millones
Santo Domingo
Republica Dominicana

Centro de Investigacion y

de Estudios Avanzados del IPN Unidad Merida

Carretera Antigua a Progreso KM 6
Apartado Postal 73 Cordemex
973 19 Merida, Yucatan
Mexico

Centre Universitaire Antilles Guyane

B. P. F-97167, Pointe-A-Pitre, Cedex
Guadeloupe (F. W. I.)

CCFL Bahamian Field Station

San Salvador, Bahamas
College Center of the Finger Lakes
270 Southwest 34th Street
Fort Lauderdale, FL33315

Department of Marine Sciences

University of Puerto Rico
Mayaguez, PR 00708

programs; and publishing a journal (Proceedings
of the Association of Island Marine Laboratories
of the Caribbean), a newsletter (Caribbean
Marine Sciences), and an address and specialty
list of Caribbean scientists. Lucy Bunkley Williams
is the editor of the newsletter. Contributions may
be submitted to her, or copies obtained from her
at: Department of Marine Sciences, University of
Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PR 00708. Below is a list
of member laboratories.

Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory

P. O. Box 35
Discovery Bay
Jamaica

Estacion de Investigaciones Marinas de Margarita

Fundacion La Salle de Ciencias Naturales
Apartado 144, Porlamar
Nueva Esparta, Venezuela

Laboratorio Investigaciones Pesqueras

Corporacion para el Desarrollo y Administracion de los

Recursos Marines

P. O. Box 3665, Maina Station

Mayaguez, PR 00708

Fundacion Cientifica Los Roques

Apartado 6 1248

Caracas

Venezuela

Institute of Marine Affairs

P.O. Box 3 160
Carenage Post Office
Port of Spain
Trinidad and Tobago, W. I.

Institute de Investigaciones Marinas de Punta de Betin

Apartado 1016, Santa Marta
Colombia

Institute Oceanografico

Universidad de Oriente
Apartado 94
Cumana
Venezuela

Marine Science Center

College of the Virgin Islands
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
U.S. Virgin Islands 00802

Mote Marine Laboratory

1600 City Island Park
Sarasota, FL 33577

Port Royal Marine Laboratory

Department of Zoology
University of the West Indies
P.O. Box 12
Mona, Kingston 7
lamaica

continued page 14

continued from page 13

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences

University of Miami

4600 Rickenbacker Causeway

Miami, FL 331 49

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Balboa, Panama
APO Miami, FL 34002

West Indies Laboratory

Fairleigh Dickinson University
league Bay
Christiansted, St. Croix
U.S. Virgin Islands 00820

The fore reef at Discovery Bay, lamaica, in 1983, three years
after Hurricane Allen destroyed most of the shallow water
branching corals, Acropora spp., leaving only mounding
corals. By periodically destroying the dominant shallow water
corals, hurricanes promote biological diversity on coral reefs.

The Antillean fish trap is used in the eastern Caribbean
subsistence fishery. Traps are commonly set in seagrass beds
near coral reefs.

circulation patterns; and suggest causes, needed
research, and management strategies.

On a still longer time scale, sea level is
projected to rise rapidly during the next 100 years,
potentially interfering with the wave buffering
capacity of coral reefs in the coastal zone. A
systematic program of coral cores at the network
sites will help define the climatic factors and events
that have led to the establishment and growth of
coral reefs in the Caribbean. Corals, just like trees,
have growth rings that are used to infer past
conditions (see Oceanus, Vol. 29, No. 2, page 31).
Good baseline data will be needed to track sea level,
study the growth responses of coral reefs, and
anticipate management problems associated with
increased wave action in the coastal zone (see article
page 53). A coral coring program directed by Peter J.
Isdale at the Australian Institute of Marine Science
tracked the influence of river flow during the last few
hundred years on coral growth.

In addition to providing a window on the
past, the Caribbean is an ideal intermediate-scale
region in which the global system may be modeled.
The network of marine laboratories would serve to
provide "ground truth" for the new technology being
applied to study global change. Data gathered in a
coordinated regional program could be used to tune
the capabilities and sensitivity of remote sensing
technology, and will provide the key to linking the
past with the future in our understanding of the
tropical coastal zone.

lohn C. Ogden is Professor of Biology at Fairleigh Dickinson
University, and Director of the University's West Indies
Laboratory on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He is also
the co-chairman of the Steering Committee of CARICOMP.

Acknowledgment

The steering committee of CARICOMP, along with a large
group of cooperating Caribbean scientists, are responsible
for much of the material presented in this article.

Selected References

Cladfelter, W. B. 1982. White band disease in Acropora palmata:

implications for the structure-and growth of shallow reefs.

Bulletin of Marine Science 32: 639-643.
Lessios, H. A., D. R. Robertson, ). D. Cubit. 1984. Spread of Diadema

mass mortality through the Caribbean. Science 226: 335-337.
Lewis, J. B. 1977. Processes of organic production on coral reefs.

Biological Reviews 52: 305-347.
Ogden, ). C., and E. H. Gladfelter (eds.). 1986. Caribbean coastal

marine productivity (CARICOMP). Reports in Marine Science

No. 41, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO).
Phillips, R. C., and C. P. McRoy, eds. 1980. Handbook of Seagrass

Biology. 353 pp. New York: Garland STPM Press.

Aquarius:
The Dawning of a New

Age

in Caribbean Marine
Science

I he National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's National Undersea Research
Program (NURP) is poised to launch the most
advanced undersea laboratory available to the
scientific community a habitat-based, manned
saturation* system known as Aquarius. The
laboratory/habitat is designed to accommodate
up to six scientists at depths reaching 37 meters
for as long as a month. Aquarius was recently
deployed at Salt River Canyon less than a
kilometer from the mouth of the Salt River, on the
north coast of St. Croix and is currently
undergoing final preparation and safety checks for
its first science missions, sponsored by NURP at
Fairleigh Dickinson University's West Indies
Laboratory (NURP-FDU).

The value of saturation diving in marine
research was proven by Hydrolab, a four-person
habitat that was used by NURP-FDU to conduct
85 research projects from 1978 to 1985. Habitats
allow scientists to work at depths requiring long
decompression times for extended periods.
Prolonged stays on the ocean floor permit
scientists to establish and monitor in situ
experiments using the newest methods, hastening
the evolution of undersea science from an
observational to an experimental mode.

The Aquarius system has four parts: the
81 -ton research habitat; a life-support buoy (LSB);
a launch, recovery, and transport vessel; and a
1 18-ton baseplate that holds the habitat on the
ocean floor. The LSB is a reinforced 13-meter
enclosed boat hull modified for unattended
operation. It is connected to the habitat by a 38-
meter long, 20-centimeter diameter umbilical
that provides the habitat with air, power, water,
and communication lines. The larger transport
vessel will be able to carry the baseplate and
habitat to any number of sites, enabling
comparative study of various Caribbean indeed

"Saturation" in the context of diving means that the
maximum amount of gases possible are dissolved in a
diver's blood at a particular depth. "Decompression" is
necessary when a diver's blood contains a greater
quantitiy of gases than can normally be eliminated
from the blood without the formation of bubbles.

Aquarius, NOAA's new underwater research station.

global tropical ecosystems. The surface support
personnel of NURP/FDU will provide diver
training, operational expertise, and safety
standards.

Aquarius will expand the productivity of
saturation diving for scientific research, for in
addition to being a comfortable underwater
home, the Aquarius could rightly be called a
lab/tat, since it is equipped with modern
experimental facilities. The onboard equipment
includes video monitoring and recording
capability, a computer network, environmental
data-logging system, and wet lab.

The science missions scheduled for 1 988
will address the general topics of nutrient cycling
and recruitment processes in marine organisms.
Specifically, the projects will examine:

The effect of water movement on the
feeding behavior of corals.

The oxygen dynamics and anaerobic
metabolism of reef sediments.

The structural patterns and processes of
algal communities along a depth gradient.

The energetics of sediment removal and
zooplankton feeding in reef-building corals.

Nutrient fluxes in the benthic microflora of
coral reef sediments.

Biological and physical processes affecting
larval settlement and early recruitment of
marine organisms.

Results from this research will help our
understanding of relationships between primary
productivity, energy and material flow through
ecosystems, and the potential availability of this
energy and material to higher trophic levels, such
as fishes and man.

For further information on Aquarius and
the NURP-FDU Caribbean Science Program,
contact Dr. Robert C. Carpenter, Science
Director, West Indies Laboratory, Teague Bay,
Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands 00820.

Mangrove Swamp

by Klaus Riitzler, and Candy Feller

//-r

I he roots gave off clicking sounds, and the odor
was disgusting. We felt that we were watching
something horrible. No one likes the mangroves."
That is how John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts depicted

The bostrychietum community,
based on an intertidal
association of red algae.
Oysters are located at mid-tide
and upper-tide levels, while the
mangrove tree crab and
periwinkle stay above the
water line. (Illustration by
Candy Feller)

Communities

the mangroves in 1941 in the Sea of Cortez. Many
people agree with them. So why have two dozen
scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, primarily
from the National Museum of Natural History, and
twice as many colleagues from American and
European universities and museums devoted a
decade of exploration to one square kilometer of
"black mud, . . . flies and insects in great numbers
. . ., impenetrable . . . mangrove roots . . .," and
". . . stalking, quiet murder"?

The study started in the early 1980s, and
focuses on an intertidal mangrove island known as
Twin Cays, just inside the Tobacco Reef section of
the barrier reef of Belize, a tiny Central American
nation on the Caribbean coast (see article page 76).
The principal purpose of this research is to
document the biology, geology, ecological balance,
economic importance, and aesthetic value of a
prominent coastal ecosystem using the example of a
diverse and undisturbed swamp community.

Properties of Mangrove Swamps

Mangrove swamp communities dominate the
world's tropical and subtropical coasts, paralleling
the geographical distribution of coral reefs.
Mangroves on the Atlantic side of the American
coasts occur between Bermuda and almost to the
mouth of the Rio de la Plata (Argentina), and
throughout the West Indies. Like reefs, mangrove
swamps are environments formed by organisms, but
unlike most coral communities, they thrive in the
intertidal zone and endure a wide range of salinities.
"Mangrove" refers to an assemblage of plants
from five families with common ecological,
morphological, and physiological characteristics that
allow them to live in tidal swamps. Worldwide, at
least 34 species in nine genera are considered to be
true mangroves. P. B. Tomlinson's recent book,
Botany of Mangroves, defines this group of plants by
five features: 1) they are ecologically restricted to
tidal swamps, 2) the major element of the
community frequently forms pure stands, 3) the
plants are morphologically adapted with aerial roots
and viviparity (producing new plants instead of
seeds), 4) they are physiologically adapted for salt
exclusion or salt excretion, and 5) they are
taxonomically isolated from terrestrial relatives, at
least at the generic level. "Mangrove swamp" or
"mangal" refers to communities characterized by
mangrove plants.

Mangrove trees are used for water-resistant
timber, charcoal, dyes, and medicines. They resist
coastal erosion during storms and possibly promote
land-building processes by trapping sediment and
producing peat. The protective subtidal root system
of the red mangrove serves as nursery ground for
many commercially valuable species of fishes,
shrimps, lobsters, crabs, mussels, and oysters. An
assorted fauna of birds, reptiles, and mammals is also
at home in the mangrove thickets and tidal channels.

Human disturbances have made a heavy
impact on many mangroves near populated areas as
a result of dredging and filling, overcutting, insect
control, and garbage and sewage dumping. The
intertidal environment of mangroves is endangered
by pollutants in the water, air, and soil. Accidental oil
spills appear to be particularly damaging. Oil and tars
not only smother algae and invertebrates, but also
disrupt the oxygen supply to the root system of the
mangrove trees by coating the respiratory pores of
the intertidal prop and air roots.

A Mangrove Laboratory in Belize

Belize (formerly British Honduras), boasts the longest
barrier reef of the Northern Hemisphere, extending
220 kilometers from the Mexican border in the north
to the Gulf of Honduras in the south. Behind this
barrier lies an enormous lagoon system averaging 25
kilometers between the mainland and open ocean.
Mangroves border most of the coastline, extend
upstream from countless river mouths, and fringe or
cover most lagoon cays.

One of these is Twin Cays (Figure 1) an
island divided into two by an S-shaped channel.
Twin Cays has become our study site and
experimental field laboratory. Although we usually
spend the nights and conduct laboratory bench work
on nearby Carrie Bow Cay site of the National
Museum's coral reef field station for the last 1 5
years most days and many nights are spent in the
mangrove channels, lakes, ponds, mud flats, and
even the trees. A self-contained weather station
established on one of the mud flats transmits data on
wind, sun, rain, temperatures, and tides to a portable
computer on Carrie Bow Cay.

The bibliographies on mangroves show that
during the last 200 years more than 6,000 papers
have been published describing biological and
geological details from almost as many different
swamps over the world. Our ongoing study aims to

Sond bores &
Patch Reefs

Figure 1 . Mangrove ecosystem
study area, Twin Cays, Belize.
The National Museum of
Natural History's coral reef field
station is located on Carrie
Bow Cay, about 4 kilometers
southeast. (From Rutzler and
Macintyre, 1982, Smithsonian
Contributions to the Marine
Sciences 12)

analyze as many components as possible of a single
mangrove swamp and, ultimately, assemble them to
a mosaic reflecting structure as well as function of
this unique ecosystem.

Geological History of Twin Cays

A popular theory holds that mangroves are builders
of land because they trap and hold fine sediments.
Early on in our study we discovered that this is not
necessarily true. We tried to reclaim nearby Curlew
Cay, which had been lost to a hurricane (it is now
known as Curlew Bank), by planting an assortment of
young red mangroves, but were unsuccessful. So the
question arose, if islands are not built by mangroves,
how do they get started?

To learn more about the Holocene (recent
time back to 18,000 years before present)
stratigraphy under the present island, Ian G.
Macintyre of the Smithsonian Department of
Paleobiology, along with Robin G. Lighty and Anne
Raymond of Texas A&M University, drove pipes
8 meters into the sediment, down to the Pleistocene
level (marks the beginning of the Holocene), and
retrieved sediment cores that date back 7,000 years.*
They also collected rock cores below this level.

What they found below the mangroves was a
carbonate substrate consisting of a dense limestone
formed mostly by finger corals (Porites) with
abundant mollusk fragments, indicating an
environment of deposition similar to today's calm-
water patch reefs. The sequence of peat, algal-
produced sand, and mangrove oysters in the
sediment cores indicates that this mangrove was
apparently established on a topographic high formed
by a fossil patch reef, and kept pace with the rising
sea level. However, there is also evidence that the
island repeatedly changed its size and shifted
position, generally building with lagoon sediments
on the windward coasts, while eroding at the
leeward edge, which is characterized by shallow-
water bottoms formed by stranded peat deposits.

The mangrove community itself can be
thought of as being composed of three components:
the above-water "forest," the intertidal swamp, and

* Although the Holocene can date back as much as 18,000
years, there are only 7,000 years of sediment accumulation
in this particular area, as sea level did not flood the Belize
lagoon until the upper Holocene.

Figure 2. Channel fringed by
red mangrove. Sponges and
other sessile organisms are
attached to prop roots and to
the underwashed peat bank to
the right; turtle grass and algae
cover the mud bottom. A black
mangrove with short intertidal
air roots protruding from the
bottom is seen on the left.
(After Rutzler, 1969,
Proceedings of a Coastal
Lagoon Symposium, Mexico
City; redrawn by Molly Ryan)

the underwater system (Figure 2). In our
descriptions, we will start from the bottom and work
up.

Environments Below the Tides

The bottom of the mangrove from the intertidal to
3 meters, the greatest depth of the main channel, is
composed of what most people would call muck. To
us, it displays many varieties, such as carbonate silt,
mud, and sand with varying amounts of mucus,
organic detritus (products of plant and animal
decay), peat, and silicious skeletons derived from
diatom algae and sponges. Many fine-grained
limestone sediments are produced by physical and
biological erosion on the nearby reef and carried
into the mangrove by water currents. Sands, on the
other hand, are primarily produced within the
community by digestion or decay of calcareous
green algae (Halimeda).

The most abundant and ecologically
important plant on the submerged mangrove
bottoms is the turtle grass (Thalassia). It stabilizes the
muddy bottom, offers substrate for egg cases and
many small sessile organisms, and provides food and
shelter to animal groups ranging from microbes to
2-meter manatees. Jorg A. Ott, a seagrass ecologist
from the University of Vienna, determined that turtle
grass in the Twin Cay mangrove is more dense, and
grows 3 times faster than Thalassia in the nearby

open lagoon, resulting in an almost 10-fold net leaf
production.

Red mangrove stilt roots line all channels,
creeks, and ponds and, below tide level, support
spectacularly colored clusters of algae, sponges,
tunicates (sea squirts), anemones, and many
associates. They also provide hiding places for many
mobile animals, such as crabs, lobsters, sea urchins,
and fishes.

Algae without the ability to root in mud
bottoms abound on the stilt roots. Mark Littler, from
the Smithsonian Department of Botany, and co-
workers Diane Littler and Philipp Taylor found that,
curiously, fleshy algae seem to prefer roots that had
penetrated the water surface, but had not yet
reached the bottom of the channel or lake.
Calcifying algae (such as the sand-producing
Halimeda), on the other hand, are common on the
submerged parts of anchored roots and along the
channel banks. Experiments demonstrated that the
hanging roots offer palatable plants protection from
benthic (bottom-living) herbivores such as sea
urchins and many fishes, whereas Halimeda has its
own skeletal protection.

Certain algae and many sessile invertebrates
on the subtidal mangrove roots are protected from
predators by toxic substances stored in their tissues
and produced by their own metabolism. Sponges are
particularly well-known for their antibiotic and

feeding-deterrent properties. The sponges, in turn,
are used by many smaller organisms, such as
anemones, polychaete worms, shrimps, crabs,
amphipod crustaceans, gastropod mollusks, and
brittle stars as an effective physical and chemical
shelter. Collaborating with our Smithsonian
colleagues, Kristian Fauchald, Gordon Hendler (now
at the Los Angeles County Museum), and Brian
Kensley, we extracted up to 40 species and 400
specimens of endozoans (species living within
another) larger than 2.5 millimeters from, as an
example, a 1 -liter fire sponge (Tedan/'a), a species
that causes burning, itching, and even severe
dermatitis in humans.

Sponges are among the most common,
massive, and colorful invertebrates in the submerged
mangrove. To settle and metamorphose, their larvae
need solid substrate with low exposure to
sedimentation, although we observed grown
specimens surviving for months buried in light mud
after they had fallen from their place of original
attachment. Only two kinds of firm substrate are
available to such settlers, red mangrove stilt roots,
and vertical or overhanging banks composed of a felt
of peat and mangrove rootlets and flushed by tidal
currents.

In both locations, the competition for space is
fierce, not only among sponges, but also between
sponges and other sessile organisms, such as algae,
hydroids (the polyp-generation of many medusae),
corals, anemones, bryozoans (moss animals), and
tunicates (sea squirts). With our colleagues Dale
Calder, Royal Ontario Museum, Ivan Goodbody,
University of the West Indies, and Jan Kohlmeyer,
University of North Carolina, we are analyzing the
sequence of settlement of species at different
seasons, following their growth and methods and
hierarchies of competition.

We have found that within days new
substrates (wood, plastics) are colonized by
ubiquitous bacteria, fungi, and lower algae. Next to
arrive are coralline algal crusts, sponges, hydroids,
scyphozoan polyps (the polyp stage of the upside-
down jellyfish Cass/opea), anemones, serpulid and
sabellid worms, bryozoans, and ascidians (the latter
two are colonial, encrusting organisms). After 3 to 6
months, substrates are fully covered by a spectrum
of organisms. This spectrum varies greatly, and
depends on the season in which the experiment was
started, the habitat position of the substrate, and the
environmental endurance of the settlers.

Not all subtidal mangrove life is restricted to
the bottoms and roots. Fishes of all size and age
classes hide or feed in the water column around the
red mangrove roots and along the banks. Many of
these depend on plankton, such as copepods and
other small crustaceans (shrimp-like animals), for
food. Members of both groups form characteristic
swarms during the day. Smithsonian's Frank Ferrari
teamed up with Julie Ambler, Texas A&M University,
Ann Bucklin, University of Delaware, and Richard
Modlin, University of Alabama, to study the
systematics, ecology, and genetics of the swarms and
found population densities much greater than
expected. They counted more than 2,000 copepods
per cubic meter of water in a small bay at night, and

estimated 100 million individuals congregated during
the day in a band of swarms along a 1,000-meter
stretch of channel bank.

The Intertidal Mangrove Swamp

Although the tidal range in the Caribbean is small, in
shallow coastal areas it can strongly influence current
flow and distribution of organisms. At Twin Cays, the
mean tidal range is only 15 centimeters, yet a
combination of astronomical, geomorphologic, and
meteorologic factors can cause a range of more than
a half meter.

Red mangrove (Rhizophora) prop roots, black
mangrove (Avicennia) pneumatophores,* peat banks,
and mud flats are the typical substrates of the
intertidal zone supporting distinctive communities.
Barnacles (Chthamalus), wood boring isopods
(Limnoria), oysters (Crassosfrea), and "mangrove
oysters" (Isognomon, not a true oyster) are the best
known indicators of intertidal hard substrates, while
fiddler crabs (Uca) are typical for the mud flats.
Green algal mats (Caulerpa, Halimeda) are found
exposed on peat-mud banks during low tide. The
most abundant and characteristic intertidal
mangrove community, however, is called the
bostrychietum, named after the principal
components of an association of red algae
(Bostrychia, with Catanella and Ca/og/ossa).

The bostrychietum (see page 16) has a
remarkable water-holding capacity, which allows the
plants and their associated animals to survive
extended dry periods. We measured water loss rates
in two of the substrate species and found evidence
of two different methods of water retention.
Bostrychia is a delicate, tufted plant that holds water
primarily interstitially (between the branches).
Catenella is more fleshy and less elaborately
branched, and holds water intracellularly (within the
cells), in its tissues.

Loren Coen, Dauphin Island Sea Lab,
examined the animal associates of the
bostrychietum, particularly in respect to grazing. He
found that amphipods (Parhyale) become
concentrated in the algal mats in high numbers
during receding tides, and that their grazing on
Bostrychia can match or exceed the algal growth.
The mangrove tree crab, Aratus, and other crabs
from the low-tide level were also found with large
quantities of Bostrychia in their guts.

Desiccation and related problems of
increased temperature and salinity in organisms
subjected to exposure at low tide became
particularly apparent during an extreme low tide in
June 1983. A 20-centimeter zone below mean low-
tide level became exposed during noon hours under
a clear sky.

Large communities of low intertidal (rarely
exposed) and subtidal (never exposed) organisms,

* A feature of many mangroves is that some part of the root
system is exposed to the atmosphere. In an oxygen-poor
substrate, oxygen is absorbed directly from the atmosphere.
In the black mangrove, these aerial roots, termed
pneumatophores, occur as direct upward extensions of the
subterranean root system.

such as occupants of seagrass meadows (including
the turtle grass itself), and mangrove mud banks and
stilt roots, were killed during the long exposure to
desiccation. Estimates indicate that more species of
algae and invertebrates, and much more living
matter (biomass), were destroyed during those days
of June than during two hurricanes combined (Fifi,
1974; Greta, 1978).

Collaborating eco-physiologist Joan Ferraris,
Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory, is examining
a number of organisms (sponges, sipunculan worms,
shrimps, crabs) that are exposed to strong salinity-
temperature stress in their natural environment.
Results so far show a fine correlation between
experimental tolerances in the animals and range of
variability of stress factors in their natural habitat. In
the case of sponges, regulatory mechanisms
controlling water-ion balances are still unknown, but
in the absence of organs, they must take place inside
individual cells.

Unfortunately, the intertidal swamp is not
only an exciting biological study zone, but also a
gallery of pollutants. Even in this remote location
every imaginable piece of floating debris discarded
by man can be found, washed in by currents among
the mangrove roots and deposited by the receding
tides.

Mangrove Forest Above the Tide

Unlike the adjacent marine systems, the above-water
flora and fauna of the mangrove-covered islands
appear less complex and diverse. From the water, an
unbroken, monotonous barrier of red mangrove
trees confronts, and frequently intimidates, the
casual explorer.

The species composition of the above-water
plant community around Twin Cays is relatively
simple. Three halophytic* tree species, known
collectively as mangroves, dominate the natural
vegetation on most of the islands: Red mangrove
(Rhizophora), black mangrove (Avicennia), and white
mangrove (Laguncularia). On cays with slightly higher
ground, additional woody and herbaceous (soft-
stemmed) halophytes are associated with the
mangrove, such as buttonwood (Conocarpus),
saltwort (Baf./s), and sea purslane (Sesuv/um).

In general, mangrove forests have well-
defined horizontal zonation. On these mangrove
islands, the seaward and channel margins typically
are fringed by dense, 4- to 10-meter-tall stands of
red mangrove. Behind this fringe, the red mangrove
is usually more open and shorter, with black and
white mangroves intermixed. The zonation is easily
recognized: dull gray-green spires of black
mangrove, and flattened, yellow-green crowns of
white mangrove stand slightly above and behind the
dark green dome of the fringing red mangrove.

The interiors of some of the larger islands off
Belize, like Twin Cays, have several extensive,
unvegetated mud flats and shallow ponds.

* A plant growing in salty soil or salt water, termed a
halophyte, has unique physiological characteristics that
enable it to obtain fresh water, excrete salt, and reduce
fresh water loss.

Numerous stumps throughout the mud flats are
evidence that the trees that once grew there fell
victim to some environmental stress. The red
mangrove trees growing around the margins of the
mud flats and in the ponds are severely stunted and
widely spaced. Over the years, these natural bonsai
have been distorted and pruned by their
environment into fantastic forms, seldom more than
1.5 meters tall.

The above-water fauna on the cays is
considered by most investigators to be introduced
from the Belizean mainland. Even on the largest
mangrove islands, most of the "land" is intertidal;
therefore, the only environments available to
terrestrial animals are arboreal. The fauna is limited
to birds, lizards, snakes, snails, and arthropods, such
as land crabs, spiders, and insects. These animals
probably reached the cays from the mainland by
flying, or rafting on or in pieces of wood and other
floating debris.

A few land bird species have established
permanent breeding populations on the mangrove
islands. Warblers, vireos, hummingbirds, cuckoos,
grackles, and white-crowned pigeons are among the
permanent residents. Several of the islands also
provide nesting sites for ospreys. These birds
frequently build their nests atop tall snags of black
mangrove.

At Twin Cays, the green-back heron is the
most commonly observed wading bird. It breeds on
the island, and builds its twig nest in the red
mangrove fringe along the channels. It is frequently
seen diving for small fish in the shallow, interior
ponds. The most conspicuous birds of the area are
the brown pelican and frigatebird, which fly
overhead or perch in mangrove trees.

Insects are, by far, the most diverse and
abundant group of above-water animals inhabiting
the Belizean mangrove cays. Ants, in 28 or so
species, are clearly the most abundant. Termites,
because of their huge nests and extensive covered
walkways, are the most conspicuous. Some major
groups of insects, such as bees, are poorly
represented in mangrove fauna. As is other tropical
ecosystems, a large percentage of the insect species
that we have found associated with mangroves are
undescribed.

Conclusions

The red mangrove fringe, the specialized vegetation,
the physical environment, and the associated fauna
and flora form a complex and diverse island
community above water as well as below. We have
learned that mangroves produce fine sediments and
organic detritus, and stabilize them by modifying the
wave and current regime of the open lagoon. The
inventory of species has yet to be completed, but
already we have shown that most phyla are
represented by species of which 10 to 25 percent,
and in some cryptic (having a hidden or concealed
lifestyle) microscopic-sized groups, up to 60 percent,
are undescribed. The mangrove swamp is rich in
recycled nutrients and high in production rates, but
its occupants are severely stressed by factors such as

text continued on page 24

A Gallery

"Boston Bay," Twin Cays. In
the foreground are prop
roots of red mangroves
(Rhizophora). (Photo by
K. Rutzler)

Stinging sea anemone
(Bunodeopsis) on turtle
grass. (Photo by C. Miller)

Black mangrove (Avicennia) pneumatophores.
(Photo by M. Parrish)

Sponges, ascidians, and anemone on a submerged root.
(Photo by K. Rutzler)

Clapper rail. (Photo by S. Canupp)

of Mangrove Life

Seahorse (Hippocampus).
(Photo by C. M/7/er)

?' ''<' ' /"'

j^fti'*

Mangrove oysters (Isognomon). (Photo by K. Rutzler)

Young upside-down
jellyfish (Cassiopea) on
mud bottom.
(Photo by K. Rutzler)

Starfish (Oreaster). (Photo by K. Rutzler)

Drift goods deposited by the tides under black mangroves.
(Photo by M. Parrish)

Carrie Bow Cay Field Station

/\ small field station located just behind the
barrier reef in Belize has served as a base for
research by the Smithsonian Institution and other
scientists since 1972. The facility has been made
possible largely through the generosity of the
Bowman family, whose members have lived in
the Stann Creek District of Belize for several
generations. Being naturalists in their own right,
the Bowmans were easily convinced to dedicate
part of the island to research on the biology and
geology of Belize's barrier reef.

Since its founding in 1972, the National
Museum of Natural History's coral reef field
station has undergone continuous improvements.
Some changes were necessitated by research
requirements, others by the devastating effects of
hurricanes Fifi (1974) and Greta (1978). The
original buildings on the small island of Carrie
Bow (at present, about 0.4 hectares, or 1 acre),
consist of an old plantation house, carried
disassembled across from the mainland, and two
smaller cottages. During most of the 1970s, the
small cottages and parts of the big house
provided sleeping space for only six persons, and
necessitated combining the laboratory and
workshop into a single room. A small kitchen
provided cooking space. Electricity supplied by a
small portable generator was limited to short
periods during the day and evening.

After damage from hurricane Greta in 1978,
the laboratory cottage had to be rebuilt. It was
enlarged by adding a second story, thus providing
additional sleeping space and allowing the
research laboratory and workshop areas to be
separated. The old outdoor aquarium system with
low-volume seawater flow was improved by
increasing capacity and enclosing the area with
wood siding and windows to protect it from the
weather.

In 1 985, a new agreement with the Bowman
family allowed expansion of living and laboratory
space to the upper level of the big house. The
resulting renovations added badly needed dry
space for instruments, library, and computer. At
the same time, the smallest cottage was replaced
by a better designed, larger building serving as a
dormitory, and a new, separate, and sound-
isolated compressor and generator house was
built. Other renovations include boat moorings,
water tanks and showers, kitchen, and
replacement of all electric wiring and fixtures.
Some new equipment was added, such as a
4-kilowatt diesel generator, two new 5-meter
dive boats, two microscopes, a centrifuge, an
electronic balance, air and water filtration
systems, and two propane-gas refrigerators. To
improve safety, the boats were provided with
radiophones compatible with the station's main
radio, and a radio-telephone line was established
to the Royal Air Force Helicopter Detachment in
Belize City, who helped develop logistics for
emergency evacuation in case of a diving
accident. Plans for 1988 call for an increased
seawater capacity with larger pumps, a solar
power system, and a 6,000-liter storage tank, and
for improved water quality by extending the
water intake pipe to the fore reef.

Finally, in step with the upscaled mangrove
study, we established a self-contained weather
station in Twin Cays, 4 kilometers to the
northwest. Meteorological and oceanographic
sensors are automatically scanned every half
hour, and data sent via radio to a portable
computer on Carrie Bow Cay. By mid-1988,
transmitted data will also be received at the
International Airport, Belize, for evaluation and
use by the Meteorological Office.

Klaus Rutzler, and Mike Carpenter

continued from page 21

salinity and temperature fluctuations, desiccation
potential, abundance of fine sediments, and shortage
of firm substrates. Space, from the sea bottom to the
tree tops, is distinctly partitioned by the animals that
exploit this specialized plant community. These
intertidal islands, because of their isolation from the
Belizean mainland, provide us with ideal locations to
study pure mangrove communities in the Caribbean.

Klaus Rutzler is Curator of Lower Invertebrates and Program
Director of Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems (CCRE),
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C. Candy Feller is a freelance scientific
illustrator, presently based in McAlester, Oklahoma.

Acknowledgment

The study described in this article is supported by grants
from the Exxon Corporation, the Smithsonian Scholarly
Studies Program, and the Smithsonian Women's
Committee.

Selected References

Lugo, A. E., and S. C. Snedaker. 1974. The ecology of mangroves.

Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 5: 39-64.
Macnae, W. 1968. A general account of the fauna and flora of

mangrove swamps and forests in the Indo-West-Pacific Region.

Advances in Marine Biology 6: 73-270.
Odum, W. E., C. C. Mclvor, and T. ). Smith, III. 1982. The Ecology of

the Mangroves of South Florida: A Community Profile. FWS/OBS-

81/24, 144 pp. Reprinted September 1985. Washington, D.C.:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Biological Services.
Tomlinson, P. B. 1986. The Botany of Mangroves. 413 pp.

Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Petroleum Pollution

> ^ , < ^o*te*

*w -^ *

- i+M* ^^cijdi

Lump', ot tar found on the exposed portion of a reef ofl
the southwest coast of Puerto Rico. Shovel is for scale.
(Photo by lorge Corredor, University of Puerto Rico)

in The Caribbean

by Donald K. Atwood,

Fred J. Burton, Jorge E. Corredor,

George R. Harvey,

Alfonso J. Mata-Jimenez,

Alfonso Vasquez-Botello,

and Barry A. Wade

I he title for this article, by its very existence,
presumes a problem. That is, if one writes about
petroleum pollution in the Caribbean, there must be
some. Such a presumption contradicts perceptions
of the Caribbean as an area of idyllic islands

surrounded by clear, warm seas and beautiful,
fringing reefs. Does such pollution exist? If so, where
does it come from, what effects does it have, and
what were the reasons for investigating its existence
in the first place?

We will answer the last of these questions
first, and because of its obvious oceanographic
connection, we will include the Gulf of Mexico in
our considerations.* In 1976, the Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC) in Paris, the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in
Nairobi, Kenya, and the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization in Rome, all of which have
interests in the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico (or
"American Mediterranean," as this area is often
called), convened a meeting of scientists from that
region in Port of Spain, Trinidad, to discuss what
needed to be done regarding a growing concern
over marine pollution. Although this group
recognized numerous local pollution problems in the
region (for example, lack of sewage treatment
facilities for coastal urban centers, and agricultural
runoff), their report, as published by the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
(IOC) in Paris (see Selected References), noted that
petroleum pollution was of region-wide concern,
and recommended that the organizations present
initiate a research and monitoring program to
determine the severity of the problem and monitor
its effects.

CARIPOL

Two of these agencies, the IOC and UNEP, followed
up on this recommendation. The IOC worked
cooperatively with a Steering Committee of regional
scientists to design a program that would 1) provide
necessary information, and 2) allow laboratories from
throughout the region to participate without
expensive, sophisticated equipment. UNEP provided
funds to train participants, and for symposia to
present, discuss, and publish the results. The
program was named CARIPOL, for CARIbbean
POLlution research and monitoring, and the Steering
Committee designed a program to monitor three
parameters related to petroleum pollution:

Tar on beaches. Tar to be collected from the
water line to the back of the beach along

1 -meter transects, weighed, and reported as
grams of tar per meter of beach front.

Floating tar. One-meter-wide neuston nets
(designed to skim the ocean surface, sampling
the upper few centimeters) to be towed from
a vessel outside the vessel wake for a known
time and vessel speed. The tar collected to be
weighed and reported as milligrams of tar per
square meter of sea surface.

Dissolved/dispersed petroleum hydrocarbons
(DDPH). One-gallon samples to be collected
in carefully cleaned, small-mouth bottles
suspended on a 1 -meter tether from a surface

* Throughout this issue of Oceanus, "the Caribbean" is
defined as the waters and countries of the Caribbean
Basin the Lesser Antilles, Greater Antilles, countries
bordering the western and southern rim, and the Caribbean
Sea. In this article, because of oceanic and geographic links,
the scope is expanded to what is sometimes termed the
"Wider, or Greater Caribbean" a designation that includes
the Gulf of Mexico and parts of Florida.

float. The petroleum to be extracted from this
sample using nanograde (ultrapure) hexanc,
and the amount extracted to be estimated
using a technique called ultraviolet
spectrofluorescence. A compound called
chrysene (similar to the most toxic
constituents in petroleum) to be used as the
standard for this measurement.

In the summer of 1979, some of the region's
worst fears regarding petroleum pollution were
realized when a well drilled by the Mexican
government's national petroleum company (PEMEX
IXTOC-1) blew out in the southern Bay of
Campeche (in the southern Gulf of Mexico), and
became the greatest single oil spill in history. In
September of that year, and in the face of the IXTOC
disaster, governments in the region, which had
agreed to participate in CARIPOL, sent scientists and
technicians to the University of Costa Rica in San
Jose to be trained in making the standard CARIPOL
observations. Training was conducted in both English
and Spanish, and detailed method manuals were
published in both languages. By 1980, the program
was operational, and data were being reported to a
central facility operated by the U.S. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in
Miami, Florida. Figure 1 shows the region throughout
which data were collected, as well as the countries
that participated.

During the following six years, CARIPOL
participants provided data on more than 9,000
observations throughout the region. Participants
varied from national park rangers in Bonaire who
sampled beaches to university professors in
Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad, the
United States, and Venezuela to naval personnel in
Colombia. The data set collected was the largest and
most complete in the world, and allowed some
significant conclusions regarding the status of
petroleum pollution in the Wider Caribbean and its
effects.

Tar on Beaches

CARIPOL participants provided significant amounts
of beach tar data from throughout the region (Figure
2). Although the scale in Figure 2 prevents good
resolution of the data in many locations (especially
for more than 5,000 data points in Trinidad and
Tobago), the figure clearly indicates that 1) there are
substantial data through much of the region (there is
a noteable lack in the northern Gulf of Mexico), and
2) the problem of beach contamination by tar is
serious in many locations, with numerous beaches
having average concentrations in excess of 100
grams per meter of shore front.

Experience throughout the region indicates
that when beach tar values reach 10 grams per
meter, persons using the beaches commonly get tar
on their feet. At values approaching 100 grams per
meter, the beach becomes virtually unuseable for
tourist purposes. Given the fact that many of the
region's economies depend extensively on tourism,
the high incidence of contamination in excess of 100
grams per meter is a serious problem. The high
concentrations of tar on beaches in the southern Bay

CAYMAN
ISLANDS

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

MEXICO

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GUATEMALA >

JAMAICA

PUERTO RICO

COSTA Rl

ST. LUCIA%

CURACAO BONAIRE

BARBADOS
p v

GRENADA

"TRINIDAD
& TOBAGO

GUAYANA

COLOMBIA

Figure 1 . The Caribbean pollution research and monitoring (CARIPOL) area, with participating countries identified.

of Campeche and the east coast of Yucatan in
Mexico, the southeast coast of Florida, the Cayman
Islands, the area near Kingston Harbor in Jamaica,
Curacao, and beaches on the windward side of
islands such as Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad, and
Tobago are of special concern. In fact, windward
coasts are seriously contaminated throughout the
region as evidenced in Figures 3 (Trinidad and
Tobago), and 4 (the Florida Peninsula). In each of
these cases, beaches exposed to the prevailing
southeast trade winds are significantly more
contaminated than beaches on the leeward side of

the landmass. This is interpreted as evidence that the
source of much of the tar is upwind throughout the
region, and clearly the result of factors beyond the
control of the individual governments involved.
Beach contamination is particularly serious in Grand
Cayman, where there is no domestic petroleum
activity. However, this island is located in an area
adjacent to heavy tanker traffic that moves through
the Yucatan Strait and Windward Passage.

In several areas, beach pollution levels have
been serious for many years. In Florida, for example,
a comparison of recent results to studies by the

Figure 2. Average
concentrations of beach tar in
grams per meter of beach front
for each site sampled in the
CARIPOL petroleum pollution
monitoring program. The
average concentration at each
sample site is shown as a
shaded circle.

KEY

>100 >1000

Figure 3. Average
concentrations of beach tar at
sampling sites in Trinidad and
Tobago. Concentrations are
depicted by shaded circles.

American Petroleum Institute in 1959 and 1974,
indicates that the level of contamination on
southeast Florida beaches has been about the same
since 1958. Thus, despite continuing concerns, as
expressed in continuing newspaper accounts in
southeast Florida, levels of beach tar contamination
have changed very little during the last 30 years.

Floating Tar

The CARIPOL data base on floating tar, with 681
records, is the smallest of the three parameters
measured. The major portion of these data were
taken in the Gulf of Mexico in programs conducted
by Mexico (Universidad Autonoma de Mexico) and
the United States (University of South Florida and
NOAA) (Figure 5). Some very pertinent points can be
made using these data when considered in the light
of regional current patterns. Figure 6 is a composite
plot of satellite-tracked buoy trajectories in the
Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico in 1975 and 1976

(as measured by a group headed by Robert L.
Molinari of NOAA's laboratory in Miami).
Superimposed on the buoy tracks is a schematic
depiction of the average position of the major flow
through the system. This flow enters through the
southeastern passes of the Lesser Antilles arc, moves
through the Caribbean as the Caribbean Current,
traverses the Eastern Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf
Loop Current, or Loop Intrusion, and exits through
the Straits of Florida (between Florida and Cuba) as
the beginnings of the Gulf Stream.

At times the Loop Current "pinches off" just
north of the Straits of Yucatan and becomes an eddy
that moves westward through the Gulf while the
major flow exits directly through the Straits of Florida
until the Loop Current is "rebuilt." Floating-tar
concentrations are higher in the Loop Intrusion and
southern Straits of Florida than in adjacent areas.
Similar high concentrations exist in the Eastern part
of the Caribbean coincident with the average

Figure 4. Average
concentrations of beach tar at
sampling sites along the coasts
of the U.S. Florida peninsula.
Concentrations are depicted by
shaded circles.

Figure 5. Average
concentration of floating tar in
milligrams per square meter for
each 1 -degree square for which
CARIPOL data exist. The
average concentration for each
square is shown as a shaded
circle in the middle of that
square (thus, some circles
appear on land).

position of major east-west flow in that area.
Scientists at NOAA's Miami laboratory analyzed
floating tar data collected by the United States in the
Gulf of Mexico and Straits of Florida and similarly
concluded that floating tar concentrations are
significantly higher within the Loop Instrusion and
the Southern Straits of Florida.

Comparison of floating tar concentrations in
the CARIPOL data base to those observed in the
1970s in global IOC program on petroleum pollution
monitoring, called Marine Pollution Monitoring
Program for Petroleum (MAPMOPP), show that
where overlap occurs between the CARIPOL data
and the relatively sparse MAPMOPP data in the
region, average concentrations are very similar. This
demonstrates that 1) data from the two programs
compare very well and 2) the situation probably has
not changed significantly during the last decade.

Dissolved/Dispersed Petroleum Hydrocarbons

The CARIPOL data base contains 1,464 records for
dissolved/dispersed petroleum hydrocarbons
(DDPH). The data are plotted in Figure 7. The results
of a careful intercalibration exercise, held at the

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Bermuda Biological Station in St. George's, Bermuda,
in 1985, indicate that values greater than 0.1
microgram per liter can be considered significant.
Based on experience within the Wider Caribbean,
including experience in the Bay of Campeche during
the 1979 IXTOC-1 oil well blowout, the background
level for DDPH in the Gulf of Mexico seems to be
best stated as 1 to 10 micrograms per liter.

This is borne out by Figure 7, where the
majority of the values shown are greater than 1 .0
micrograms per liter, with many values near Yucatan
and in the Gulf of Mexico greater than 10.0
micrograms per liter. This Gulf of Mexico
background level is more than an order of
magnitude higher than the 0.1 to 0.2 micrograms per
liter observed during the 1970s MAPMOPP program
for areas that were not obviously contaminated, and
for which a reasonable statistical sampling existed
for example, the Western Pacific and parts of the
Mediterranean.

If we accept the MAPMOPP data as correct,
and there is no reason not to, we must conclude that
the Gulf of Mexico is significantly contaminated with
DDPH relative to "clean" areas sampled in the

Figure 6. Composite plot of
satellite-tracked buoy
trajectories collected in the
Caribbean Sea and Gulf of
Mexico from October 1975 to
lune 1976. The heavy dashed
line represents the major flow
through the system when the
Gulf Loop Current is intact in
the Gulf of Mexico.

I @ j-4SNiN9

V @@ ( m

^H-- 11 4

MAPMOPP study. This is particularly true in the
numerous locations where average values exceed 10
micrograms per liter. Contamination is not obvious
for the Caribbean Sea itself from the CARIPOL data
set, except for the east coast of Yucatan, and the
area near Kingston Harbor in Jamaica. However, the
extent of CARIPOL sample coverage for DDPH in
the Caribbean is sparse.

NOAA/Miami scientists during their analysis
of floating tar and DDPH data for the Gulf of Mexico
and Straits of Florida, as part of this CARIPOL study,
showed significantly higher DDPH values for the
Southern Straits of Florida just as they had for
floating tar. They also showed that, for the regions
they examined, the average values of DDPH and
floating tar covaried that is, when one was high for
a region, so was the other.

Ocean waters contain populations of bacteria
capable of metabolizing petroleum, which, when
presented with quantities of petroleum, rapidly grow
and consume the oil. Thus, the high level of DDPH
contamination in the Gulf of Mexico is an indication
that these bacteria are not able to remove it faster
than it is replenished. This in turn indicates that there
is a constant, fresh input of DDPH to this area.

Sources of Petroleum Contamination

In an effort to identify probable sources of the
petroleum contamination documented above for the
Wider Caribbean, it is beneficial to review major
observations made in the regional monitoring of
beach tar, floating tar, and DDPH. They are as
follows:

Windward exposed beaches throughout the
region from Barbados to Florida are heavily
contaminated with tar relative to leeward
exposures.

Surface waters of the major east-to-west flow
in the region, that is, the Caribbean Current,
the Gulf Loop Intrusion, and the Straits of
Florida contain significantly more floating tar
than adjacent areas.

Waters of the Gulf of Mexico and those south
of the Yucatan Strait are chronically

Figure 7. Average
concentration of
dissolved/dispersed petroleum
hydrocarbons (DDPH) in
micrograms per liter (or each
1 -degree square for which
CARIPOL data exist. The
average concentration for each
square is shown as a shaded
circle in the center of that
square (thus, some circles
appear printed on land).

contaminated with DDPH at a level an order of
magnitude higher than that measured in
uncontaminated areas during the 1970s
MAPMOPP project. This chronic, high level of
DDPH is an indication that there is a constant,
fresh input of petroleum to these waters.

Highest levels of petroleum contamination in
the region exist within, and adjacent to, waters
with extensive petroleum tanker traffic, for
example, the Cayman Islands and the Straits of
Florida.

In addition to these regional observations we
can add some very pertinent findings from individual
country programs as reported at the CARIPOL
Petroleum Pollution Monitoring Symposium held in
La Parguera, Puerto Rico, in December 1985. These
are as follows.

Julio Morell and Jorge Corredor of the
University of Puerto Rico reported a time series of
floating tar observations off the Southwest coast of
Puerto Rico in which the level of contamination
dropped significantly as tanker traffic from a nearby
petroleum refining complex declined. These
scientists concluded that at least 50 percent of the
variability in their data can be explained by variations
in tanker traffic.

Fred J. Burton of the Mosquito Research and
Control Unit on Grand Cayman reported the high
levels of contamination on and near Grand Cayman,
Cayman Brae, and Little Cayman Islands, which are
all adjacent to major tanker routes. Studies using
sophisticated-techniques called "ultraviolet
fluorescence excitation/emission," and "glass
capillary gas chromatography" in examination of tar
found on beaches of these islands indicated that 80
percent of the samples examined had a crude oil
source with spectra similar to Arabian and/or Alaskan
crudes.

In cooperation with local airline pilots, Burton
also documented the existence of slicks near the
Cayman Islands. Twelve such slicks were
documented. All were narrow (about 0.5 kilometers
wide) and long (up to 100 kilometers). In three cases,
these slicks were observed as being released from

ships, two of which were tankers either cleaning
tanks (February 1982), or discharging ballast
(October 1985). All 12 slicks were sighted in the
early hours of daylight, indicating that releases were
occurring at night. Additionally, a decline of beach
contamination on Cayman Brae and Little Cayman
was noted when oil transshipment operations near
these islands virtually ceased in 1982.

Barry A. Wade and graduate students at the
University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica,
campus used techniques similar to those used by
Burton. They demonstrated that most contaminating
oil found on the South coast of Jamaica was similar
to Venezuelan crude oil, which is the crude most
commonly imported into Jamaica. Interestingly, oil
on Jamaican beaches with a northeast exposure did
not exhibit these characteristics, indicating that oil on
these beaches had a different origin. The rate of tar
arrival on south coast beaches was estimated at 1.4
grams per meter per day, but at times of
"documented near-shore tanker washing," this could
reach 400 grams per meter per day. The authors
concluded that the principal source of tar
contamination was illegal ballast washing and
discharge from tankers.

Edward Van Vleet of the University of South
Florida in Tampa demonstrated that pelagic tar levels
in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Straits of Florida
were substantially higher than in most other areas of
the world, and that as much as 50 percent of this tar
entered these areas from the Caribbean through the
Yucatan Strait. Gas chromatographic analyses of this
pelagic tar showed that 50 percent of the floating tar
had chemical characteristics diagnostic of tanker
ballast washings. This lead to the conclusion that 50
percent of the pelagic tar in these areas was from
tanker discharges.

Given the above observations, we conclude
that as much as 50 percent of the floating tar and
beach tar throughout the Wider Caribbean region
comes from the adjacent North Atlantic gyre system,
and is carried to and through the region by the
prevailing winds and currents. The fact that the
1970s MAPMOPP data show high floating tar
concentrations in the adjacent North Atlantic
supports this conclusion.

However, there is obviously significant fresh
input of petroleum directly in the region, as
evidenced by the chronically high DDPH levels.
Correlation of high floating tar and beach tar levels
with petroleum tanker operations, and the unique
gas-chromatography profiles of 50 percent of the
floating tar in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Straits
of Florida, shows that most of this fresh input is from
petroleum tanker ballast washings. The remainder is
probably from petroleum drilling and production
operations, for example the PEMEX operations in the
Bay of Campeche, as well as from natural seeps. As
noted previously, the southeast Florida level of
beach tar contamination has been about the same
for 30 years. There are a number of possible
explanations for this. One is that despite increasing
success at controlling release of petroleum from
tankers, tanker traffic in the area has increased so
much that the level of pollution is still the same.
Another, less plausible explanation is that beach

CARIPOL scientists recovering a neuston net towed at the sea
surface to sample for floating tar. (Photo by lorge Corrector,
University of Puerto Rico)

contamination in the late 1950s was the result of
ships sunk during World War II (1940 to 1945),
which were still breaking up, thus releasing the
petroleum trapped in their hulls. In this scenario, the
present high pollutant levels result from existing
tanker traffic.

Effects of Petroleum Contamination

There are clearly adverse effects from the petroleum
contamination existent in the Wider Caribbean. One
obvious effect is the serious soiling of beaches in an
area where tourist use of these beaches is important
to state economies. This is a problem throughout the
region. In southeast Florida, beaches are continually
cleaned to allow tourist usage with a secondary
result of increased beach erosion. It is clear that any
tourist development on windward exposed beaches
in the region will have a significant tar problem.
Floating tar has adverse effects other than
when it is blown ashore on beaches. University of
South Florida scientists, Edward Van Vleet and
G. Pauly, in results presented in a CARIPOL
Symposium in 1985, analyzed internal organs and
feces from threatened and endangered marine
turtles collected around Florida. Results indicate that
these turtles feed on floating oil, and that this oil may
remain in the turtles' digestive tracts for several days.
Tar scraped from the mouths of many of these
turtles had the same chemical characteristics as that
of tanker ballast washings. They also noted that the
highest incidence of stranding of dead sea turtles in
Florida is along the southeast Florida coast, an area

adjacent to the heavily contaminated Florida Straits,
and coincident with the highest concentrations of
beach tar in the entire Florida Peninsula.

The effects of DDPH are not as readily
documented. The IXTOC-1 blowout experience
showed that the gross contamination from that event
was largely assimilated by the system through such
processes as bacterial degradation and chemical
degradation as the result of sunlight. However, then,
as now, it was observed that the Gulf of Mexico
background of DDPH was in the range of 1 to 10
micrograms per liter, that is at least an order of
magnitude greater than that observed in
uncontaminated areas during the 1970s MAPMOPP
study. This chronic exposure to the most toxic
portion of petroleum, polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbon (PAH) is probably affecting marine life.
For example, numerous studies have been made on
an enzyme system response to PAH exposures in
marine organisms. One recent study conducted by
J. M. Davies, J. S. Bell, and C. Houghton (as reported
in Marine Environmental Research in 1984) examined
fish caught at various distances from North Sea oil
drilling operations, where oil-base muds were used,
and drill cuttings discarded over the side at the
drilling sites. Sediments within 1 .0 kilometer of these
sites had total PAH concentrations of about 10,000
nanograms per gram, which we estimate would
cause water column exposures no greater than that
observed in the Gulf of Mexico. Their results show a
statistically significant enhancement of enzyme
oxidation of ingested hydrocarbons in two fish
species (cod and haddock) caught in sediment
contaminated areas, as opposed to clean areas. The
authors interpret this result as evidence that the
contaminating oil is biochemically available to these
fish, resulting in a response of the fish enzyme
systems. They point out that such enzyme response
has been inversely correlated with reproductive
success in flatfish along the coast of California.

Summary

A significant level of petroleum pollution
exists throughout the Wider Caribbean.
Manifestations of this pollution include
serious tar contamination of windward

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exposed beaches, high levels of floating tar
within the major currents system, and very
high levels of dissolved/dispersed
hydrocarbons in surface waters.

The sources of petroleum pollution in the
region include oil entering from the adjacent
North Atlantic (50 percent) and tanker ballast
washings (50 percent).

Effects of this petroleum pollution include:

1) tar levels on many beaches that either
prevent recreational use, or require expensive
clean-up operations,

2) probable distress and death to marine
organisms, such as endangered turtles who
feed on floating tar; and

3) responses in the enzyme systems of
marine organisms that have been correlated
with declines in reproductive success.

The authors of this article comprise the Steering Committee
for the CARIPOL Program. Donald Atwood is Director of the
Ocean Chemistry Division of NOAA's Atlantic
Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami,
Florida, and George Harvey is a Senior Oceanographer in
that Division. Fred Burton is Director of the Mosquito
Research and Control Unit and Natural Resources Study for
the Cayman Islands, lorge Corredor is an Associate Professor
of Chemical Oceanography in the Department of Marine
Sciences of the University of Puerto Rico (Mayaguez), and is
presently on sabbatical leave working with the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Alfonso Mata-limenez is Dean of Sciences for the University
of Costa Rica in San lose (San Pedro), Costa Rica. Alfonso
Vasquez-Botello is a Professor at the Institute for Marine and
Limnological Sciences at the Autonomous University of
Mexico, in Mexico City, Mexico, and is on temporary detail
to the Regional Coordinating Unit for the UNEP Caribbean
Action Plan in Kingston, lamaica. Barry A. Wade is a senior
executive with the Petroleum Corporation of lamaica.

Acknowledgments

This article is an adaptation of a scientific paper originally
published in Marine Pollution Bulletin. The authors
acknowledge the indispensable assistance of
Messrs. William Nodal and Stephen Loewenthal, who
wrote the essential computer programs for data archival
and display, and of Ms. Cindy Foltz, Ms. Roxanne
Caballero, and Ms. Helen Cummings, who so diligently
looked after the actual archival and generation of data
products.

Selected References

Atwood, D. K., and R. L. Ferguson. 1 982. An example study of the
weathering of spilled petroleum in a tropical marine
environment: IXTOC-1. Bull, of Mar. So. 32(1), 1-13.

CARIPOL. 1980. CARIPOL Manual for Petroleum Pollution
Monitoring. Miami, FL: Atlantic Oceanographic and
Meteorological Laboratory.

Reinburg, L., jr. 1984. Waterborne trade of petroleum and

petroleum products in the Wider Caribbean Region. Report No.
CG-W- 10-84, U.S. Department of Transportation, United States
Coast Guard, Office of Marine Environment and Systems.
Available through the National Technical Information Service,
Springfield, MD.

Van Vleet, E. S., W. M. Sackett, S. B. Reinhardt, and M. E. Mangini.
1 984. Distribution, sources and fates of floating oil residues in
the Eastern Gulf ot Mexico. Mar. Poll. Bull. 15: 106-110.

Caribbean

Marine Resources:

A Report on Economic Opportunities

by A. Meriwether Wilson

/Viarine resources in the Caribbean Basin are being
overlooked, undervalued, and even destroyed at an
alarming rate. Historically, these resources have
provided a livelihood for many people in the region,
as well as revenue to the islands whose shores are
surrounded by this complex body of water. But
today, as many of these resources are in jeopardy,
information, particularly about the economic
potential, is needed as all Caribbean nations face
important policy decisions on the use and
development of their marine resources.

Recognizing the urgent need fora balanced
and sustainable development of Caribbean marine
resources, the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and the U.S. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
recently completed a joint study entitled "Caribbean
Marine Resources: Opportunities for Economic
Development and Management." The report from
the study, summarized in this article, gives
projections for potential marine resources that could
support economic advancement of the Caribbean
Basin countries. It also reports on the present status
of known resources.

Regional Overview

Nearshore Marine Habitats. The Caribbean Sea and
many other tropical marine areas are a study in
complex relationships. Coastal waters generally
contain some of the world's most diverse and
productive ecosystems, including coral reefs,
seagrass beds, and mangrove forests. Through
internal energy recycling mechanisms, these
ecosystems manage to overcome the nutrient
limitations of the relatively sterile tropical offshore
waters.

One example of the complex relationships in
tropical environments is that of the stony coral
animals, which are responsible for building the
limestone (calcium carbonate) reefs. These reefs
form major parts of the bases, or platforms, of many
of the Caribbean islands. The secretion of calcareous
materials by these coral animals is enhanced by a

unique symbiotic relationship between the host
animal and a microscopic algae (zooxanthellae),
which lives in the coral itself. Being plants, the latter
algae require sunlight, and therefore clear waters, for
growth. Mangroves (see article page 16) and seagrass
beds are dependent on nutrient sources from in situ
organic decay and nearby rivers.

It is this delicate physical, chemical, and
biological linkage that creates and maintains these
ecosystems, which in turn become resources for
human use. Mangroves are nursery and breeding
grounds for invertebrates, fishes, and birds; reefs are
sources of sand for tourism, and also act as
protective barriers during storms. Too often the
importance of understanding these linkages and
maintaining these habitats in their entirety is
overlooked when assessing a marine habitat for its
economic value and resource development
potential.

These marine habitats are under constant
stress from the very development activities that,
ironically, form the crux of the economic
opportunities for developing these resources. For
this reason, a balanced approach is needed for
determining human impacts on ecosystems, and in
turn, the impacts of resulting environmental change
on human health. Tourism, fisheries, shoreline and
harbor construction, upland forestry, and agricultural
activities are some of the major factors that affect
nearshore habitats. When these activities are carried
out without ecological consideration and caution,
chemical pollution, sediment loading, and coastal
erosion occur, which in turn may lead to loss of
species, including humans, and entire habitats.

Opportunities for developing ecologically and
economically sound nearshore resource activities
include tourism (discussed here as a separate
resource), marine protected areas, endangered
species, harbor and port development, and fisheries
enhancement. To manage resources based on
ocean, coastal, and upland development projects,
there needs to be a framework of governmental and
institutional support.

Capture Fisheries and Mariculture. Fisheries
resources include conch and lobster (exportable at
high prices), offshore game fish, and mariculture
opportunities such as crabs, clams, and seaweeds.
Most Caribbean fishery activities take place in
nearshore areas, are small-scale in nature, and are
carried out by local people for daily subsistence.

There are nearly 200 species of different reef
finfish in some nearshore areas, presenting a multi-
species resource with capture and management
requirements that are different from the single-
species resources that dominate open-ocean and
temperate environments. Tropical fisheries vary
greatly between environments. The small volcanic
islands with narrow submarine shelves have limited
nearshore fishery resources, while the Central and
South American coasts, with wide continental
shelves and increased nutrient resources from river
runoffs, have more potential for higher yields.

The nature of a fishery industry in the
Caribbean is closely related to the type of
technology available. Many subsistence fishermen
use canoes or sailboats with outboard motors. While
there are increasing recommendations to advance
the technology for locating and capturing fishery
resources, this is often what creates the demise of a
particular resource. The overexploitation of targeted
species for example, lobster, conch, and tuna
and the lure of higher paying jobs in the service
sector have turned fishing into a part-time activity for
most Caribbean fishermen. There are a few large-

scale operations that exploit offshore species. These,
however, are generally capital intensive, require
larger vessels, and have extensive marketing and
processing needs. These needs include being near
urban ports or centers a condition that is limited in
the Caribbean (see articles pages 57 and 65).

As the nearshore fisheries are depleted
through inadequate ecological knowledge, poor
management, coastal and seaborne pollution, and
habitat degradation, the need for high-quality
protein for both the local and tourist markets
continues to create pressure to expand offshore
fisheries and increase fish imports. Yet these "new"
underdeveloped resources will suffer the same fate
of inshore fisheries stocks if management controls
are not implemented.

The overriding constraints on developing
fisheries in a sustainable manner include: limited
knowledge of fish populations; inappropriate gear
and technology; lack of marketing and processing
facilities; poor infrastructure; few trained staff at all
levels; and low priority in the governmental arena.
Ciguaterra, a poison to the human nervous system
found in some reef fish, is an increasing problem for
both the local and tourist populations. It needs
immediate monitoring and research efforts.

The culture of marine organisms
mariculture is being considered as a solution to
overfished waters, protein needs, and the need to
reduce imports. Those countries with nutrient-rich
estuarine bays, lagoons, and mangrove areas are

Distribution and status of threatened Caribbean coastal and marine animal species.

Species (Common Names)

Status

Country

Monachus tropicalis (Caribbean Monk Seal, West Indian E

Seal)
Trichechus inunguis (Amazonian Manatee, S. American V

Manatee)
Trichechus manatus (Caribbean Manatee, N. American V

Manatee)

Pterdroma hasilata (Black-capped Petrel, Diablotin) V

Caretta caretta (Loggerhead Turtle, Tortuga de mar, V

Cares, Tartaruga domar, Uruana, Suruana)
Chelonia mydas (Green Sea Turtle, Tortuga Verde del E

Atlantico and Pacifico, Tortuga Blanca)

Eretmochelys imbricata (Hawksbill Turtle, Carey, Tortuga E

Carey, Tartaruga verdaderia and de Pente)

Lepidochleys kempii (Kemp's Ridley, Atl. Ridley Sea E

Turtle, Tortuga Lora)

Lepidochelys olivacea (Olive Ridley Turtle, Pacific Ridley E

Turtle, Tortugaverde, Parlama)

Dermatemys mawii (Central American River Turtle) V

Dermochelys coriacea (Leatherback, Leathery Turtle, E

Luth, Tortuga Tora, Barriguda, Tarataruga)

Caiman crocodilus crocodilus (Spectacled Caiman) V

Caiman crocodilus fuscus (Brown caiman) V

Crocodylus acutus (Amer. Crocodile, Crocodile, Lagarto E

Negro)

Ameiva polops (St. Croix Ground Lizard) E

Family Anthipathidae (Black Corals) CT

Strombus gigas (Queen Conch) CT

Panilurus argus, P. guttatus (Spotted Spiny Lobster) CT

Mexico, Bahamas
Col., Yen.

Mex., Bah., Cuba, D. Rep., Haiti, Jam., P. Rico, Trin./Tob., Belize, C.
Rica, Guat., Hond., Nica., Pan., Col., Ven.

Haiti

Mex., Antig./Barbud., Bah., Cuba, D. Rep., Jam., Ne. Ant., P. Rico,
Trin./Tob., C. Rica, Guat., Hond., Nica., Pan., Col., Ven.

Mex., Antig./Barbud., Bah., Cay. Isl., Dom., D. Rep., Gren., Guad.,
Haiti, Jam., Mart., Ne. Ant., P. Rico, St. Luc., St. Vin., Trin./Tob.,
USVI, Belize, C. Rica, Guat., Hond., Nica., Pan., Col., Ven.

Mex., Antig./Barbud., Bah., Cay. Isl., Cuba, Dom., D. Rep., Gren.,
Guad., Haiti, Jam., Ne. Ant., P. Rico, St. Luc., St. Vin., Trin./Tob.,
USVI, Belize, C. Rica, Guat., Hond., Nica., Pan., Col., Ven.

Mex.

Mex., Cuba, P. Rico, C. Rica, Guat., Hond., Nica., Pan., Col., Ven.

Mex., Belize, Guat., Hond., Pan., Col., Ven.

Mex., D. Rep., Grenadines, Guad., P. Rico, Trin./Tob., BVI, USVI,

Belize, C. Rica, Nica., Pan., Col., Ven.
Trin./Tob., Col., Ven.
Mex., Cuba, Nica., Pan., Col., Ven.
Mex., Bah., Cay. Isl., Cuba, D. Rep., Haiti, Jam., Ne. Ant., Belize,

C. Rica, Guat., Hond., Nica., Pan., Col., Ven.
USVI

Caribbean Region
Caribbean Region
Caribbean Region

Status Key: E Endangered; V Vulnerable; CT Commercially Threatened; Source: International Union for the Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources/Cambridge Monitoring Centre, 1987 as cited in Goodwin and Wilson, 1987 (see Selected References).

Existing marine parks and protected areas in the Caribbean region.

Country

Protected Area Name

Estab. Hectares (Marine %)

Antigua

Diamond Reef Marine Park

1973

2,000

Palaster Reef Marine Park

1973

500

Bahamas

Inagua National Park

1965

74,000

(10)

Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

1958

45,000

(80)

Conception Island Land and Sea Park

810

(80)

Union Creek

1965

1,813

Barbados

Barbados Marine Reserve

1980

(100)

Belize

Half Moon Cay Natural Monument

1982

4,144

(95)

Hoi Chan Marine Reserve

1987

British Virgin Islands

Wreck of the Rhone Marine Park

1983

323

(96)

Colombia

Parque Nacional Corales del Rosario

1977

18,700

Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona

1969

15,000

Parque Nacional Natural Isla de Salamanca

1969

21,000

Santuario de Fauna Los Flamencos

1977

7,000

Costa Rica

Cahuita National Park

1970

2,000

(35)

Tortuguero National Park

1970

18,947

(16)

Dominican Republic

Parque Nacional del Este

1975

43,400

Samana Bay Silver Banks Marine Sanctuary

Honduras

Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve

1980

350,000

Jamaica

Montego Bay Marine Park

1959

Ocho Rios Marine Park

278

Martinique

Pare Nature! Regional de la Martinique

1975

Mexico

Isla Mujeres

La Blanquilla

Cancun-Nizuc-Isla Mujeres

Arrecifes de Cozumel

1980

Isla Contony

1960

Ria Celestrum

1979

59,000

Rio Lagartos

1918

47,840

Netherlands Antilles

Bonaire Underwater Park

1983

(100)

Curacao Underwater Park

1983

(100)

Puerto Rico

labos Bay/Mar Negro

Saint Lucia

Maria Islands

1985

Pigeon Island

1982

Trinidad and Tobago

Buccoo Reef and Bon Accord Lagoon

1970

(100)

Caroni Swamp

1982

7,900

US Virgin Islands

Virgin Islands National Park, St. John

1963

6,073

(33)

Buck Island Reef, St. Croix

1961

356

(80)

Venezuela

Parque Nacional Archipelago Los Roques

1972

225,143

Parque Nacional Mochima

1973

94,935

Parque Nacional Morrocoy

1974

32,090

Laguna de Tacarigua

1974

18,400

Sources: International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, 1982, 1985; M. E. Silva, et al., 1986; Van'T Hoff,
1985 as cited in Goodwin and Wilson, 1987 (see Selected References).

potentially suitable sites for the development of
commercially viable mariculture species, such as
shrimp, crabs, conch, finfish, and seaweeds. While
mariculture at first appears to be a cure-all, there are
numerous constraints that have generated a poor
success rate for many mariculture projects in the
Caribbean. Mariculture requires a high initial
investment of time, land, and money. There is a
general lack of many of the elements that make up a
successful mariculture project. These include
adequate biological information on the cultured
organisms, sufficient variability of seed and brood
stocks, suitable culture sites, and adequate
government support. Mariculture projects must also
overcome the problems associated with introducing
exotic species, new diseases in cultured animals, and
numerous import/export regulations. Despite these
seemingly overwhelming deterrents, the potential
benefits from mariculture strongly support the
continued development of projects on a cautious,
pilot-scale basis.

Geological Resources. Hard minerals (sand, gravel,
metal, phosphate, limestone, and salt) and oil
reserves are the primary marine geological resources
throughout the Caribbean region. The hard mineral
resources are important potential low-cost resources,
yet there is insufficient information and local
technology available to acquire detailed information
on their location, quantity, and quality. Petroleum
resources are extensive in specific areas of the
Caribbean. They are exploited primarily by national
and international companies.

Although sand and limestone may appear to
be ubiquitous resources, the mining techniques and
removal of these resources cause some of the most
severe impacts on marine resources. Limestone and
sand come from the coral and algal banks that form
much of the base of most Caribbean islands. As
these minerals are dynamited and dredged for
construction, there may be damage to adjacent reef
habitats through loss of substrate for organisms to
grow on. The resulting sedimentation in the water

column reduces the amount of penetrating sunlight
needed for coral growth.

Metal resources include high-value minerals,
such as gold, platinum, titanium, and chromium,
which are deposited on shelf areas by stream and
beach processes.

Excavation studies are needed for all of these
minerals, to identify source locations, current
dynamics, and impacts on adjacent habitats. There
also is a need for low-cost, high-resolution seismic
profiling studies in those areas of the Caribbean with
extensive continental shelves.

The Caribbean Action Plan of the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) considers
petroleum pollution to be a major regional concern
(see article page 25). Numerous beaches are
polluted from oil spills, and covered with tar, thus
making them undesirable for tourism. The impact of
oil on marine turtles, birds, and coral reefs is an area
of active research.

Radar and remote-sensing technologies can
provide information on tracing a variety of pollutants
such as sediment runoff, sewage, and petroleum.
There need to be cooperative programs for
information exchange and technological assistance
between the regional, academic, and government
agencies of developed and underdeveloped
countries in the region.

Educational Resources. The need for appropriate
education, training, and technical support in the
Caribbean underlies the development of every
resource mentioned in this article. Although there is
increasing interest in the marine world, there is too
often a focus on the short-term economic benefits
rather than long-term resource values. Education is
in itself a long-term resource, but one that has
immediate opportunities at all levels of schooling
and training. Many public and private marine
research institutions suffer from a lack of funding,
which often results in inadequate instrumentation
and poor libraries. Educational opportunities suffer
because of the low priority assigned to this resource
by governments.

The Rosenstiel School of Atmospheric and
Marine Sciences at the University of Miami in Florida
is in the process of developing a computerized data
base and electronic mail network for all published
and non-published articles on Caribbean marine
resources and environments. This effort should aid
countries with limited library facilities.

Tourism. The seductive images of surf, sand, and sun
have created a multi-faceted tourism industry in the
Caribbean. This industry is having an effect on the
gross domestic product (GDP) of individual
countries, local employment opportunities, and
foreign exchange earnings. Yet the development of
tourism resources is also producing dire
consequences for both the natural environments and
the people who use them. The very resources that
make up the attractions are being destroyed:

examples include coral reefs, sand beaches, and
clear waters. All these are subject to intense
development pressure from construction activities,
sewage pollution, and overfishing.

There also are numerous social consequences
to a rapid expansion of tourism. Often social values
of the local people are restructured and undermined
by the financial lures of service-oriented positions.
Visitor preferences may change over time as
different trends in recreation come into vogue.

There are many types of marine-related
tourism in the Caribbean, just as there is an array of
users to support them; these activities include
snorkelingand diving, yachting, tennis and golf, and
nature experiences, such as bird and whale
watching. There is an increasing interest in the
"nature" types of tourism that have a potential to
require less intense infrastructure camping
facilities, for example, rather than high-rise hotels.
Many countries, however, are not immediately
interested in low-tech, smaller-scale recreation
projects, as they do not appear to bring in immediate
high revenues.

There needs to be a balance between what
environments have to offer, and what kind of
income and employment generation a country
wishes to develop. Each beach or scenic area that is
being considered for development needs to be
studied for its long-term ability to maintain a fresh
water supply, to meet sewage requirements, and to
sustain adjacent coastal ecosystems. It is generally
felt that the average tourist uses twice as much water
a day as the average island resident. Oil spills,
sewage, and anchor damage from boats have
harmful impacts on adjacent beaches, reefs, and
seagrass beds.

Marine parks and protected areas are
examples of tangible efforts to integrate resources
and economic opportunities. These parks exist on a
spectrum from strict conservation to intense
recreation areas, each targeted to different
audiences and resource management goals. The
Organization of American States (OAS), Division of
Regional Development, is presently conducting a
study on the potential economic benefits of legally
established marine protected areas. While many of
these parks exist on paper, most do not have
operational budgets, management plans,
enforcement capabilities, or educational and
recreational facilities. Endangered species legislation
also can be a tourism opportunity in terms of
developing awareness and preservation of a
resource.

Tourism projects of any scale and style need
to be evaluated in terms of sustainability of the
environment, the users, financing options,
infrastructure, and management needed to maintain
the project. There needs to be an integration of
public and private concerns throughout all project
phases. It is only through such integration that
tourism can continue to be a mechanism to expose
and explore the marine resources the Caribbean is
so fortunate to have.

Country Specifics

The following list of Caribbean nations is not

comprehensive. Omission of a country does not
imply a reduced importance. The following country-
specific descriptions are designed only to provide
general trends of marine resource needs and
opportunities.

This presentation focuses on coastal uses, as
this is the area most in demand for human
settlement needs. Many countries have similar
problems based on their common ecologies or
development stages. The countries are grouped in
an ecological orientation to identify common
resource constraints and opportunities. Small islands
generally have limited shelf areas and intense
pressure on the coastal zone, while larger islands and
continental areas have more rivers and other land-
use opportunities to diversify economic resources.

SMALL ISLANDS

Antigua/Barbuda

Population/Land Area: 80,000/443 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: low flat volcanic island on coral
platforms and narrow submarine shelves; white sand
beaches, seagrass bays, fringing reefs.
Economic Resources: artisanal fishing (conch,
lobster); traditional wooden boat building; sand
mining to U.S. Virgin Islands; offshore oil leasing.

Tourism Elements: economic mainstay, 12 percent
GDP, 25 percent labor force; government supports
tourism infrastructure (roads, water) and marketing;
yacht anchorages, historic and archaeological sites,
beaches and reefs.

Resource Problems: excessive sand removal
destroying reefs; overexploitation of lobster
population; resort building on beaches.

Recommendations: enforce sand mining laws;
establish one ministry for all coastal zone matters.

Protected Areas: Diamond Reef, Palaster Reef,
Green Island.

Barbados

Population/Land Area: 240,000/431 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: low flat volcanic island on coral
platforms, narrow submarine shelves; white sand
beaches, mangroves, seagrass bays, fringing reefs.

Economic Resources: pelagic, demersal finfish; oil
and gas production.

Tourism Elements: tourism service sector increased
with decline in sugar production, 10 percent GDP,
economic mainstay; attractions include beaches,
caves, historical sites, and reefs.

Resource Problems: nearshore fisheries
overexploited; coastal erosion from dredging and
construction stressing reefs, changing water
circulation patterns and quality; pollution from
sewage, wastes, fertilizers.

Recommendations: need comprehensive coastal
development plan; planning for water treatment and
storage requirements.

Protected Areas: Barbados Marine Reserve.
Research Institutions: Bellairs Research Institute of
McGill University; University of West Indies.

British Virgin Islands

Population/Land Area: 12,000/153 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: small clusters of low, hilly
volcanic islands; mangroves, seagrasses, salt ponds,
coral reefs.

Economic Resources: finfish, mangrove nurseries,
turtle nesting sites.

Tourism Elements: 70 percent GDP, primarily yacht
charters and cruise ships; primary basis for island
development plans; sailing, beaches, reefs, and
historic sites.

Resource Problems: mangroves cleared for tourism
development causing loss of habitats and increasing
sedimentation in seagrass and reef areas; boat
anchors damaging reefs; domestic sewage problems.

Recommendations: legislation and planning to
address mangrove clearing and sewage capabilities.

Protected Areas: Wreck of the Rhone Marine Park.

Dominica

Population/Land Area: 87,000/751 square

kilometers.

Ecological Features: high rugged volcanic mountains,

no coastal plain, numerous rivers and rain forest

cover.

Economic Resources: hydroelectric power for all

needs; artisanal fishing.

Tourism Elements: limited due to lack of beaches,
potential focus on island's terrestrial natural
resources, wildlife and historical features.

Resource Problems: hurricane devastation to reefs;
maintenance of primary coastal road encouraging
shoreline erosion, oil and ship wastes pollution.

Recommendations: use inland rock sources for
beach and road stabilization; coastal setback policy
and tourism planning needed.

Grenada

Population/Land Area: 1 15,000/344 square

kilometers.

Ecological Features: numerous steep volcanic

islands; mangroves, seagrasses, reefs.

Economic Resources: fisheries include nearshore and

pelagic finfishes, lobster and conch; turtle nesting

and breeding areas.

Tourism Elements: one major white sand beach,

rainforests, historic sites, and shipwrecks.

Resource Problems: overexploitation of all fisheries;

beach erosion near tourism centers and airport,

coastal tree removal and sand mining increasing

erosion; seaborne and solid waste pollution.

Recommendations: increase fisheries utilization
management; survey sand resources; develop coastal
setback policy; have coastal management under one
ministry; develop environmental awareness of
marine resources.

Montserrat

Population/Land Area: 12,000/98 square kilometers.

Ecological Features: high, rugged, volcanic island,
rainforests.

Economic Resources: artisanal fisheries for lobster,
conch, finfish; steel and traditional wooden
shipbuilding industry.

Tourism Elements: 77 percent GDP, year-round
retirement resort of stayover visitors; tax incentives
for tourism projects.

Resource Problems: overexploitation of fisheries.

Recommendations: improve fisheries management,
marketing, and infrastructure.

Netherlands Antilles

Population/Land Area: 270,000/960 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: two island groups leeward
(Curacao, Bonaire, Aruba), low hills and bays with
mangroves, seagrasses, fringing reefs; windward (St.
Maarten, St. Eustatius, Saba), high, rugged, volcanic
with coral reefs and seagrass areas.

Economic Resources: oil highest revenue earner for
leeward islands; pelagic and nearshore fisheries.

Tourism Elements: largest employer; well-educated
labor force; natural beauty, pristine reef areas.

Resource Problems: marine habitats suffering from
industrial and recreational uses; depletion of fisheries
off Saba bank; sewage pollution and dumping.

Recommendations: enhance public education;
regulate fishing access; develop mariculture
potential.

Protected Areas: underwater parks on Bonaire,
Curacao, and Saba.

Research Institutions: Foundation Carmabi.

St. Kitts/Nevis

Population/Land Area: 44,000/204 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: high volcanic, narrow coastal
shelves.

Economic Resources: traditional nearshore fisheries
and shipbuilding.

Tourism Elements: 1 1 percent GDP, tourism in
infancy, growth and marketing encouraged by
government, primarily stay-over guests; dive sites,
historic attractions, and rain forests.

Resource Problems: nearshore fisheries exploited;
coastal erosion from sand removal; sewage pollution
from tourism activities; inadequate port facilities.

Recommendations: develop offshore fisheries,
marketing and management structure; investigate
mariculture resources; regulate sand mining.

St. Maartens. (Courtesy St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius
Tourist Office)

St. Lucia

Population/Land Area: 120,000/616 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: high, rugged, volcanic island
with extensive seagrasses, coral reefs, few beaches.

Economic Resources: pelagic fisheries; seagrasses,
coral reefs, few beaches.

Economic Resources: pelagic finfisheries.

Tourism Elements: third largest commercial activity;
attractions are historic and archaeological sites, and
wildlife.

Resource Problems: erosion from forest clearing and
sand mining affecting reef and seagrass habitats;
tourism construction stressing habitats.

Recommendations: integrate authority of coastal
management sectors; use interior sources of rock for
construction; increase environmental awareness of
tourism impacts and planning.

Protected Areas: Maria Islands, Pigeon Islands,
Savannes Bay.

Research Institutions: Caribbean Environmental
Health Institute.

St. Vincent/Grenadines

Population/Land Area: 101,000/389 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: volcanic, mountainous, no
seagrasses, reefs, black sand beaches; Grenadines
have largest shelf area in Lesser Antilles.

Economic Resources: finfishes, lobster, conch;
primary sea transport area.

Tourism Elements: sailing, beaches, and reefs
primarily in the Grenadines.

Resource Problems: seaborne tar pollution on
beaches; excessive sand mining for construction;
waste from yachts.

Recommendations: use sand from dune areas;
restore tourist beaches.

Trinidad/Tobago

Population/Land Area: 1.1 million/5,130 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: tropical forests, swamps, white
sand beaches, reefs.

Economic Resources: artisanal fisheries, export trade
offish and shells; oil production revenues.

Tourism Elements: second major source of foreign
exchange, primarily in Tobago; charter boat industry.

Resource Problems: pollution pressure and
recreation misuse of Caroni Swamp; coastal zone
resource use conflicts; overcollecting turtles and
shells.

Recommendations: develop adequate marketing for
fisheries; need comprehensive coastal development
plan and authority; enforce collecting laws.

Protected Areas: Bucco Reef/Bon Accord Lagoon, St.

Giles Island, Saut 'd Eau, Soldado Rock, Kronstadt

Island.

Research Institutions: Institute of Marine Affairs.

LARGE ISLANDS

Dominican Republic

Population/Land Area: 5.5 million/49,986 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: mountainous, extensive
mangrove areas.

Economic Resources: subsistence fishing, agriculture,
and bauxite mining.

Tourism Elements: high government priority;
increased infrastructure and employment activities.

Resource Problems: dependence on fishery imports;
new tourism development without environmental
assessments; mangrove destruction for fuelwood;
ciguatoxic reef fish; overfishing of lobster; illegal
collecting of corals, birds, and turtles; sewage from
tourism development.

Recommendations: develop high priority waste
disposal; protect ornamental fishes and birds;
increase information on fisheries stocks and critical
habitat locations; develop tourism assessment
mechanisms.

Protected Areas: Silver Banks Humpback Whale
Sanctuary, Parque Nacional de Este, Parque Nacional
Jaragua, Parque Nacional Montecristi.

Research Institutions: Centre de Investigaciones de
Biolgia Marina.

Haiti

Population/Land Area: 6 million/27,700 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: western third of Hispaniola
Island, low mountains, numerous beaches, bays,
mangroves, seagrasses, coral reefs.

Economic Resources: minimal marine activities.

Tourism Elements: local lack of interest in marine
habitats has maintained pristine protected quality;
tourism potential growing in recreational marine
sector; diving.

Stony coral animals require clear, sunlight-filled waters to
build the limestone reefs that form large portions of the
base of many Caribbean islands.

Resource Problems: few inventories of marine
resources; pollution near urban centers; mangrove
destruction for fuelwood; overexploitation of fish,
invertebrate and shell export trade.
Recommendations: need assistance and training in
fisheries.

Jamaica

Population/Land Area: 2 million/960 square

kilometers.

Ecological Features: large mountainous island with

coastal plain areas; mangroves and coral reefs.

Economic Resources: scientific marine research,
subsistence fisheries, bauxite.
Tourism Elements: second largest source of foreign
exchange; high-density tourist areas of international
visitors for culture and marine recreation.

Resource Problems: extreme overfishing; domestic
and industrial pollution; high sediment loading from
bauxite mining; coastal erosion from sand removal;
dredge spoils into mangrove areas; unregulated
coastal activities including tourism and collecting of
reef curios.

Recommendations: need comprehensive coastal
planning; enforcement of collecting and protected
areas legislation; need fisheries development plans;
need national permitting agency; increase public
awareness of coastal uses.

Protected Areas: Montego Bay Marine Park, Ocho
Rios Marine Park.

Research Institutions: Discovery Bay Marine
Laboratory and Port Royal Marine Laboratory of the
University of the West Indies.

CENTRAL AMERICA

Belize

Population/Land Area: 154,000/22,962 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: 2nd largest barrier reef in the
world, extensive flat swampy coast, cays and
offshore atolls.

Economic Resources: oil and gas, artisanal fisheries;
barrier reef resources.

Tourism Elements: increasing slowly, diving and
boating on offshore islands and reefs.

Resource Problems: poaching of turtles, lobster and
conch by foreigners; saltwater intrusion into
freshwater wells; unregulated coastal activities;
seaborne pollution; sewage dumping in mangroves.

Recommendations: evaluate freshwater limitations;
enforce poaching laws.

Protected Areas: Half Moon Cay National
Monument; Hoi Chan Marine Reserve.

Costa Rica

Population/Land Area: 2.6 million/51,022 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: rugged mountains, extensive
streams and rivers, wide coastal plain, fewer reef and
mangrove areas than Pacific coast.

Economic Resources: subsistence fisheries; oil.

Tourism Elements: undeveloped as coast is remote
from urban centers, yet potential due to unspoiled
nature of environments.

Resource Problems: mangrove clearing for fuel and
shrimp ponds; fewer disturbances than Pacific side;
some siltation and pollution from pesticides and oil.

Recommendations: need information on fishery
resources.

Protected Areas: Chauita National Park Tortuguero
National Park.

Research Institutions: Centro de Investigacion en
Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia, Universidad de Costa
Rica.

Guatemala

Population/Land Area: 8.4 million/198,779 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: coast dominated by beaches,
mangroves, estuaries.

Economic Resources: artisanal fisheries, lobster
export, estuarine mariculture.

Tourism Elements: needs development to utilize
extensive beach areas.

Resource Problems: oil spills; inadequate training in
marine resources.

Recommendations: improve fisheries marketing
infrastructure; inventory marine resources and
establish national policy for updating of marine and
fisheries legislation.

Research Institutions: Centro de Estudios del Mar y
Acuacultura, Universidad de San Carlos de
Guatemala; Direccion Tecnica de Pesca y
Acuicultura.

Honduras

Population/Land Area: 4.3 million/1 10,074 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: mountainous, long coast with
wide submarine shelves; mangroves abundant; coral
reefs and seagrasses in outlying island areas.

Economic Resources: least developed resources in
the Caribbean; minerals, commercial fishing exports.

Tourism Elements: growing and national priority to
develop island recreation areas.

Resource Problems: tourism activity without prior
environmental assessments; fragmentation of coastal
authorities; tourist related sewage; overfishing.

Recommendations: increase knowledge and training
base for tourism and fishing activities; develop plans
to protect island areas; develop local fisheries.

Mexico

Population/Land Area: 78 million/1.9 million square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: few mangroves; wide lagoons
with undisturbed seagrass and reef areas.

Economic Resources: lobster, conch, shrimp
fisheries.

Tourism Elements: marine recreation and diving
rapidly developing with planned centers of Cancun
and Cozumel; unspoiled resources.

Resource Problems: extent of marine resources
needs investigation.

Recommendations: encourage balanced tourism
development.

Protected Areas: La Blanquilla, Cancun-Nizuo-Isla
Mujeres, Arrecifes de Cozumel, Isla Contay, Rio
Celestrum, Rio Lagartos.

Research Institutions: Centro de Investigacion y de
Estudios Avanzados del Institute Politeonico
Nacional; Centro de Investigacion y Entrenamiento
para Control del la Calidad del Agua; Institute de
Biologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de
Mexico; Centro de Ciencias del Mar y Limnolgia;
Institute Nacional de Pesca; Universidad Autonoma
Metropolitana, Departmento de Zootecnica,
Division Ciencias Biologicas y la Salud; Institute
Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey.

Nicaragua

Population/Land Area: 2.5 million/148,004 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: large continental shelf; coastal
areas uninhabited due to extensive jungles, rivers
and swamps.

Economic Resources: shellfish exports, turtle
breeding habitats.

Tourism Elements: currently no tourism or industry
development.

Resource Problems: extent of marine resources
needs investigation.

Recommendations: inventory marine resources.

Panama

Population/Land Area: 1.8 million/75,548 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: mountainous, long coast, wide
shelf, sparse mangroves.

Economic Resources: world trade port, financial
center; shrimp mariculture.

Tourism Elements: tourism integrated with service
and banking oriented economies; early stages of
development with marine resources.

Resource Problems: overfishing and collecting of
turtles; limited information on coastal resources.

Recommendations: develop local fisheries; upgrade
technical training; develop coastal resource plans.

Research Institutions: Centre de Ciencias del Mar y
Limnolgia; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

SOUTH AMERICA

Colombia

Population/Land Area: 27 million/1.1 million square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: extensive coastal areas
influenced by major rivers; island archipelagos
offshore.

Economic Resources: oil and gas; minerals; minimal
local fisheries.

Tourism Elements: undeveloped coastal tourism
except for island areas, government priority to
increase.

Resource Problems: tew marine inventories; water
and oil pollution; sedimentation; collecting of
endangered turtle species; mangrove filling.

Recommendations: need data to develop marine
resources; implement existing plans; develop
underutilized fisheries through increasing
information on stock assessment, management and
infrastructure.

Protected Areas: Parque Nacional Corales del
Rosario, Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona, Parque
Nacional Natural Isla de Salamanca, Santuario de
Fauna Los Flamencos.

Research Institutions: Centra de Investigaciones
Oceanograficas e Hidrograficas; Facultad de Biologia
Marina, Fundacion Universidad de Bogata, Jorge
Tadeo Lozano; Facultad de Ingenieria Pesquera,
Universidad Technologica de Magdalena; Institute
de Investigaciones Marinas de Punta de Betin;
Laboratorio del Institute Nacional de los Recursos
Naturales Renovables y del Ambiente.

Venezuela

Population/Land Area: 17.8 million/912,000 square
kilometers.

Ecological Features: extensive coast that is one-
quarter mangroves.

Economic Resources: oil industry; commercial
fishing.

Tourism Elements: increasing international coastal
tourism but still only 1 percent GNP; potential
development of island and beach areas for
recreation and protection.

Resource Problems: conflicting demands on coastal
areas; destruction of natural habitats; construction
causing coastal erosion; filling in of mangrove
swamps; overfishing of turtles and lobster; river dams
altering hydrologic regimes causing sedimentation of
lagoons.

Recommendations: increase public awareness of
coastal resources; need effective legislation for
pollution, endangered species and fisheries
regulations; policy for coastal conflicts.

Protected Areas: Parque Nacional Archipelago Los
Roques, Parque Nacional Mochima, Parque
Nacional Morrocoy, Laguna de Tacarigua.

Research Institutions: Centra de Investigaciones
Biologicas, Universidad de Zulia; Estacion de
Investigaciones Marinas de Margarita, Fundacion La
Salle de Ciencias Naturales; Instituto Oceanografico;
Institute para el Control y la Conservacion de la
Cuena del Lago Maracaibo.

A. Meriwether Wilson is a tropical marine resources
consultant; formerly with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), now with the
Organization of American States (OAS) in
Washington, D.C.

Selected References

Goodwin, M., and M. Wilson, eds. 1987. Caribbean Marine
Resources: Opportunities for Economic Development and
Management. Washington, D.C.: United States Agency for
International Development, and the United States National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Agency.

Jackson, I. 1986. Carrying capacity for tourism in small tropical

Caribbean islands. Industry and Environment, 9(1) United Nations
Environment Programme.

Ogden, )., and E. Gladfelter, eds. 1983. Coral Reefs, Seagrass Beds,
and Mangroves: Their Interaction in the Coastal Zones of the
Caribbean. Montevideo, Uruguay: UNESCO Reports in Marine
Science Number 23.

Putney, A. 1982. Survey of conservation priorities in the Lesser

Antilles Final Report. Caribbean Environment Technical Report
No. 1. St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands: Caribbean Conservation
Association.

Van'T Hoff, T. 1985. The economic benefits of marine parks and
protected areas in the Caribbean region. In, Proceedings of the
Fifth International Coral Reef Congress, Tahiti, 27 May-1 lune,
1985, pp. 551-556.

Geology of the Caribbean

-New techniques, including broad-range swath imaging of
the seafloor that produces photograph-like images, and sat-
ellite measurement of crustal movements, along with plans
for new scientific drilling, have excited geologists, and prom-
ise to explain the complex geology of the region.

75'

by William P. Dillon, N. Terence Edgar,
Kathryn M. Scanlon, and Kim D. Klitgord

I he Caribbean Sea (Figure 1) often seems to be a
distinctive place geographically and culturally.
Whether that is true or not, the Caribbean, most
certainly, is a distinctive place geologically. The
geological Caribbean is a separate plate of the Earth's

surface, moving semi-independently of the other
plates that surround it. This movement causes the
plate to grind against the surrounding plates, and
thus, its boundaries are disclosed by a band of
earthquakes that extends around the plate's

Figure 7. Geography and bathyn etry of the Caribbean region

U 0-200 m
D 200-2000
D 2000-5000

n >sooo

10'

STRONG

MODERATE

WEAK

N. AMERICAN
PLATE

CARIBBEAN

PLATE

. AMERICAN
PLATE

PLATED

figure 2. Relative earthquake activity of the Caribbean. The Caribbean is a separate plate of the Earth's outer shell, and its
boundary is defined by a band of earthquakes that are caused by the grinding of one plate against another, and the stresses
within the plate boundary zones caused by plate movements.

periphery (Figure 2). Some places that usually are
considered part of the Caribbean the Bahamas,
Cuba, and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula lie outside
the band of earthquakes (therefore, off the plate),
and so are not part of the geological Caribbean. Of
the three main basins of the Caribbean region, the
Yucatan, Venezuelan, and Colombian basins, only
the latter two are included in the Caribbean Plate.
Presently, the Caribbean Plate flanked by
the North American and South American plates-
moves eastward, or possibly slightly north of
eastward. As the Caribbean Plate moves, the
American plates are driven under it on its eastern
side, a process known as subduction. Along the east-
west trending northern and southern boundaries, the
Caribbean Plate is sliding past the American plates
an extreme oversimplification, which we will
consider more extensively. Finally, on the west, the
Cocos Plate is being driven northeastward, and is
being subducted beneath the Caribbean. Since the
boundaries of the plate are where the activity is, we
will look at each one.

The Boundaries of the Caribbean Plate

The Northern Boundary. The northern boundary of
the Caribbean Plate is aligned east-west, essentially
parallel with the direction of movement of the plate.
The basic movement of the faults at the boundary is
strike-slip, that is, the movement on the faults (slip) is
parallel to the trend of the faults (strike). Thus, a very

simple fault system could exist if the plate boundary
were straight, but it is not. The northern plate
boundary has two major deflections (Figure 3).
Moving west along the boundary, there is a
northward bend at the island of Hispaniola (the
Dominican Republic/Haiti), and a southward jog
between Jamaica and the Yucatan Peninsula.
Because the Caribbean Plate is moving relatively
eastward, the Hispaniola bend creates a
protuberance that is being crushed against the North
American Plate. The result is the formation of folds
and thrust faults that grow continuously over time as
the plates move, such as those shown in one of our
recent profiles (Figure 4). These are found both
offshore and on land in Hispaniola.

The abrupt jog in the plate boundary between
Jamaica and Yucatan creates an ever-widening gap,
or spreading center, as the Caribbean Plate moves
relatively eastward. As the spreading center has
opened, the potential gap has been filled by molten
material that has welled up from below the rigid
outer shell of the Earth. The process is similar to that
occurring at normal ocean-opening spreading
centers, like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and the new
crust that is formed is essentially the same as normal
oceanic crust. The result of the opening, then, is the
formation of the Cayman Trough, the floor of which
is a narrow band of new ocean crust that is being
formed along the northwestern edge of the
Caribbean Plate. This probably is the smallest
actively developing ocean basin in the world.

Stresses along the northern plate boundary
have caused uplift in many of the islands, and
subsidence in some other areas. This has resulted in
exposure on land of marine limestones, reefs, and
marine terraces in many areas. Upraised limestone
strata (layers) on a fault block create the spectacular
cliffs of Mona Island, between Puerto Rico and
Hispaniola (Figure 5). Upraised limestone strata on
Puerto Rico's north coast have been weathered and
eroded into steep pits and peaks, known as karst
topography. Figure 6 shows karst near Arecibo,
where a karst sinkhole has been adapted to make it a
reflector for one of the world's largest radio
telescopes.

The Southern Boundary. The motion at the
straight, eastern part of the southern plate boundary
is dominantly strike-slip (refer back to Figure 3). The
western part of the boundary forms a great curve
from western Venezuela to western Colombia. This
shape, in conjunction with the movement of the
Caribbean Plate and the plate collision and
subduction that extends along the entire west coast
of South America, creates compression that causes
major faults and uplifts here, at the northern end of
the Andes. Some subduction of the Caribbean may
be occurring north of Colombia, according to some
researchers.

Motion between the North and South
American plates appears to be slow, but what there
is seems to put the Caribbean Plate into a vise,
slowly crushing it in a north-south direction. This has
resulted in folding of sediments south of Puerto Rico
and Hispaniola, and north of western Venezuela and
Colombia.

The Eastern Boundary. The eastern boundary
ot the Caribbean Plate is a subduction zone, in

which the American plates are driven under the
Caribbean (refer again to Figure 3). An idealized
cross-section of this boundary, extending east-west
through Barbados (Figure 7), shows that the
Caribbean Plate, moving relatively eastward, is
scraping off the sediments that lie on the South
American Plate and is forming an accretionary
sediment pile. The sediments have been derived
mostly from the erosion of South America. New
sediments on the seafloor arrive at the convergence
on the westward-moving basement conveyor belt
(the South American Plate). These sediments initially
are shoved under the pile, and eventually are
crumpled and faulted up into a thick ridge of
sediment where the plates converge. In one place,
this ridge of deformed sediment extends above the
sea surface to form the island of Barbados. Thus,
Barbados is formed of folded sediments with a cap
of reef limestone (Figure 8), unlike all of the other
Lesser Antilles, which are volcanic.

Where the American plates bend over and
start to descend, earthquakes occur (refer again to
Figure 2). The earthquakes are as shallow as 10 to 20
kilometers near the bend, and extend in a dipping
band to more than 150 kilometers beneath the
Lesser Antilles island arc. The crust of the
descending Atlantic plates begins to melt as it
descends into the hot rocks of the mantle. The
molten material, or magma, thus created rises to
form volcanoes that become the Lesser Antilles
island arc. The spectacular pitons (twin peaks) on
St. Lucia (Figure 9) have formed from volcanic vents
that were filled with magma that solidified, then had
the surrounding rocks eroded away. Nearby, on
southern St. Lucia, the boiling water springs of
Soufrieres give evidence that these volcanoes still are
active. The volcanoes of the Lesser Antilles are
famous for their large, explosive eruptions, such as

ZONE OF FOLDING

AND THRUST FAULTING

CARIBBEAN PLATE
BOUNDARY

ZONE OF NEW
OCEANIC CRUST

APPROXIMATE
DIRECTION OF
CARIBBEAN PLATE
MOTION RELATIVE TO
N and S AMERICA

Figure 3. Geological features of the active boundary zone of the Caribbean Plate. (Figure adapted from Case, I. E., and
T. L. Holcombe, 1980)

0-N

40 KM

Q- ? J
uj

PROFILE 18

-9 CO
11 Q

2.
O

LU
CO

-4

SEA
FLOOR

FOLDED

SEDIMENTS

-6

-8

Figure 4. A seismic profile recently collected by the U.S.
Geological Survey north of Haiti off the island of Hispaniola.
Here, at a compressional zone created by an irregularity in
the plate boundary, sediments north of the Caribbean hate
are crumpled. The folds continually grow, and new folds are
created as a result of the continuous movement of one plate
relative to the other.

the 1902 eruption of Mt. Pelee on Martinique. In the
first three quarters of this century, they killed nearly
30,000 people more than those killed during that
period by all other volcanoes in the world.

The present arrangement of volcanoes is quite
recent, geologically. Prior to about 5 million years
ago, the island arc was straighter, and the arc
included the islands of St. Barthelemy, Antigua, and
the eastern part of Guadeloupe, as well as the
islands to the south. The western part of
Guadeloupe and the active volcanic islands to the
northwest are younger. An even older island arc,
probably inactive for more than 15 million years, is
represented by the submerged Aves Ridge.

At the northern end of the subduction zone,
as the plate boundary swings around to the west
toward Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, diagonal

subduction continues to drive the North American
Plate beneath the Caribbean Plate. Because little
sediment is available here to form an accretionary
sediment pile, a great deep is formed instead. This is
the Puerto Rico Trench, and with depths greater
than 8,200 meters, it is the deepest area in the
Atlantic Ocean.

The Western Boundary. The western
boundary of the Caribbean Plate, where the Cocos
Plate is being thrust beneath the Caribbean, is a
subduction zone similar to that along the eastern
boundary. The trench formed by the plate boundary
here, however, is not filled by a ridge of deformed
sediment scraped from the downgoing plate, as it is
at the eastern boundary. Sediments on the Cocos
Plate are thin, and there is little sediment input from
Central America, and therefore the 6-kilometer-deep
trench remains unfilled, as in the Puerto Rico
Trench.

The northern part of Central America (parts of
Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras) is formed of a
block of very old (more than 300-million-year-old)
continental crust that has been deformed and
faulted more recently. The remainder of the land
along the western plate boundary consists of
volcanic rocks and bands of folded sediment all
related to the subduction process.

Origin of the Caribbean Crust

Most of the Caribbean area the Venezuelan,
Colombian, and Yucatan basins is floored by crust
that apparently is oceanic rather than continental in
origin. Oceanic crust is formed at a spreading ridge
from molten material that wells up from the interior
of the Earth as two plates move apart. As determined
by acoustic studies, oceanic crust worldwide is
remarkably uniform in thickness and structure, and it
is much thinner than continental crust (7 to 10
kilometers versus 30 to 40 kilometers thick). It is
characterized by a "spreading" topography, or
lineations that originated as a result of its formation,
and, commonly, by a clearly identifiable striped
pattern of magnetic anomalies. Remarkably, none of
the above characteristics apply to much of the crust
in the Venezuelan Basin and part of the Colombian
Basin, which is thicker and smoother than normal
oceanic crust, and has a very poorly defined
magnetic anomaly pattern. The differences have
attracted a bevy of imaginative hypotheses to explain
why the seafloor here is different among them the
idea that widespread eruptions occurred about 80
million years ago, creating molten flows of volcanic
rock that covered the original topography and left an
atypically smooth surface. The cover of volcanic rock
also may be responsible for subduing the magnetic
anomaly field.

Numerous hypotheses on the origin of the
Caribbean have been proposed, but with the
acceptance of plate tectonics, two have dominated
the current thinking. One assumes that a branch of
the Atlantic crustal spreading system extended
through the Caribbean region to the Pacific Ocean,
and that new oceanic crust was created between the
North and South American plates as the two

Figure 5. Cliffs, 60 meters
above sea level, at Mona Island
between Puerto Rico and the
Dominican Republic. Mona
Island is a fault block on the
northern side of the Caribbean.
The marine limestones that
form the island have been
shoved up above sea level in
response to stresses at the plate
boundary. (Photo by W. Dillon,
USCS)

separated during their westward migration (see box,
page 49). The other proposes that the crust formed
in the Pacific Ocean, and that it was wedged
between the North and South American plates as
they separated. Smooth crustal surfaces and weak
magnetic anomaly patterns do characterize the crust
in parts of the western Pacific Ocean, lending
support to a Pacific-origin. Of the two hypotheses,
the latter has had the most adherents in recent years.
However, new ideas on ocean-opening in place, the
first possibility (above), seem to simplify many
Caribbean geological problems, and are gaining
credence.

Search for Marine Geologic Resources

The need for economic development in the
Caribbean caused the U.S. State Department to
recently ask the oceanographic community to hold
two workshops. These have resulted in reports that
include major sections on the development of

marine geologic resources in the region. The first
report was the outgrowth of a request to the
National Research Council, Ocean Studies Board,
which called a meeting in January 1986 of U.S.
scientists interested in Caribbean problems. This
request attracted more than 1 15 written responses
and proposals, and a report was prepared by David
A. Ross (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and
Harris Stewart (an independent consultant). The
second report, which stemmed from a State
Department, Agency for International Development
(USAID), request to the National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration, resulted in a workshop
held in September 1986, which was attended by
scientists from the United States and many
Caribbean countries. This is discussed by
A. Meriwether Wilson in this issue of Oceanus
(page 33). The meetings considered a broad variety
of topics, but the conclusions and recommendations
for geological work were quite similar.

Figure 6. Irregular topography in uplifted marine limestones on the northern coastal plain of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. The pits and
steep round-topped peaks are created by solution of the limestone along cracks by rainwater and groundwater, creating a
topography known as karst. One of the pits shown here has been used to create the dish reflector for one of the world's largest
radio telescopes. Note the four-story building in the foreground for scale. (Photo by W. Dillon, USGS)

Aside from petroleum, which will be
developed by industry, the most important marine
geologic resources in the Caribbean probably will be
sedimentary, and therefore an understanding of the
sedimentary processes, present and past, is
imperative.

Perhaps the most valuable nonpetroleum
geological resource of the marine realm is sand and
gravel, needed for construction and beach
replenishment. Onshore deposits of these materials
commonly are inadequate and, in the Caribbean, the
mining of beaches for these resources has begun.
Such activity can be very unwise because it can
aggravate shore erosion, and can destroy features
attractive to tourists, an important source of income
in many Caribbean countries.

Studies, such as those done by the U.S.
Geological Survey in Puerto Rico, where the
problem of illegal mining of beaches is severe, show
that mining of offshore sand and gravel can be done
safely, if we understand how underwater streams of
sediment move. In some places, such flows of
sediment are lost from the shelves to the deep sea.
These areas are ideal for mining. In other locations,
flows of sand on the island shelves appear to nourish
the beaches, so these flows should not be disturbed.
Knowledge of the locations of sand and gravel
deposits, and the dynamics of underwater sediment
migration, are the key to safe and effective use of
these resources.

The knowledge needed to use offshore sand
and gravel resources is essentially identical to that

needed to locate and extract other sedimentary
mineral deposits in the offshore region, known as
placer deposits. These accumulations of dense
minerals have been concentrated by the action of
waves or currents. The deposits of greatest interest
are those with economically valuable minerals such
as gold, platinum, and minerals containing titanium,
chromium, and rare earths.

Both reports to the State Department agree
that studies needed to understand the sedimentary
deposits and safe extraction of resources include
side-scan sonar and seismic-profiling surveys,
extensive core sampling, current measurements, and
biological surveys. The geological surveys need to be
done on at least two scales. On the regional scale,
side-scan sonar and other broad geophysical surveys
of the entire continental or insular margins of a
country should be carried out, as the U.S. Geological
Survey has done around Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands. This allows general mapping to
identity potential resource sites and understand
broad geologic problems. On the local scale, high-
resolution surveys can identify economic deposits,
and give the details of sedimentary processes.

The search for offshore oil and gas resources
in the Caribbean has been affected recently by
economic conditions that have slowed the
petroleum industry worldwide, but the sites of future
resources probably will follow the pattern of the past
when exploration resumes. Most petroleum
resources have been found in the southern

continued on page 50

The Opening of The Caribbean

[cnv (he Caribbean ocean basin formed
remains the subject of great deal of speculation.
One explanation is given by the adjoining
diagrams, which represent several stages in a
recent conceptual model of how the Caribbean
and North Atlantic formed.

Diagram A shows the North Atlantic and
future Caribbean as it is thought to have
appeared 150 million years ago, 25 million years
after North America and Africa started to drift
apart. Very little of the Caribbean crust had
formed at this time, but South America and
Central America were about to break apart. The
broad, open arrows indicate directions of plate
drift relative to North America, which for the
purpose of illustration, is imagined as remaining
fixed.

Diagram B shows locations of the
continents 1 78 million years ago. At this time, 32
million years of drift had resulted in formation o\
part of the Caribbean crust.

Diagram C shows the Caribbean at the
end of its opening phase, 80 million years ago. At
that time the active spreading center died, and
floods of molten volcanic rock flowed across the
seafloor of most of the Caribbean Basin.

Diagram D shows that, by 36 million years
ago, a reorganization of plate boundaries had
occurred. The northern boundary of the plate had
become a strike-slip plate margin that cut off the
Yucatan Basin as it does now, but at that time the
northern boundary was located south, rather than
north of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. A
subduction zone, which eventually became the
Aves Ridge, was the beginning of subduction in
the eastern Caribbean.

In Diagram E, we show that, at 10 million
years ago, the northern boundary of the
Caribbean was approximating its present
configuration. It had jumped northward, so that
Hispaniola and Puerto Rico were now on the
Caribbean Plate, and they were drifting relatively
eastward as they do today. Furthermore, a jog
in the plate boundary west of Hispaniola had
begun to create the present Cayman Trough. The
subduction on the eastern plate boundary had
jumped eastward to its present position at the
Lesser Antilles island arc. On the west, northern
Central America had drifted to a location south of
Yucatan from its previous location, south of
central Mexico (note its location on the three
diagrams on the left). Also on the west, the
present subduction zone pattern had developed.
The present situation is, of course, as shown in
Figure 3 (page 42).

This summary of Caribbean development

continued on page 50

150MYBP

Continued from page 49

is taken from a 12-step model created by Kim
Klitgord of the U.S. Geological Survey and Hans
Schouten of Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution (Klitgord, K. D., and H. Schouten,
1986, Plate kinematics of the central Atlantic, In
Vogt, P. R., and B. E. Jucholke, eds., The Geology
of North America, Vol. M, The Western North
Atlantic Region, Geological Society of America,
pp. 351-378). Although this is one of the most
recent models of Caribbean development, it must
be considered as one of a series of competing
hypotheses, some of which are very different.

Caribbean Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad and
Tobago. These resources occur in the thick folded
and faulted sediments of northern South America.
Petroleum exploration in Central America has been
disappointing, and generally, little oil has been found
in the Caribbean islands.

In the Greater Antilles, oil exists in Cuba and
one former field in the Dominican Republic.
Barbados, the sedimentary island in the accretionary
sediment pile of the eastern Caribbean, does have
oil and gas production. This may bode well for future
exploration in the folded sediments of the eastern
Caribbean. The rest of the Lesser Antilles, being
volcanic islands, probably have little potential for
petroleum.

New Directions in Research

Because of the wide variety of geologic activities in
the Caribbean area, such as earthquakes, volcanism,
and various other plate boundary interactions, there
has been a continuing interest in the area by
scientists from the Western Hemisphere, and from
Europe. Two exciting newer approaches currently
being applied in the Caribbean are techniques for
broad-range swath imaging of the seafloor, and the
direct measurement of the movement between
plates. New proposals for drilling in the region are
also generating interest among scientists.

Swath imaging is of two types: multibeam
bathymetry systems that generate swath contour
maps of the bottom, and side-scan sonar systems
that generate swath images of the seafloor that look
like aerial photographs taken over land. Side-scan
sonar actually is very much like photography,
because it provides information on the shape as well
as the reflectivity of objects it images; of course it
uses sound rather than light to create the image.
Such a photograph-like image is exciting to marine
geologists, who until recently had to satisfy
themselves with two-dimensional, cross-sectional
profiles.

The broadest range swath device (as much as
a 60-kilometer swath) is the GLORIA side-scan-sonar
system; its towed sending and receiving unit, or
"fish," is shown in Figure 10. GLORIA (Geologic
Long Range Inclined Asdic) surveys in the Caribbean
Sea have been carried out by the system's builders,
the British Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS)
on the eastern Caribbean Plate boundary region, and

10MYBP

KEY

FUTURE SPREADING CENTER RIFT ZONE ACTIVE SPREADING CENTER

ABANDONED SPREADING CENTER SUBOUCTON ZONE CONTINENTAL EDGE

PRESENT DAY 200m ISOBATH MYBP MILLION YEARS

BEFORE PRESENT

by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with
IOS, on the northern plate boundary around Puerto
Rico and in the Cayman Trough. The survey in the
folded sediments of the eastern plate boundary
region disclosed previously unknown, volcano-like
features from which pressurized mud (possibly
charged with gas) had erupted on the seafloor. The
Puerto Rico and Cayman Trough GLORIA surveys
provided continuous coverage across the northern
plate boundary. At Puerto Rico, we can now, for the
first time, identify where the strike-slip motion
between plates occurs. The Puerto Rico survey also
disclosed linear patterns of submarine canyons north
of the island, formed by sediment derived from
rivers and shore erosion that spilled off the edge of
the shelf durmg storms and flowed down the slope
(Figure 1 1 ). Figure 1 1 also shows a huge
amphitheatre, created by the slumping away of
4,000 cubic kilometers of rock. Such a slump can
generate a large and destructive seismic sea wave
(tsunami), so the likelihood of such events is a matter
for concern. At the Cayman Trough spreading
center, GLORIA was used to locate the actively
spreading ridge, and to reveal the sea-floor
volcanoes that complicate the floor of the trough.

In the Cayman Trough, and in the deep basin
within the Virgin Islands, GLORIA images have been
interpreted along with data from a swath-bathymetry
device (measures water depth). The photograph-like
quality of GLORIA and the precise bathymetric maps
created by swath-bathymetry devices, such as Sea
Beam, are mutually supportive for purposes of data
interpretation, so the combination is especially
valuable. French scientists have been very active in
collecting Sea Beam data in the Caribbean.

The relative motion across the northern plate
boundary of the Caribbean, which has been
deduced indirectly, soon will be measured by
precise location of ground stations over several

WEST

EAST

AVES RIDGE
EXTINCT ISLAND ARC

ST VINCENT
ACTIVE ISLAND ARC

BARBADOS

400

500

600

700 KILOMETERS

Figure 7. The eastern margin of the Caribbean plate at the location of Barbados and St. Vincent. (Figure adapted from
Westbrook, C. K., and W. R. McCann, 1986. Subduction of Atlantic lithosphere beneath the Caribbean, In Vogt, P. R., and B.
E. Tucholke, eds., The Western North Atlantic Region, The Geology of North America, Vol. M, pp. 341-350. Boulder, CO: The
Geological Society of America)

years, using Earth-orbiting satellites. Presently, this
direct measurement technique is being used
between Hispaniola and the Bahamas by Carl O.
Bowin, a Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution. Plans for other similar
measurements are being made.

Many of the geological mysteries of the
Caribbean, such as the problem of whether the crust
drifted in from the Pacific or formed in place, can
best be solved by actually sampling the sediments
and basement of the deep basins. Two scientific
drilling cruises were carried out by the National
Science Foundation's (NSF's) Deep-Sea Drilling
Project ship C/omar Challenger in 1969 and 1972.
This drilling, at 1 1 sites, sampled the rock beneath
the sediments of the Caribbean, and showed that
molten flows of volcanic rock had covered the sea
floor about 80 million years ago. This volcanic
episode may have caused the basement rock of the
Caribbean to be different from normal oceanic crust,
as discussed previously. Age of these volcanic flows
was determined by paleontologic dating of
microfossils obtained in the drilled cores. Dates of
gaps in sedimentation in the cores gaps produced
by deep-sea erosion also helped to determine
when the volcanic barrier of Panama was erected,
which cut off the Caribbean from the Pacific.

After a 15-year hiatus, a large group of
scientists have recently met, in mid-November in
Jamaica, to plan a new drilling cruise. The NSF's new
Ocean Drilling Project vessel IOIDES Resolution will
be used, perhaps by 1991. With our present greater
understanding of the Caribbean region and the
deeper drilling capability of the IOIDES Resolution,
we should be able to bring this new sampling to bear
on a fascinating set of geological problems such as
the evolution of plates and basins, the development
of convergent accretionary margins, and the pattern
of changing environments over geologic time caused
by the rearrangements of drifting plates. One of the
prime targets will be an area of the southeastern
Venezuelan Basin, which seismic profiles show was
not covered by the floods of molten volcanic rock
that covered the rest of the Colombian and

. , .

Figure 8. Barbados a view of part of the contorted sediment
pile that forms the island. The sediments are scraped off the
South Atlantic Plate and crumpled as that plate is thrust
under the Caribbean Plate. (Photo by K. Scanlon, USGS)

Figure 9. Les Pitons of St. Lucia in the Lesser Antilles probably
are the remains of volcanic vents that were filled with molten
magma that solidified. The surrounding volcanic rocks were
eroded away. These spines are about 800 meters high. (Photo
courtesy of the St. Lucia Tourist Board, through Hill and
Know/ton Inc., New York)

KILOMETERS

Figure 10. Jesting the GLORIA launching system in San luan
harbor, Puerto Rico. The GLORIA "fish" is the torpedo-like
object held in the gantry cradle that rotates and slides out
across the ship's stem to allow a safe launching. The fish,
towed 300 meters behind the ship, carries the devices that
send sound pulses out to the side of the ship's track and
receive the returning echoes, thus allowing an image of a
broad swath of seafloor to be created as the ship steams
along. (Photo by Dann Blackwood, USGS)

Venezuelan basins. The age of the basement rocks
and latitude at which they were formed (which can
be determined from their magnetic characteristics)
will be important information in judging competing
hypotheses of Caribbean formation.

The brief listing of research topics here only
scratches the surface of present geological research
in the Caribbean. Geologists have been fascinated
and mystified by the Caribbean for generations, and,
although we now understand the region far better
than our grandfathers, there are still major questions
unanswered in this region of very complex geology.

William P. Dillon, N. Terence Edgar, Kathryn M. Scan/on, and
Kim D. Klitgord are research geologists with the U.S.
Geological Survey. Dillon, Scan/on, and Klitgord are based in
Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and Edgar is at the USGS
National Center in Reston, Virginia.

Acknowledgments

We thank our graphics department, Patty Forrestel, Dann
Blackwood, and Jeff Zwinakis for their interest and help.
Thanks also are due to Peggy Mons-Wengler, who
prepared the manuscript.

Figure / / . A small portion of the GLORIA side-scan sonar
image of the region around Puerto Rico. This is a mosaic of
four east-west side-scan tracks that shows the straight
submarine canyons on the northern slope of Puerto Rico. A
large amphitheater apparently was created by slumping that
could have been triggered by earthquakes in this area of high
earthquake frequency. If this large area of rock and sediment
slid as a single mass, large and destructive sea-surface waves
(tsunamis) would have been generated. Part of a second,
smaller amphitheater is visible at the right edge of the image.

Selected References

Bonini, W. E., R. B. Margraves, and R. Spagam, eds. 1984. The

Caribbean South American Plate Boundary and Regional

Tectonics. Memoir 162, 421 pp. Boulder, CO:The Geological

Society of America.
Bowin, C. 1976. Caribbean gravity field and plate tectonics.

Geological Society of America Special Paper No. 169. 79 pp.
Case, ]. E., and T. L Holcombe. 1980. Geologic-Tectonic Map of the

Caribbean Region, U.S. Geological Survey, Miscellaneous

Investigations Series Map, 1-1 100, 3 sheets.
Dengo, G., and ). E. Case, eds. The Caribbean Region, The Geology

of North America Vol. H. Boulder, CO: The Geological Society

of America. In press.
EEZ-SCAN 85 Scientific Staff. 1987. Atlas of the U.S. Exclusive

Economic Zone, Eastern Caribbean. U.S. Geological Survey

Miscellaneous Investigations, 1-1864-B. 58 pp. Scale 1:500,000.
Nairn, A. E. M., and F. G. Stehli, eds. 1 975. The Gulf of Mexico and

the Caribbean, The Ocean Basins and Margins, Vol. 3. 706 pp.

New York: Plenum Press.

Changing Climate
and Caribbean Coastlines

by Frank Gable

I ourism is a major source of income in the
Caribbean. This fact, coupled with a rapidly
increasing population and its accompanying demand
for space and resources, means that any rise in
relative sea level will have severe repercussions.
Such a rise has been documented, and it appears
likely that it will continue for the foreseeable future.
The Caribbean is particularly vulnerable to a
projected increase in sea level because it is made up
largely of island nations that have far more coastal
zone per unit of land area than do continental
nations. Furthermore, many government and
international funding agencies have made, and
continue to make, important economic and
environmental decisions without considering the
possibility of a rising sea level.

Causes for the Sea-Level Rise

Rise in sea level has been substantiated by recent
data, and by reinterpreting older data, and is due to
several causes:

Atmospheric Warming. Since 1880, the global
atmosphere has warmed by 0.6 degrees Celsius
(1 degree Fahrenheit). This warming trend is at least
partially because of the measured increase of carbon
dioxide and trace gases in the atmosphere the so-
called "greenhouse effect" (See Oceanus, Vol. 29,
No. 4, pp. 2-8). Although the Earth was about as
warm in the 1930s and '40s as it is today, the earlier
warming was confined mostly to the higher latitudes
of the Northern Hemisphere. Recent warming is
more dispersed globally, and thus is likely to have
more effect on the Caribbean. This warming trend
acts in two ways to increase sea level: First, it causes
an increase in ocean volume through thermal
expansion; and second, it causes the melting of land-
bound ice.

In October 1985, a conference was held at
Villach, Austria, on atmospheric gases and climatic
change. This conference, sponsored by the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the
International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU),
arrived at the conclusion that a projected global
warming of 1 .5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 to 8.0
degrees Fahrenheit) during the next century would
lead to a sea-level rise of from 20 to 140 centimeters
(0.65 to 4.60 feet).

Other estimates for the projected rise in sea
level vary: The United States National Academy of
Sciences (NAS) forecasts a 70-centimeter (2!/3 foot)
global rise in the next century, with a rise of 28
centimeters by the year 2025. The United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), sees a global
rise of 137 centimeters (4 1 /? feet) during the next 100
years, with a rise of 38 centimeters (1 14 feet) by the
year 2025.

The consensus is that global sea levels will rise
from 61 to 183 centimeters (2 to 6 feet) during the
next century, with a rise of 30 centimeters (1 foot)
during the next 40 years. However, for part of the
Caribbean region, the rise during the next 40 years is
expected to be 15 to 20 centimeters greater than the
average global rise, because of a simultaneous
subsidence of the land.

Natural Subsidence. The Caribbean region is
very active, geologically. It is on a separate tectonic
plate, caught, as if in a vise, between the North
American and South American plates (see page 42).
Consequently, it is subject to frequent earthquakes
and volcanic activity. The coastlines of the region
contain topographic evidence of changes in land
level, both up and down, with no discernible trend
in either direction. This fact, coupled with the
paucity of long-term tide-gauge data (as opposed to
Europe, where some tide gauges have been in
operation since the 19th Century), makes planning
for the region even more difficult. But, there are
other natural factors, such as the compaction of fine-
grained deposits due to the weight of overlying
sediments, and the oxidation of highly organic
soils such as peat which contribute to
subsidence.

Man-Made Subsidence. Human intervention
can induce subsidence or accelerate naturally
occurring subsidence. Examples of these activities
that have been seen in the Caribbean are the
pumping of ground water for agriculture,
municipalities, or industry; and the extraction of
crude oil and natural gas (a subsidence of 3.4
meters 1 1 feet was measured in Venezuela's
Lagumillas oil field in the period 1926 to 1954). Also,
there is compaction of sediments caused by

vibration, and by buildings and other engineering
works. Other major causes of subsidence in the
islands are the mining of sand and gravel, and land
reclamation and drainage projects.

A Wild Card. Hurricane formation requires
sea-surface water temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius
(81 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher. The Caribbean
Sea is about 25 to 26 degrees Celsius (77 to 79
degrees Fahrenheit) in winter, and 28 to 29 degrees
Celsius (82 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit) in summer;
thus, a global warming trend may well cause an
extension of the hurricane season. It also may lead to
hurricanes forming at higher latitudes within the
Caribbean region. In general, an increased frequency
of severe storms will tend to flatten the typical beach
profile and cause increased shoreline destruction in
the area.

Record storm surges of greater than 7 meters
(23 feet), with associated winds of 200 kilometers
per hour (124 miles per hour), have been recorded
within the last 20 years. In 1961, hurricane Hattie
produced a storm surge of 4 meters (13 feet) on the
coast of Belize, with significant island flooding and
erosion.

Impacts

Preliminary estimates of tide-gauge trends in the
Caribbean region suggest that, in recent years,
relative sea level has risen at the rate of 32
millimeters (Va inch) a year. The "Bruun Rule," first
promulgated by Per Bruun in 1962 in the journal of
the Waterways and Harbors Division, and considered
to be a benchmark in the field, states that a 1
centimeter (0.39 inch) rise in sea level will generally
result in a 1 meter (39.37 inches) shoreline retreat.

Beach resorts provide important revenues to
coastal areas throughout the Caribbean, and
relatively few of the most intensively developed
resorts have beaches broader than about 30 meters
(98 feet) at high tide. The projected rise in relative
sea level of 30 centimeters (12 inches) during the
next 40 years will inundate up to 20 to 50 meters
(66 to 164 feet) of beach, which, in many cases, will
be the entire beach.

The major tourism area on Grenada is Grand
Anse; most of the hotels are situated on or near this
2-kilometer-long beach, which has eroded at the
rate of 70 centimeters (2!/3 feet) per year between
1 970 and 1 982. The causes of this erosion are mining
of offshore sand, and possible relative sea-level rise.

Another place where the mining of sand and
aggregate is creating serious problems is Vigie Beach,
on the island of St. Lucia. A typical crescent-shaped
pocket beach, it is about 1.5 kilometers (5,000 feet)
long and 20 to 30 meters (66 to 98 feet) wide.
Because of its proximity to the St. Lucia capital of
Castries, it has served as the primary source of sand
and aggregate for building in that city. In an analysis
of Vigie Beach, using aerial photographs taken from
1940 to 1970, regression of the beach averaged 60
centimeters (2 feet) per year. An estimated US$10
million of real estate was at risk by 1970. By 1973,
the beach front of the Red Lion Hotel at the
southern end of the beach had eroded to just

pebbles and cobble stones, resulting in a reduction
of tourism and lost revenues.

Mining of bottom sand, and most dredging,
generally eliminates a natural breakwater that acts to
reduce wave energy falling on a shoreline.
Modification of tidal inlets also can have an effect on
the erosional and depositional pattern of abutting
beaches. With projected sea-level rise, and the
prospect of even more tropical swells from storms,
this should be of great concern. The countries of
Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Christopher and
Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent appear to be in the
most jeopardy from these hazards because of their
sand-mining activities.

Over time, a 1- to 2-meter rise in sea level will
be likely to inundate wetlands, accelerate erosion,
and exacerbate coastal flooding threatening coastal
structures and increasing the landward penetration
of saline waters in estuaries and freshwater aquifers.
Wetlands, consisting for the most part of mangrove
swamps, along undeveloped coastlines are expected
to migrate readily into adjacent lowlands. Yet,
because most coastal lowlands have steeper
gradients, the net result will be a reduction in these
natural storm barriers, and a reduction in their role in
erosion control. Coral reefs prominent formations
in the Caribbean also are endangered by a rise in
relative sea level. These reefs provide a barrier for
the shores behind them.

Other potential problem spots are urban
areas located in low-lying coastal areas, such as
Belize City, Belize, where about 28 percent of that
country's population of 150,000 live. Today, it is only
15 centimeters (6 inches) above sea level, with a
tendency toward destruction from the hurricanes
which impact there, dead-center, on an average of
once every 30 years.

Another example is Georgetown, Guyana's
capital and largest city, with a population of about
200,000. It is located on the coast, and built on
drained marshland protected by dikes. Fully 90
percent of Guyana's total population of almost
800,000 live on the narrow coastal plain, often on
land reclaimed from tidal marshes and mangrove
swamps.

Paramaribo, Suriname's main port and capital,
with a population of 182,000, has many wooden
buildings built on stilts to protect them from tidal
action. Also, Cayenne, the capital and main port of
French Guiana, with a population of 38,000, is
situated on a low-lying island in the Cayenne River
estuary.

Responses

How have the nations of the Caribbean responded
to existing or potential natural hazards (including a
possibly accelerated rise in relative sea levels) along
their coastal zones? One example is Costa Rica,
where permits from the Tourism Institute and the
Ministry of Public Works and Housing must be
secured in order to develop within 200 meters (656
feet) from mean sea level along 75 percent of that
country's shoreline. Another example of special
policies for land-use planning within a shore area is
in Guatemala. Although not as refined a policy as in
Costa Rica, the coastal area of Guatemala has been

treated as a separate situation with regard to zoning.
The coastal area stretches inland 3 kilometers (1.86
miles) from the shore. Barbados, since April of 1984,
has maintained a coastal conservation project unit,
whose tasks include the monitoring of natural
phenomena such as hurricanes, winter swells, and
sea-level rise. Further, there is now a building
setback requirement of 30 meters (98 feet) from the
high tide mark.

Grenada, in 1983 had a Physical Tourism
Development Plan funded by the Organization of
American States. From this study, a coastal
monitoring program was begun in August 1985. One
of the four major tasks of the program, if funding is
received, will be to set up additional tide gauges,
and initiate long-term sea-level measurements. It is
further hoped that a recommended 50-meter (164-
foot) development setback policy will be legislated
and implemented in the near future.

Custavia, St. Barthelemy, French West Indies, representative
of the low-lying coastal towns found throughout the
Caribbean. (Photo by the author)

Tide-Gauge Stations

f\ network of tide-gauge stations is essential
to the monitoring of Caribbean sea-level
change. The list below includes many of the
existing tide gauge stations in the Caribbean
and those proposed by a workshop on
Physical Oceanography and the Climate of the
Caribbean Sea and Adjacent Regions, held in
Cartagena, Colombia, in August 1986, under
the auspices of the United Nations Inter-
governmental Oceanographic Commission.

EXISTING

Port Isabel, Texas
Miami Beach, Fla.
Key West, Fla.
Havana, Cuba
Cape San Antonio,
Cuba

Tampico, Mexico
Tuxpan, Mexico
Veracruz, Mexico
Alvarado, Mexico
Coatzacoalcos, Mexico
Carmen, Mexico
Progreso, Mexico
Chetumal, Mexico
Port Cortes, Honduras
Port Castilla, Honduras
Limon, Costa Rica
Cristobal, Panama
Cumana, Venezuela
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
Port of Spain, Trinidad
San |uan, Puerto Rico
Magueyes, Puerto Rico
Port Plata, Dominican
Republic

Port au Prince, Haiti
Port Royal/Kingston,
Jamaica
Cuantanamo Bay, Cuba

PROPOSED

Port Morelos, Mexico
Carapachibe, Cuba
Grand Cayman
Cape Cruz, Cuba
Montego Bay, Jamaica
Savanna-La Mar, Jamaica
Swan Isle, Honduras
Morant Cay, Jamaica
Pedro Cay, Jamaica
Serranilla, Colombia
San Andres Isle, Colombia
Colon, Panama
Cartegena, Colombia
Riohacha, Colombia
La Orchila, Venezuela
Toco, Trinidad
Crown Point, Tobago
Charlotteville, Tobago
Kingston, St. Vincent
Georgetown, Grenada
Bridgetown, Barbados
Castries, St. Lucia
Fort de France, Martinique
Roseau, Dominica
Basse Terre, Guadaloupe
St. Croix, U.S.V.I.
Mona Is., Puerto Rico
Isla Saona,

Dominican Republic
Cape Du Mole, Haiti
Cape Maisi, Cuba

Caribbean Research Agenda

As a response to the concern expressed in the
Caribbean region about the implications of expected
natural and man-induced climatic changes for the
marine and coastal environment, the United Nations
Environment Programme has initiated a study to
review the situation in the Caribbean through their
Regional Seas Program. Some of the intended
objectives of the study include an examination of the
possible effects of sea-level changes on the coastal
ecosystems, including but not limited to, deltas,
estuaries, coral reefs, beaches, and wetlands.
Another objective is to determine areas or systems
that appear most vulnerable to the projected climate
changes and related effects.

A meeting held at Kingston, Jamaica, on July
30 to August 1, 1987, established a Task Team on
Implications of Climatic Changes in the Caribbean
Region. The author and other researchers at the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are involved
in this Task Team, which will prepare a report on the
expected effects and associated areas of climatic
changes in the region. Recommendations for policy
development also will be forthcoming for
preparation of legislation, and for organizational
development. With many countries in the
Caribbean, these recommendations will not be easy
to implement.

Other studies are being conducted in the
Caribbean Sea and adjacent areas. The United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) Lesser Antilles Coastal Zone
Management and Beach Stability Program, which
began in February of 1985, covers Antigua,
Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and St.
Christopher and Nevis. The aim of this project is to
assist in developing internal capabilities to manage
and conserve, for socio-economic benefits, the
beach and nearshore resources. One of the
recommendations put forth was to implement a
system of tide gauges at each island in the
Caribbean. About two or three tide gauges per island
are believed to be required to determine local
relative sea-level changes.

Another project, under the auspices of the
United Nations Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Commission (IOC), held a workshop on Physical
Oceanography and the Climate of the Caribbean Sea
and Adjacent Regions in Cartagena, Colombia, in
August, 1986. The goal of the workshop was to
convene a small working group of physical
oceanographers from the Caribbean region for the
purpose of designing a research agenda. One of the
projects proposed was an open-sea and coastal
network of sea level and weather stations to
contribute data on both an island scale and basin
scale. The interests of many area states were
primarily in the economic and applied aspects of
shelf and coastal processes, and a sea-level project
was felt to be essential to these interests.

Management of Caribbean coastal areas has
been hindered by the general lack of knowledge
about coastal ecosystems, and by the shortage of
expertise in coastal management issues and policy.
To address these problems, the United Nations is
taking the initiative to alert countries in the
Caribbean to the possible implications of sea-level
changes through various workshops and meetings.
Funds are initially needed to implement coastal
research studies in order to improve coastal
management programs in the region. Hopefully the
United Nations effort will lead not only to an
improved understanding of the problems caused by
sea-level rise, but also the allocation of much-

needed resources to assist the Caribbean nations in
their management efforts.

Frank Gable is a Geographer with the Marine Policy and
Ocean Management Center at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution.

Selected References

Bruun, P. 1962. Sea-level rise as a cause of shore erosion. ASCE
lournal Waterways and Harbors Division. 88:1 1 7-1 30.

Cambers, C. 1987. Coastal zone management programmes in
Barbados and Grenada. In, Coastal Zone '87, ed. Orville
Magoon, pp. 1384-1394. New York: American Society of Civil
Engineers.

Carbognin, L. 1985. Land subsidence: a worldwide environmental
hazard. Nature and Resources 21:2-12.

Clark, |. R., ed. 1985. Coastal Resources Management: Development
Case Studies. 749 pp. Columbia, SC: Research Planning Institute,
Inc.

Hoffman, J. S., D. Keyes, and J. Titus 1983. Projecting Future Sea-
Level Rise, Methodology, Estimates to the Year 2700, and
Research Needs. Washington, DC: United States Environmental
Protection Agency.

Lemonick, M. D. 1987. Shrinking shores: overdevelopment, poor
planning and nature take their toll. Time 1 30:38-47.

Millemann, B. 1986. And Two If By Sea. 109 pp. Washington, D.C.:
Coast Alliance Inc.

Titus, J. C., ed. 1986. Effects of Changes in Stratospheric Ozone and
Global Climate. 1 184 pp. Washington, DC: United States
Environmental Protection Agency.

U.S. Agency for International Development. 1987. Caribbean Marine
Resources: Opportunities for Economic Development and
Management. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce.

ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

Call for Journal Papers
Physical Oceanography and Meteorology

The Royal Meteorological Society was founded in 1 850 for "the advancement of meteorological
science." Its Quarterly Journal which was first published in 1871 is generally recognized as
being among the world's leading scientific journals, and is distributed to over 75 countries
throughout the world.

It is now apparent that interest in air-sea interaction and combined ocean-atmosphere models
will increase, and the Society is making space available in the Quarterly Journal to accommodate
more papers on these subjects.

The Society invites authors of papers on physical oceanography, oceanic dynamics, air-sea
interaction, ocean-atmosphere models or other related subjects to submit them for considera-
tion for publication in the Quarterly Journal which has already a wide circulation amongst
oceanographers. There are no page charges and submission of papers is not restricted to
members of the Society.

The Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society will be printed in January (two parts),
April, July (two parts), and October every year. The price in 1988 will be 95 or US $167.
Reduced rates are available to individuals who are members of the Society. Papers and orders
should be sent to the Executive Secretary, Royal Meteorological Society, James Glaisher
House, Grenville Place, Bracknell, Berks, RG12 1BX.

Changing Times
for Caribbean Fisheries

by Mel Goodwin

<t's 2:00 A.M. in the Grenadines, and 'loe Bah
Koe' his mother named him Herbert Adams is
just leaving the island ofCarriacou in his 18-foot
fishing boat. His is one of the better boats in the
fleet, and the 40-horsepower outboard pushes
the wooden hull steadily toward Sail Rock.
Baitfish are plentiful this morning. By dawn loe
Bah Koe has begun trolling for the dolphinfish.

kingfish, and wahoo that are abundant during the
first half of the year. Fishing is good today; two
dolphinfish and one kingfish are brought ashore
around noon.

Ninety miles to the north, a slender canoe
arrows toward the shore ofVieux Fort, St. Lucia.
The gunwales of the hollowed log hull are only
inches above the water, and the sea is rough, but

the 55-horsepower outboard is at full throttle.
Despite the weather, the 15-mile excursion into
the Atlantic has produced nearly 100 pounds of
dolphinfish. Still, the boat's three occupants are
concerned by what may await them on shore.
Five other boats are already drawn up on the
beach, and are selling their catch to an eager
public. If customers are hard to find, it may be
necessary to reduce prices or find transportation
to carry the fish to other parts of the island.

"Rasta Willy," pulling his boat ashore on St.
Kitts, is not troubled. There are plenty of eager
hands dragging the heavy dory across the beach
stones, and more people already crowding in to
buy a pound or two of fish. Ten fish traps and 3
hours of seining with a heavy net have produced
about 50 pounds of reef fish and ocean gar. Most
of the reef fish are small and the gar are very
bony, but the catch will sell for nearly 200
Eastern Caribbean (EC) dollars (US$75.00).

Winds of Change

From Grenada to the British Virgin Islands, the tools
and techniques of artisanal fishermen have changed
little in the last 300 years. Even though outboard
engines, synthetic lines, and metal hooks have
replaced sail, natural fiber, and bone, the target
species, fishing grounds, and techniques remain
virtually the same. Innovations have often brought
mixed benefits. Outboard engines are more
expensive to operate than sails, and boats without
sails become helpless when engines fail. Replacing
woven wicker with wire mesh initially increased trap
catches, but led to overexploitation of traditional
fishing grounds. Now the fish are smaller and fewer
than in the past.

Eastern Caribbean fisheries may have
changed little in three centuries, but today, the
winds of change blow through the islands. Many of
the 21 island nations in the Greater and Lesser
Antilles have been independent for less than 20
years. In earlier times, colonists emphasized
agriculture as the primary industry, but recent
independence has been accompanied by problems
of rising import costs and declining prices for
traditional agricultural exports. It would appear that
islands in a vast ocean could turn to the sea to offset
an eroding agricultural base, but making the switch
from land to water is not so simple. With few
exceptions, residents have been raised to farm, not
fish, and awareness of the importance of marine
resources is slow to take hold. Fishermen who have
traditionally worked day-to-day for short-term gains
are now being asked to consider long-term resource
management. While they might welcome the results
of improved fish stocks and habitats, they often see
management activities as limiting their fishing
practices and territories.

Meanwhile, as potential food and export
commodities go untapped, economic and social
problems mount. Most Caribbean islands are net
importers of food: In Dominica and St. Kitts local
demand for fish exceeds supply by more than 250
percent, while imports of fish to St. Lucia were
valued at more than EC$2 million in 1982. This trade
imbalance has a ripple effect, reflected in inadequate

nutrition and widespread unemployment. Because
such circumstances are often interpreted as an
inability of the government to provide for its citizens,
political stability is jeopardized, along with the well-
being of the people.

Availability of Fish

While need and concern for fisheries development
are growing in response to these conditions, a fishing
industry also requires that there be fish available to
harvest. Too often, fisheries development projects
have demonstrated that technology and capital
resources are more abundant than the fishery
resources they target. From 1965 through 1971, the
United Nations Development Programme, together
with the Food and Agriculture Organization,
undertook a major exploratory fishing program. The
project concluded that fishery resources in the
Eastern Caribbean were not sufficient to support
large-scale commercial development.

A satellite view (Figure 1) of the region shows
why: production of single-celled algae, a critical link
in marine food chains, is low for much of the region.
Though warm temperatures and abundant sunshine
favor algal growth, they also cause the ocean water
column to become stratified. Consequently, there
are no regular upwellings to bring nutrients from
deep water to the surface, and without nutrients,
algae cannot grow.

As a result, commercial fisheries in the
Caribbean have developed only around the larger
island and continental land masses. Groundfish
(croaker, sea trout, catfish, and porgy) dependent
upon estuaries and broad, muddy bottoms are
harvested off Yucatan (Mexico), Cuba, Hispaniola
(Dominican Republic), Jamaica, and in the Orinoco
(Venezuela) and Magdalena (Colombia) river deltas.
Small coastal pelagic fishes (herring, anchovy, and
sardine) are the largest single group of fishes landed
in the region, but the commercial harvest is confined
to Cuba, Colombia, and Venezuela. Shrimp are
harvested along the coasts of Cuba, the Dominican
Republic, and Central and South America; but
Eastern Caribbean islands have neither the shelf area
nor the estuarine habitat to support a commercial
harvest.

Present hopes for Eastern Caribbean fisheries
development center on pelagic fishes (tuna,
dolphinfish, kingfish, billfish, and flyingfish).
Although exploitation of these stocks by Eastern
Caribbean fishermen has been limited by small
fishing boats and inadequate cold storage,
development assistance programs to remove these
constraints are underway in Grenada, St. Vincent,
St. Lucia, Dominica, and Antigua.

Still, there is a certain nervous restraint about
these preparations: the actual potential for expansion
is unknown for most species. While the present
harvest by Eastern Caribbean fleets is relatively small,
the same stocks are targeted by numerous other
nations; commercial fishing vessels from Taiwan,
Korea, Japan, Scandinavia, the French West Indies,
and the United States operate within the Exclusive
Economic Zone (see Oceanus, Vol. 27, No. 4) of the
Eastern Caribbean countries. In the last three years,
for example, the area has seen a sharp increase in

Figure 7. Composite satellite imagery of the Caribbean Basin from the Nimbus-7 Coastal Zone Scanner, February and March,
1980. Phytoplankton pigment concentrations are coded from low (blue), to high (red). Note low concentrations in the upper
right, in the vicinity of the Eastern Caribbean Islands. (Courtesy Dennis K. Clark, NOAA, NESDIS, Washington/RSMAS, University
of Miami)

fishing activity by U.S. vessels in pursuit of swordfish.
In some cases, permission has been sought, but
more often than not, the vessels operate without the
knowledge or consent of Caribbean governments.
The swordfishing issue was the subject of a
special workshop at the 39th Gulf and Caribbean
Fisheries Institute last year in Bermuda. Fisheries
ministers from five Caribbean nations met with
fisheries biologists and industry representatives to
review information on swordfish stocks and options
for management. Island governments had not
previously recognized the potential value of the
fishery (at least US$2.2 million), or the willingness of
many longlining vessels to cooperate with local
authorities. Perhaps the most important outcome
was the realization that these shared stocks require
management on a regional basis. The next important
step toward such management was taken in
November 1987, when the Organization of Eastern
Caribbean States met to define a policy for allocation
of shared fisheries resources.

Time for Decision

Fisheries development in the Caribbean has reached
a crossroads or perhaps a precipice. One option is
to take a laissez-faire approach to fisheries
management, as has happened previously in many
fisheries throughout the world. The expectation
underlying this approach is that fishing effort will
increase until it is no longer profitable, and in this
way the natural limits of fishery resources will
"automatically" constrain the industry to appropriate
levels. This expectation is reasonable for businesses
in which the cost of raw materials increases as the
materials become more scarce and in greater

demand, but fishery resources are "free," and there
is no direct economic constraint to increased
investment in harvest capacity as these resources
dwindle. The usual result of this approach is a
sequence that moves from underutilization to
overexploitation, while investment in fishing
capability steadily increases. The sequence very
often concludes with collapse of the fishery.

The fishery resources of the Caribbean,
however, are not large enough to provide the buffer
capacity needed to replenish depleted areas, nor are
local economies so healthy that they can easily
accommodate a serious decline in an important
food- and income-producing sector. An unregulated
approach to fisheries development in the Caribbean
is likely to create serious social and political
problems for countries of the region.

Alternative

The alternative is to adopt an approach that
addresses all the components of the fishery sector:
harvest, processing, marketing, and especially the
natural production processes that make a harvest
possible in the first place. In the past, many efforts to
develop Caribbean fisheries have concentrated on
single aspects of this sector, and have been
marginally successful at best. Now, there is growing
support within the region for a more integrated
approach targeted to a variety of needs and
opportunities:

Underutilized Resources. Traditional Caribbean
fisheries continue to be overexploited because
fishermen see no alternative. While there is little
fishing in deep water, snappers, groupers, and crabs
could probably be harvested from these areas. The

available quantities are not likely to be large enough
to interest commercial investors, but could make a
significant difference on a local scale. Together with
squid, octopus, shark, and other pelagic fishes, these
resources offer potential for increased landings as
well as a means for reducing pressure on nearshore
fisheries.

In all cases, the actual harvest that these
resources can support is unknown. Rather than delay
development until resource assessments are carried
out, an alternative approach has been adopted in
St. Kitts. Here, pilot fishing operations are directed
toward underutilized species, so that information
needed to assess the stocks can be obtained in the
course of actual fishing. Another alternative for
pelagic fishes is to grant a few short-term licenses to
foreign fleets for limited operations. This provides a
means of obtaining information on available
resources (as well as a modest revenue from license
fees) without investing in expensive and possibly
inappropriate fishing vessels.

Improved Technology. Increased fisheries
production in the Caribbean requires a variety of
improvements to artisanal fishing fleets. Harvest of
deepwater bottom fishes and crabs requires depth
sounders and mechanical hauling devices. Vessel
safety has been a chronic problem in the Eastern
Caribbean, and will become increasingly serious as
fishing activities move farther from shore. Similarly,
the use of more expensive equipment will increase
the need for vessel insurance, the availability of
which will depend on the economic viability and
technical competence of the fishing operations. But
none of these factors demand direct transfer of
highly sophisticated technology from commercial
fisheries in developed countries. The fact that conch,
spiny lobster, and reef fish stocks have already been
overexploited with artisanal techniques suggests that,
in general, the absence of modern technology is not
a primary problem.

In some cases, relatively simple technology can
be most appropriate. The harvest of pelagic fishes,
for example, may be significantly improved through
the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs). These are
objects that float at or below the surface in deep
water and provide a visual reference point in an
otherwise relatively featureless environment. FADs
may be free-floating or anchored, and may be a
simple bundle of palm fronds, or complex rafts
costing several thousand dollars. The U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) recently
sponsored an evaluation of commercial and locally
constructed FADs. They found a significant increase
in catch by artisanal fishermen in the vicinity of such
devices. Suitably installed FADs can improve the
economic return from small-scale fishing by reducing
the amount of time and fuel spent searching for fish,
as well as increasing the actual catch. The same
devices contribute to recreational fisheries that can
be important money earners in the tourism sector of
the economy.

Processing and Marketing. During the season for
migratory pelagic fish, fishermen often restrict their
catch to quantities that can be sold immediately. The

absence of cold storage and organized market
facilities frequently cause some villages to be glutted
with a surplus of fish, while others have none at all.
Successful development of pelagic fisheries will
increase the need for on-board as well as shore-
based cold storage; spoilage of large tunas and
mackerels can result in severe cases of food
poisoning.

Again, facility needs vary with local conditions.
A large central market with walk-in freezers may be
less appropriate than small ice makers and insulated
boxes that would allow fishermen to hold their catch
overnight. An increasing number of consumers are
willing to pay a higher price for a regular supply of
iced and cleaned fish in preference to crowding at a
beach in uncertain hopes of obtaining a "fresh" fish
that, in fact, may have been lying ungutted in the
sun for several hours. An incremental approach to
marketing and processing facilities can provide a
solution to immediate problems without making
large investments that may prove to be unsuitable
for local conditions. At the same time, regional
collaboration on market opportunities can help make
the best use of available resources.

Management. A viable fishing industry obviously
depends on something to catch, yet fisheries
development efforts typically consider resource
management as secondary to harvest and post-
harvest processes. Perhaps management is often
viewed as antagonistic to development because
traditional management tools are based largely on
restricting the activity of fishermen. Some restrictions
are undoubtedly necessary, but there is another
equally important challenge for management: to
develop means for enhancing these resources and
the natural processes on which they depend.

Montserrat has been engaged in one form of
resource enhancement for the last six years. An
artificial reef has been constructed from scrap
automobiles with assistance from the Caribbean
Conservation Association and the Canadian
government. Since its construction, local fishermen
report substantially increased catches from the area,
and are in favor of expanding the project. Similar
potential seems to exist for increasing the production
of spiny lobsters by providing suitable artificial
shelters. The question of "attraction versus
enhancement" continues to be debated by fisheries
biologists, but there is no question that the prospect
should be explored.

Mariculture. Artificial culture is another means for
enhancing natural production. Numerous projects
have been proposed to culture shrimp, spiny
lobsters, oysters, crayfish, conch, spider crabs, and a
variety of fishes. Some projects are wildly
impractical, while others hold promise but none
have demonstrated long-term economic benefits for
local economies. A recent report produced by the
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration concluded that "the primary
recommendation for mariculture development is to
proceed with caution." Despite the high-risk nature

continued on page 64

Caribbean Conch Culture

I he queen conch (Strombus gigas) has been a
high-protein staple in the West Indian diet since
pre-Columbian days, and, until as recently as the
1960s, was a major export of 16 Caribbean
countries. Today, these stocks are seriously over-
fished and depleted. There remain only two
marginal exporters Belize, and the Turks and
Caicos Islands. Of the many mariculture projects
tried, involving various species, the one for conch
is the most promising in the Caribbean and
Trade Winds Industries, Ltd. (TWI), of the Turks
and Caicos is the pioneer in this effort.

Nature can be harsh, even in what appears
to be a tropical paradise. It can be particularly
harsh to the larval stage of marine invertebrates,
such as the queen conch, which suffers larval
mortalities of greater than 99 percent. But what if
the conch could be protected from predation in
its early developmental stages, and brought to
maturity in a protected environment?

To answer this question, several staff
members of PRIDE (Foundation for the Protection
of Reefs and Islands from Degradation and
Exploitation), a non-profit organization in the
Turks and Caicos Islands created by Virginia
native and Annapolis graduate Chuck Hesse,
founded TWI as a potentially profit-making
adjunct. Since its inception in 1 984, TWI has
developed and operated a commercial conch
hatchery, based on research begun under the
auspices of PRIDE in 1 980, when six conch larvae
were successfully brought through
metamorphosis (one survived to maturity). Today,
it is a well-rehearsed routine.

The crescent-shaped egg masses they
are 4 to 6 inches long of the queen conch are
gathered from a nearby reef and brought to the
hatchery complex at Leeward-Going-Through, on
the island of Providenciales. Here, the
microscopic larvae 10 will fit into a single drop
of water are hatched and tended until, at 3
weeks, they metamorphose into pin-head-size
baby conch. The tiny conch are transferred to
cages in shallow, in-shore pools, where they are
fed on the algae, Laurencia, which is also grown
by TWI. It takes 3 to 4 years to complete
"growout" (that is, bringing the juvenile conch to
maturity), and it takes 2 or 3 mature conch to
produce a pound of meat. At the end of its 1 986
season, TWI had an estimated 6 million conch in
various stages of development.

Because of the time it takes to bring a
queen conch to maturity, TWI is only just
beginning to come "on line" as a commercial
venture; until now, they have been selling young
conch as "seed-stock" to other Caribbean

Diver tags one of 400 broodstock conch that graze a
2-acre pasture surrounded by protective netting on
Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands. (Photo
by Andrew Dalton)

countries, to replenish those in the wild. Soon,
they hope to start exporting conch and thereby
relieve the pressure that has so depleted the
naturally occurring stocks. Eventually, TWI hopes
to have its own conch meat processing facility.
TWI has pioneered the development of
commercial conch farming. In the words of TWI
president Chuck Hesse, "the company has a
juvenile conch growout system that produces 90
percent survival in post-larval conch on natural
algal foods." Conch is "the ideal tropical animal"
to raise at sea because it is easily contained, and
is far cheaper to feed than the carnivorous lobster
or shrimp. Also, there exists a large, ready-made
market for it with a rapidly declining natural
supply. Hesse concludes: "We now have a
mariculture grow-out business that can be set up
in over 20 Caribbean and Latin American

countries.'

P. J. Buehler

Traditional Fishir

Outboard engines are one of the few innovations of artisanal
fishing technology in the last three centuries.

Steep rocks and rough seas are home to a Dominican c I

All photos by
Sandra T.
Goodwin.
copyright.

Fish-aggregating devices ready for deployment.

Small boats used on St. Kitts and elsewhere limit the size and
number of traps that can be set or recovered during one trip.

Hauling a traditional fish trap off the Dominican Republic.

r the Caribbean

ip near surface, Dominican Republic.

Willing hands haul boat on St. Kitts in hope of a few fish.

Blowing conch shell on St.
Kitts; the traditional signal of
a man with fish to sell.

al fish market on St. Kitts: Many buyers for few fish.

The fishing fleet at sunrise, Pedernales, Dominican Republic.

Species Names

I o clearly identify the fish species mentioned in
this article, a list of common names and species
names follows:

Dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus)

Kingfish (Scomberomorus cavalla)

Wahoo (Acanthocybium solanderi)

Ocean Car (Tilosaurus crocodilus)

Croaker (Micropogon undulatus)

Sea Trout (Cynoscion regalis)

Catfish (Blachyplastystoma vaillant)

Porgy (Stenotomus caprinus)

Herrings (Clupeidae)

Anchovies (Engraulidae)

Sardines (Sardinella sp.; Harengula sp.)

Shrimp (Penaeus sp.)

Flying Fish (Hirundichthys affinis)

Swordfish (Xiphias gladius)

Conch (Strombus gigas)

Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus)

Oyster (Crassostrea sp.)

Spider Crab (Mithrax spinosissimus)

of existing mariculture technology, the potential
benefits warrant exploration through well-designed
pilot projects. Particularly promising are culture of
77/ap/a (a freshwater African food fish favored by
aquaculturalists because it is prolific, very adaptable
to a variety of conditions, and does well in seawater),
shrimp, and finfish using floating cage techniques
developed in Martinique.

The potential of Caribbean fisheries relies
heavily on coral reefs, mangrove forests, salt ponds,
and estuaries. But these resources are limited and
subject to growing impact from human activity.
Simply leaving the resources alone is not a solution:
it is imperative that they be used for economic
development. Because such development also
depends on the quality of natural resources, it is
increasingly clear that development must be
integrated with resource protection. Economic
development and protection of natural resources are
not alternative options; they are mutually dependent
necessities.

understanding extends beyond fishermen to farmers
whose land management practices and use of
chemicals affect coastal fish habitats; to restaurateurs
whose refusal to purchase undersized lobsters and
conch could discourage the harvest of juveniles; to
developers whose sewage disposal and beach use
arrangements can drastically alter natural fish
nurseries; and to tourists whose repeated forays can
cause major destruction to coral reefs. Many of the
activities and processes associated with fisheries are
invisible, and a strong agricultural tradition has
caused public attention to focus elsewhere. But
widespread understanding and appreciation of the
importance of fisheries and their linkages to other
systems are absolutely necessary for Caribbean
nations to achieve full benefit from their living
marine resources.

Mel Goodwin is Caribbean Program Manager (or the South
Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, Charleston, South Carolina,
and is fisheries advisor to the government of Saint
Christopher-Nevis.

Selected References

Berleant-Schiller, R. 1981. Development proposals and small-scale

fishing in the Caribbean. Human Organization 40:221-230.
Gibbons-Fly, W., C. McClean, and R. Schmeid. 1987. Fisheries and

mariculture resources. In Caribbean Marine Resources, ed. M. H.

Goodwin, pp. 31-48. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Agency for

International Development.
Goodwin, M. H., M. Orbach, P. Sandifer, and E. Towle. 1985. Fishery

Sector Assessment for the Eastern Caribbean. U.S. Agency for

International Development contract no. 38-0000-C-00-501 1 .

St. Thomas, U. S.V.I.: Island Resources Foundation.
Sfeir-Younis, A., and G. Donaldson. 1982. Fishery Sector Policy Paper.

Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.
Wolf, R. S., and W. F. Rathjen. 1974. Exploratory fishing activities of

the UNDP/FAO Caribbean Fishery Development Project, 1965-

1971 : A summary. Marine Fisheries Review 36:1-8.

Public Involvement. Fishermen logically should be
part of fisheries development, but often are involved
only after projects are well under way. More projects
now involve fishermen early in the planning stage,
and include activities that address immediate
concerns of fishermen, as well as long-range
development objectives. A fisheries development
project in St. Kitts, for example, has established a
fishing gear supply and outboard engine-repair
service, along with vessel improvement and
exploratory fishing activities.

Because fisheries are interrelated with other
natural resources, the need for involvement and

Intermediate Technologies

for Small-Scale Fishermen

in the Caribbean

by Daniel O. Suman

In the Third-world countries, there are about 15
million small-scale fishermen employing traditional
methods of fishing, and a comparable number of
people involved in preservation and distribution. In
the Caribbean, more than 60,000 small-scale
fishermen exploit marine resources. For the families
of these people and many others, fish caught by
traditional methods represent the major source of
protein.

As a Fellow of the Board on Science and
Technology for International Development (BOSTID)
of the National Research Council, Washington, D.C.,
I conducted a study on intermediate technologies
that could benefit small-scale fishermen in
developing countries. The report, Fisheries
Technologies for Developing Countries (in press, and
available from BOSTID in 1988), is global in scope,
describing new fishing technologies throughout the
world. The material applicable to the Caribbean has
been extracted for this article.

Artisanal Fisheries

Caribbean artisanal fisheries primarily exploit reef
and inshore species, such as jack, barracuda, herring,
grouper, cattish, triggerfish, pompano, shark, grunt,
shrimp, lobster, crab, and queen conch. With a few
exceptions, there is minimal fishing in deeper waters.
These fisheries are characterized by low cash
income and minimal-input management. The
fishermen use traps, handlines, and beach seines to
catch species near reefs. Investment in equipment is
generally low, and a fisherman's wealth is usually
measured in terms of his fishing gear. This is usually
less than optimal, subject to constant and rapid
deterioration, and sometimes total loss. These
fishermen also face other obstacles that make it
difficult or impossible to improve their fishing
methods, and rise above their marginal standard of
living. Government policies often concentrate
resources on modern commercial fisheries, thereby
limiting access of the traditional fishermen to credit
and markets. Moreover, they are at a disadvantage
when competing for limited fish stocks with the
more efficient fishing technology of the modern
sector. In addition, in many reef and near-shore

areas, pollution and over-exploitation lower
productivity even further.

Among the other limiting factors are
inadequate processing facilities, which increase post-
catch losses and limits the range of marketing. The
decreasing availability of high-quality hardwood in
many coastal areas is an obstacle to the construction
of traditional fishing vessels. Moreover, the
replacement of sail technology by outboard motors
has been a drain on scarce economic resources, and
often has not been cost-effective.

Under some circumstances, intermediate and
relatively inexpensive technologies could help
fishermen surmount some of their problems.
Successful adaptation of a technology to a new
situation implies that it solves a specific problem,
does not generate social or economic tensions, is
economically feasible, and is acceptable to the
community. Recognizing that there are no universal
answers, the BOSTID study details fishing
technologies that have found successful application
in specific regions and demonstrate potential for
adaptation in other settings. Many of these
intermediate technologies have been developed or
tried in the Caribbean.

Fishing Boats

Alternative boat construction materials may
substitute for high-quality hardwoods and provide
advantages of strength and light weight. The Woods
Hole, Massachusetts-based Ocean Arks International
community development project has devised a
system in Costa Rica for fabricating composite panels
of epoxy and locally available "scrub" woods, such
as the South American softwood, Baromalli
(Catostemma commune). These pre-fabricated
panels, in turn, are used in the construction of a 32-
foot, sail-driven fishing trimaran, the "Ocean Pick-
up" (Figure 1). This vessel is beachable, rowable, fast,
and can carry 1,500 pounds of iced fish. It has
successfully fished with traps, gillnets, longlines, and
trolling lines.

Plastic tubes, ferrocement, and fiberglass all
have been used successfully to construct traditional
hull designs in Third World fisheries. In the Eastern

Figure 1. The Ocean Pick-up, developed by Ocean Arks International, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The vessel is designed for
easy construction using prefabricated panels of composite materials. (Photo by Nancy lack Todd)

Caribbean, fiberglass-reinforced plastic is used to
sheath traditional wooden boats, thus significantly
extending their lifetimes. Ferrocement has become a
favorite construction material for Cuban boats; the
shipyards of their Naval Projects and Technology
Center have designed and produced more than
1,000 ferrocement boats, including those designed
for shrimp-trawling and longline fishing. The Yamaha
Company of Japan, active in developing African
fiberglass fishing canoes based on traditional boat
designs, is about to launch a fishing canoe designed
for Caribbean small-scale fisheries.

Small fishing boats with outboard motors are
common sights throughout the Caribbean. Not only
are the vessels usually overpowered, but the high
cost of the motors, fuel, and repairs are great
liabilities. Alternatives to the gasoline outboard
motor are being explored in many Third World
areas. Despite their high initial costs, diesel inboard
motors could be cost-effective for some Caribbean
artisanal fleets. Honduran fishermen from the Bay
Islands have adopted reliable, economical inboard
motors in their fishing canoes. Some small-scale
fisheries are rediscovering sail to assist engines, or as
the principal means of propulsion saving fuel and
reducing operating costs.

Fishing Methods

There are numerous fishing technologies that could
be adopted by artisanal fisheries. Among these are

mechanization of hauling, modernization of
longlines, trolling with multiple lures, attracting fish
with lights, and pair-trawling by two small boats.
New fishing arts could tap offshore resources or
underutilized species and, in addition, permit the
small-scale fishermen to compete more effectively
with the industrial fishing sector.

Octopus and squid are both underutilized
resources that show high potential in the Caribbean.
Less than 5 percent of the continental shelf from
Venezuela to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico is
exploited for octopus, but in eastern Venezuela, the
octopus fishery is highly developed. Trawling is the
predominant octopus fishing method, but traditional
pots (artificial caves where the animals seek refuge)
are still deployed. These are made from old tires cut
into sections, pinned shut, and hung from longlines
(Figure 2). The Cuban Fisheries Ministry has
developed a hemispheric pot made of clay with a
small opening at the bottom for the animals. Thus,
no light penetrates into the pot during hauling. In
Mexico, empty conch shells have been attached to
lines and dragged slowly over the bottom,
successfully capturing octopus. Small fishing vessels
could simply use light arrays and hand-operated
jigging reels to fish for squid, a common fishing art in
Japan.

Fishing with light is not common in the
Caribbean, but might find successful application.
"Tight lining," a term used in Tobago for a variation

of light fishing, involves directing a strong light into
the water from an anchored boat. The squid, jack,
sardine, and balao that are attracted are scooped up
and used as bait to catch snapper, kingfish, and
shark.

Longlines unwatched lines with multiple
hooks attached may be placed either horizontally
or vertically in the water, float on the surface or just
off the bottom, drift, or be anchored. This fishing
technology originated in Cuba, and has the
advantage of being economical and requiring no
mechanization to set or recover the line. It is
excellent for shark, another underutilized resource,
and may encourage fishing farther offshore. The
introduction of light-emitting lures, detachable
branch lines, and multiple hooks per branch are
recent advances.

Many variations of fish traps (pots) exist
throughout the region with spiny lobsters and
shallow reef fishes, such as snapper and grouper, the
common targets. The traps are ideal for the coral-
reef fishing grounds that might damage trawl nets.
Traditionally, traps were made of cane or bamboo
fibers, but today marine mesh and chicken wire are
increasingly common. West Indian or Antilles traps
have curved surfaces and are shaped like a single or
double "Z" with two or four opposing entrances.
Entry funnels are turned down to prevent fish from
escaping. Cuban box or cylindrical crab traps are
made of wire and lined with mangrove boughs to
provide attractive shade and shelter, and are run on
a "train" or longline of 50 to 60 traps, so as to
decrease loss and facilitate recovery. Recent trap
innovations include "pop-ups" or timed-release
floats that conceal the traps and reduce poaching,
theft, or cut-off floats.

Larger trap nets, or weirs, are used in shallow
shelf areas of the Caribbean. A nylon-mesh wing
intercepts the migration path of fish or crabs. A
second circular wing prevents escape and directs fish
through a tunnel toward a collecting corral.

Figure 2. Octopus pots in Venezuela are made from sections
of old tires that are pinned shut and hung from longlines.

Artificial Reefs and FAD's

Artificial reefs, made of brush bundles, tires, or
rocks, show promise as effective management tools
for traditional fisheries. By concentrating the fish,
they facilitate the catch, thus saving time and fuel.
An artificial reef has been built in Costa Rica of old
tires, and that country is considering a national
artificial reef program. Cuba's spiny lobster fishery is
based on the use of artificial reefs that are
constructed by laying mangrove boughs across two
parallel branches and stacking them like pallets. The
finished shelters have a useable lifetime of about one
year, and are used in waters 4 to 6 meters deep. The
shelters are fished monthly by divers who first shake
them, and then catch the fleeing lobsters in scoop
nets. More than 200,000 of these shelters are
deployed in the Gulf of Batabano with an annual
yield of 64,000 tons of lobster. Use of this same
technique has spread to the Quintana Roo coast of
Mexico.

Fish aggregating devices (FADs) attract fish
simply by providing a visual reference point in
otherwise relatively featureless surroundings. In
Barbados, bundles of sugar cane are attached to
vessels by lines. The bundles, along with a chum
basket of crushed fish, attract schools of flying fish
that are captured either by scoop nets or handlines.
In Jamaica, the Caribbean Z-trap (made of reed) is
buoyed at the surface and used to attract jack,
rainbow runner, and barracuda. In Trinidad and
Tobago, St. Kitts, Montserrat, and Puerto Rico, fish-
attractors made of durable plastics have recently
been used to increase the catch.

Sea Farming

Sea farming, or mariculture, in coastal waters offers
an alternative to overexploitation of marine
resources. Agricultural principles can be applied to
improve yields of selected marine algae,
invertebrates, and fish. A thriving commercial
cultivation of red algae (Eucheuma sp. and Gracilaria
sp.) has developed in Southeast Asian family farms.
Seaweed species of these genera are collected from
the wild in the English-speaking Caribbean islands.
The species of Gracilaria sp., collectively referred to
as seamoss, are used to thicken puddings and
flavored drinks. Thus, the potential for commercial
seaweed cultivation may exist in the Caribbean. A
pilot project for seamoss cultivation in St. Lucia
recognizes this potential. More than 600 meters of
monofilament line, anchored in the water by stakes,
serves as a surface for seamoss propagation and
growth.

Research conducted by the Smithsonian
Institution's Marine Systems Laboratory in the
Dominican Republic, Antigua, and the Turks and
Caicos Islands, suggests that algal turf mariculture
adjacent to coral reefs may be biologically feasible.
Algal turf, a mixture of red, blue-green, and green
algae, is grown on screens suspended in the water
and then fed to caged herbivores, such as Caribbean
king crab, welk, or parrotfish. The life cycles of these
animals have proved satisfactory for controlled
spawning and the juvenile growth.

Queen conch (Strombus gigas), a popular
seafood throughout the Caribbean, has been

overexploited, resulting in a depletion of its stocks.
To counteract this trend and rehabilitate depleted
areas, several organizations in the region are
attempting conch ranching procedures. Eggs are
collected in the wild, and larval stages cultivated in
hatcheries. The hatchery-reared juveniles are then
seeded into formerly productive habitats. Conch
hatcheries have been developed in the Netherlands
Antilles, Quintana Roo (Mexico), Puerto Rico,
Venezuela, Belize, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
In the latter country, an organization named PRIDE*
has successfully integrated small-scale fishermen into
its projects and promoted community development.

Crustaceans and mollusks are widely cultured
in the marine environment. In the Caribbean, culture
of the mangrove oyster has enjoyed the greatest
success. This invertebrate cements itself to the roots
of the red mangrove in the intertidal zone. Cubans
have introduced longline cultivation in estuaries
where oyster spawning occurs, thus permitting
increased production. Mangrove or concrete stakes
are placed at 3-meter intervals to form a 30-meter-
long line. Wooden poles or galvanized steel lines are
then suspended from cross beam to cross beam
above the high tide. Mangrove branches, hung from
the lines into the water, serve as a surface for oyster
spat attachment. An artificial collector with 24 "feet"
made of aluminum wire dipped in cement creates an
improved surface for spat attachment. The oyster
farm at Jujuru, Holguin, is Cuba's largest, with more
than 100,000 mangrove-branch collectors, each
producing 6 kilograms of oyster meat annually.

Another oyster culture project in Port Morant,
Jamaica, uses sections of tire sidewalls for spat
settlement (Figure 3). The sections hang from
monofilament line in the intertidal zone. Once spat
settlement has occurred, the tire substrate is restrung
on long lines and suspended from bamboo rafts.

Another form of mariculture uses cages to
protect fish from predators, insuring efficient food
conversion and simplifying the harvest. A pilot
project in Martinique grows finfish in large, revolving
cages that are supported on the bottom and half
submerged in water.

* The Foundation to Protect Reefs and Islands From
Degradation and Exploitation

Fish Preservation

More than a third of the world's fish catch is lost
after harvesting. Losses are particularly high in small-
scale tropical fisheries. Icing is prohibitively
expensive, and alternative preservation methods
need to be popularized. Fish may be salted by wet
or dry methods, once common in the Caribbean.
Numerous models of solar driers also have been
accepted in the tropics. They exclude insects and
produce high enough temperatures to reduce mold
and bacterial spoilage. Improved smokers, such as
the Altona Oven and Chorkor Smoker, are gaining
popularity in West Africa, but have yet to establish a
foothold in the Caribbean.

Limitations to Technology Introduction

Any introduction of technology must be sensitive to
the complete environment of the fishermen. Prior to
the adoption of a new fishing technology, the living
resources to be exploited should be identified and
assessed. Their temporal and spatial distributions,
population dynamics, behavior, and life histories
should all be known. The impact of the new
technology on fish stocks must be determined so
effective management strategies can be
implemented and enforced.

Careful cost-benefit analyses, feasibility
studies, and pilot projects must be undertaken to
insure that increased capital, operating, and
maintenance costs are balanced by an increased
catch translatable into increased profit. If a region is
already overfished, the benefits from new
technologies may be elusive. As many coastal waters
in the Caribbean now have serious overfishing
problems, new technologies should not be thought
of as a panacea.

The cultural intricacies of a society must be
clearly understood if technologies are to be
successfully introduced. If not compatible with the
managerial level or social organization of a
community, a technology is doomed to failure. The
negative social implications of the new technology
(income disparities, increased unemployment,
power shifts in the community) must be carefully
considered.

If fishing technologies are to be successfully
adapted by small-scale fishermen, these people must
be directly involved in the prior planning and
decision-making. Moreover, they must be convinced
of the innovation's potential for success, economic
feasibility, and harmony with the local environment
and society.

Daniel O. Suman is Director of the International
Environmental Studies program at World College West,
Petaluma, California, and a Visiting Investigator in the
Chemical Oceanography Department at Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution.

Figure 3. In Jamaica, strips of tires serve as the substrate for
mangrove oyster spat attachment. These collectors are hung
from wooden racks in coastal waters.

Caribbean Marine
Mass Mortalities:

A Problem With A Solution

By Ernest H. Williams, Jr., and Lucy Bunkley Williams

When the largest fish kill known in the Caribbean
occurred, the authors were in the Dominican
Republic as guests of the Chief of Fisheries.
Fortuitously, his guests were a fish-disease team.
Unfortunately, unknown reasons prevented him
from mentioning the fish kill to us. When he politely
put us on a plane to Puerto Rico, we had no idea we
were flying away from a massive fish kill and into a
barrage of questions from Puerto Rican and U.S.
agencies. Newspaper stories even reported that we
were bringing fish samples from the Dominican
Republic. This was only the beginning of the mass
confusion that left a major Caribbean-wide
catastrophe poorly studied and completely
unexplained.

Unfortunately, aquatic animal health in the
Caribbean has been characterized by chaos,
ignorance, and disorder. The great epizootics* of
commercial sponges, fishes, sea urchins, and corals
roar through the Caribbean like prairie fires-
bringing destruction, but shedding little light on their
cause. We remain as vulnerable as ever to these
highly publicized kills, and to equally important
localized and minor mortalities.

The IRS and The Sea

Disease normally acts like the Internal Revenue
Service of the marine environment. Disease extracts
a surprisingly standard tax off-the-top of most plant
and animal populations. A certain percentage of
organisms die, many of them do not grow as large or
as quickly as they could, and many experience

* Diseases that affect many animals of one kind at the same
time. "Epizootic" is the animal version of an "Epidemic."
Only humans have epidemics. Some newspapers reported
an "Epidemic of Urchins." That describes the very painful
condition of people wandering around with urchins stuck
all over themselves.

Millions of fishes perished in the Caribbean-wide mass
mortality. Many of them washed up onto Caribbean beaches.

reduced reproduction. Dying or sick organisms
simply disappear, and disease is all but invisible
and easily ignored. But, over the long term, these
losses are enormous. Diseases are a natural and vital
part of marine ecology. Food webs are well studied,
but little attention is paid to the equally intricate
parasite and disease/host webs.

Occasionally a disease rampages through the
marine environment, killing great numbers of
organisms. The recent die-off of dolphins along the
East Coast of the United States is an example. What
should we do about these episodes? Let us examine
two of the largest and most recent Caribbean-wide
disasters, the disorder in attempting to study and
solve these mortalities, and the future direction in
Caribbean aquatic animal health.

Disasters

The Fish Mass Mortality. The Caribbean-wide die-off
of fishes in August and September of 1 980 had all

the elements of a thriller. It started with the most
powerful hurricane recorded in the Caribbean;
caused an international conflict over ocean dumping
of chemical or radioactive contaminants; was blamed
for human deaths; caused the economic disruption
of most fish sales in the Caribbean; and provided
cover for murder. It was characterized by the
spectacle of listless, helpless fishes swimming up to
the surface or lying just beneath the surface. Even
the normally wary and elusive giant snappers and
other game fishes could easily be grabbed by hand.
For more than two months following hurricane Allen,
uncounted tons of dead and dying fishes washed
onto beaches, filled the bellies of humans and other
predators, or sank unheralded into the depths.
Anecdotal accounts of fishes that could not be held
alive by previously established methods, and odd
behavior in wild and captive fishes, suggests that
fishes that survived the mortalities were "sick" for
three to four additional months.

How does a whole ocean basin turn
inhospitable to the fishes that live in its depths? What
can keep so many fishes dying for two months and
sick for months longer, over such a vast area? A
monstrously important marine process? We do not
know. We would not have believed that such a
process could occur. We suspect that a Caribbean-
wide physical process (or a series of processes)
generated by hurricane Allen directly, or indirectly
stressed the fishes (possibly by upsetting the
plankton ecology of the region and increasing the
abundance of toxic organisms). The fishes resistance
against parasites and diseases broke down, and they
succumbed to the common secondary* pathogens
that are always on, in, or around them. Whatever the
"monster" was, when the next great Caribbean

* Secondary pathogens do not harm hosts unless the host
defenses are reduced by other stresses. They are the "back
shooters" of the disease world.

Black longspined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) on a
Caribbean reef.

hurricane hits, it may be released again. We hope
that next time it occurs we are ready to understand
this phenomenon.

Black Urchin Plague. In 1982, the black, long-
spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) was probably
the most abundant, large animal in the Caribbean.
Untold billions munched algae and covered the
bottom in dark, prickly mats. This urchin may have
effectively regulated the environment of the coral
reef something man cannot begin to do. Man, in all
of his collective might, could not have killed this
urchin. Then along came a little pathogen and blew
99 percent of the urchins away. In the year it took
the disease agent to spread through the Caribbean
and subtropical Western Atlantic, the urchins were
all but gone. The time from the first sign* of this
disease in an area, to the utter dissociation and
death of the urchins, was little more than two days.
The typical signs (the few times they were recorded)
were almost what you would expect had someone
poured a powerful, concentrated acid on the
urchins. This incredibly destructive disease makes
the victims dissolve almost before your eyes. The
pedicellaria (small, tube-shaped feet between the
spines) stopped cleaning sediment and debris off the
top of the urchins; spine control (for example,
turning spines toward a disturbance) was lost; spines
began to fall out, littering the bottom; and
eventually, sections of the test (shell) fell apart.

This disease was first noticed off the
Caribbean coast of Panama, and followed the main
current patterns around the Caribbean. If anyone
had wished, and had been prepared, they could
have chased it, caught it, studied, and solved the
mystery of this disease. Since this agent is so virulent,
so host specific, and survives so well in seawater, it
may be a spectacular virus that attacks the
integument (outer layer) and spine musculature of
the urchins. The "virus" is now spread all over the
tropical and semi-tropical western Atlantic. The
number of virus particles generated in destroying
and replicating in billions of urchins is truly mind
boggling.

This primary** pathogen either evolved from a
more benign form (we are seriously degrading our
near-shore and reef environment, and the microbes
change more rapidly than the multicellular animals),
or was imported. A disease of a Pacific black
longspined urchin (Diadema mexicanum) might do
little damage to its original host population because
of natural host defenses, but an Atlantic population
of hosts with no resistance, might succumb to it as a
plague. The narrow isthmus of Panama is an easy
location for an inadvertant transfer of a pathogen of
this kind.

* "Sign" of a disease is like a "symptom" in humans.
Symptoms are vocalized by a patient, signs are observed.
No matter what question you ask an urchin, the most it will
do is waggle its spines.

** Primary pathogens kill without any help from stress or
fortuitous circumstances. They are the "Professional Killers"
of the disease world.

Coral Reef 'Bleaching' Peril Reported

L^o/ors are fading fast from Caribbean coral
reefs. They are being replaced by white blotches,
visible even from shore on some reefs* Stony
corals (Coelenterata: Scleractinia), fire corals
(Milleporina), gorgonians (Corgonacea), sea
anemones (Actiniaria), zoanthids (Zoanthidea),
and sponges (Porifera: at least two orders) are
losing their brown-green colors. Some are turning
completely white, as if soaked in household
bleach thus (he term "bleaching."

After we submitted the adjacent article
about mass mortalities, another mass mortality
monster reared its ugly head. This one is not
looking for a few sticky urchins (1983-84) or
some fishes (1980), it is after the very basis for
inshore marine life in our tropical and subtropical
seas the coral reef.

The white color is due to the loss of the
symbiotic, single-celled algae zooxanthellae that
normally live within the tissues of the marine
animals listed previously. Many kinds of severe
stress cause these animals to expel the algae from
their systems. Divers in Puerto Rico and the
Florida Keys, just before the bleaching was noted,
described massive clouds of shed zooxanthellae
blotting-out the visibility around the reefs down
to a depth of 6 feet.

The photosynthetic zooxanthellae
normally provide added nutrition, and the loss of
this symbiont reduces the coral's ability to
compete with other plants and animals. Without
zooxanthellae most corals are white, but some
show delicate colors that are otherwise hidden by
the overpowering brown-green colors of the
zooxanthellae.

Bleaching has been observed previously in
the western Atlantic in isolated instances, but the
present event is far more extensive than ever
before recorded. As of 25 October 7987, affected
animals have been observed for 6 to 15 weeks in
Puerto Rico, Mona Island, the Dominican
Republic, Haiti, Cuba, the Cayman Islands,
Jamaica, the U. S. and British Virgin Islands, the
Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, the Florida Keys,
and the Flower Garden banks off Texas. The
bleaching appears to be spreading both
geographically and in extent with animals
affected from the surface to 200 feet
(approximately the full depth range in which
zooxanthellae occur).

The bleachings may be caused by
unusually high temperatures, which have been
reported in many areas; by increased ultraviolet
radiation possibly due to ozone depletion, or by
secondary pathogens after physical stress (as was

* Civilian satellite photographs cannot distinguish patterns
smaller than 10 meters across (33 feet).

Star coral, Monastera annularis, one of the most
important reef-building corals in the Atlantic. An
almost totally bleached colony of star coral about 4
feet high with normal colony at right. (Photo taken in
35 feet of water on Enrique Reef, La Parguera, Puerto
Rico, by Jack Morelock)

suggested for the fish mass mortalities); or by
some combination of these. Disease (unless a
disease of the zooxanthellae) appears unlikely to
be the primary cause, as does sediment damage.

The Caribbean Aquatic Animal Health
Laboratory is attempting to document the
geographic extent, timing, species affected and
other details of this phenomenon by circulating a
questionnaire; and making the data quickly
available, in up-dated summaries, to all interested
parties.**

Lucy Bunkley Williams,
and Ernest H. Williams, Jr.

** Summaries and questionnaires are available by writing
the authors at Department of Marine Sciences, University
of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico 00708, or by
telephoning (809) 899-2048, or 899-1078.

Signs of the Black Sea Urchin Plague. From left to right:
Healthy, loss of spines, test dissociation, and death.

The 1 percent of the urchins that survived
probably carry the Black Urchin Plague agent. With a
little luck, determination, and money, this virus
might still be isolated and studied.

Disorder

The Fish Mass Mortality, and Mass Confusion.

During the Carribean-wide fish kills, in most
locations, samples were either taken too late or not
at all. All investigations and collections were seriously
delayed because of confusion over who should
study what, and what agencies should examine
samples. The seriousness and extent of the mortality
was not fully realized until the event was almost
over. However, some fish samples were sent to the
United States, Venezuela, and other Caribbean
countries. Unfortunately, many analyses cannot be
performed on preserved or long-dead samples. Few
field examinations on freshly dead or dying fishes
were made (in fact, fishes were actually denied to
local researchers so that samples could be sent to
distant "experts"). The kill, we know, was not caused
by chemical pollutants. However, the oceanographic
community, it would seem, left a monumental
marine process virtually unstudied. Whatever
happened was a single and unified process over an
entire ocean system, damaging many species and
numerous individuals. To meet this menace next
time, we must have some organization in place.

Much Reporting About Nothing. Ironically,
since chemical pollutants were the only thing ruled
out as the cause, a noted chemical oceanographer,
Donald K. Atwood, brought together interested
Caribbean marine researchers in an ad hoc
symposium at the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries
Institute Meeting in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, in
November 1 981 . The accounts of the fish kill were
largely anecdotal, and the parasite data inconclusive.
Discussions, not surprisingly, found each specialist
predicting their interest as the possible villain.
Planktologists promoted subtle shifts in plankton
ecology; physical oceanographers, temperature

shocks due to isotherms; and parasitologists,
suffocation due to gill protozoans. Almost everyone
concluded that too little information was available to
assign a definite cause. While no agent could be
agreed upon, the need for future coordinated
investigation was strongly emphasized. A report from
this meeting was compiled and printed by Atwood
(see references), and a committee of nine fisheries
and disease experts, representing five Caribbean
countries was formed, with the first author of this
article as chairman.

Great Plan, No Action. The United Nations
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission's
Sub-commission for the Caribbean and Adjacent
Regions (IOCARIBE) agreed to support a meeting of
our fish kill committee as the "IOCARIBE Steering
Committee for Regional Contingencies for Fish Kills."
The meeting was held on 25 to 29 October 1982, in
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. We formed a plan to train
existing local scientists from each Caribbean country
with workshops at nine existing Caribbean labs; to
organize a center for the coordination of information
and investigation at one of six Caribbean facilities
already possessing the necessary equipment and
personnel; and to provide a detailed investigation
and documentation manual for fish kills. We stopped
short of recommending fish kill investigation teams
and/or fish kill research facilities, to keep the
proposal from becoming too costly, and because
some members of the Committee felt such a team
could seldom be made available in time. The
proposal was made to IOCARIBE in a 20-page
Summary Report (see references) immediately after
the meeting. During the Second Session of
IOCARIBE in Cuba, 8 to 13 December 1986, the Fish
Kill Committee Report was endorsed and funding
was recommended. A suggestion also was made to
expand the proposal to cover all mass mortalities,
and not just fishes. To date no action has been
taken.

Urchin Plague Data Lacking. Caribbean
scientists were no better prepared for this epizootic
than they had been for the last. While the fish
incident killed fish during a two-month period, the
urchin disease quickly washed over each area within

6/ack longspined sea urchin (Diadema antillarurrO tests after the Black Urchin Plague. (Photo by Vance Vicente)

days, leaving almost all of the urchins dead, and the
biologists flabbergasted.

Few investigations were made on this
mortality. Haris Lessios and others at the
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama
collected mostly informal and incidental accounts of
the black urchin plague. In a report that appeared in
Science, in October 1984, they surmised that the
agent responsible for this plague was a water-borne
pathogen that was carried throughout the Caribbean
by prevailing currents.

More Urchins? During a SCUBA dive in one

of our routine study areas off Puerto Rico, we
stumbled onto a die-off of the large, longspined
seabiscuit urchins (Astropyga magnifica). The signs of
the kill were strikingly similar to the Black Urchin
Plague! Even though we knew little about urchins,
we contacted local and international urchin experts,
documented the kill, and reported it, along with
another local urchin kill (Eucidaris tribuloides), in the
Bulletin of Marine Science (see references). As a
result, people began calling, writing, and talking to us
about urchin kills all over the Caribbean. Information
exists, although an effective recording system does
not.

A parasitic isopod (Anilocra haemuli) on a conie
(Epinephelus fulvusj (grouper) in the Bahamas. (Photo by
L. B. Williams)

Red Tilapia (Tilapia spp. hybrid) being raised in seawater
cages. (Photo by L. B. Williams)

Dead Fish Smell. Fish kills attract more
attention than urchin and other invertebrate kills.
Not only are fish of more direct economic interest to
humans, they also tend to float, bloat, and generally
make an unmistakeable nuisance. But, very few of
these kills are ever reported. A series of large fish
kills that occurred off the coast of Venezuela were
reported in local newspapers, but along with a large
kill of coastal fishes in Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands two years ago, they went scientifically
unrecorded. Smaller kills occur quite frequently.
Although most Caribbean governments attempt to
investigate fish kills, they usually lack the necessary
training and equipment.

Diseases of corals and sea fans (Corgon/a spp.)
have also received recent attention. A capability to
adequately record, report, and alert others about all
mass mortalities is urgently needed.

Direction

The needs outlined in the IOCARIBE Report, and
elsewhere, are as follows:

A Mass Mortality Investigation Manual that
describes standard field investigation
techniques any lab can conduct; more
complex techniques that most labs can
conduct; and the proper methods of
collecting, preparing, and sending all types of
samples.

Training Workshops for Local Scientists.

Report and Alert Center to provide a place to
report and document mortalities, and
maintain contact with a network of Caribbean
field scientists, a pool of mortality experts,
and experts for each group of animals.

A Field Investigation Team that can rapidly be
sent to mortality areas. Locally trained
personnel would be more desirable, but in
the beginning a mobile team may serve to
publicize the importance of the problem, and
to train locals during and after the kill. For
large-scale mortalities, an international team
may be essential.

A Research Center to diagnose samples, train
Caribbean scientists, attract research funding
to solve mortality problems, and to provide
research facilities for scientists investigating
Caribbean mass mortalities.

The Solution

Most people want to go to pristine Caribbean islands
with clean white beaches and clear, blue, sparkling
waters. Disease specialists are attracted to beaches
covered with tons of dying, smelly, slimy marine life,
and enjoy trying to determine what happened, and
why. Each horrible mess represents a fascinating
puzzle. The solutions will bring us better and
healthier fishery products, management tools for
fisheries, healthier and more economic aquaculture
products, the possibility of a better understanding of
ocean processes, and insight into combating present
and future human diseases.

To fill this need in p uerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands, an aquatic animal health laboratory
has been started by the University of Puerto Rico,
the Department of Natural Resources of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Division of Fish

A tumor (dermal fibroma) on a redband parrotfish (Sparisoma
aurofrenatum) from the Hydrolab Undersea Habitat site in
Salt River, St. Croix. (Photo by L. B. Williams)

^^^ i n ^^-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^^^^^

Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) tower/ng over soft corals and sea fans (Corgonia spp.j. A reef top scene at Cane Bay, St. Cro/x.
(Photo by L B. Williams)

and Wildlife of the Government of the U.S. Virgin
Islands, Sea Grant of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands, the Caribbean Fisheries Management
Council, and Auburn University. Support is also
being sought from international agencies and from
individual Caribbean countries to eventually provide
regional, multiple country, or Caribbean-wide
services in aquatic animal health, and to form a
Center for Caribbean Aquatic Animal Health.

A Caribbean facility is urgently needed to
record, preserve, and broadcast information about
marine mortalities to accumulate the equipment,
facilities, and part of the expertise to investigate
mortalities, and to train Caribbean scientists and
conduct long-term research. A small step is being
made in what is hoped to be the proper direction.
Comments, suggestions, cooperation, and support
are welcomed.

Ernest H. Williams is Director of the new Caribbean Aquatic
Animal Health Laboratory, Executive Director of the
Association of Island Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean
(AIMLC), and Professor of Marine Parasitology in the
Department of Marine Sciences of the University of Puerto
Rico (DMS/UPR). Lucy Bunkley Williams is a Research
Associate in Aquatic Animal Health, and an Associate in
Marine Geology in DMS/UPR; she also is a part-time

Assistant Professor at the InterAmerican University in San
German, Puerto Rico; and is the Secretary-Treasurer of
AIMLC.

Acknowledgments

We thank Ms. Enitsa Vasquez and Ms. Vangie Hernandez of
the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands Sea Grant Project
for assistance with the illustrations.

References

Atwood, D. K. (ed.). 1981. Unusual mass fish mortalities in the

Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. 46 pp. Published and distributed

by the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Labs.,

NOAA, Miami, Florida.
Lessios, H. A., P. W. Glynn, and D. R. Robertson. 1983. Mass

mortalities of coral reef organisms. Science 222: 715.
Lessios, H. A., D. R. Robertson, and ). D. Cubit. 1984. Spread of

Diadema mass mortalities through the Caribbean. Science 226:

335-337.
Williams, E. H., Jr., R. R. Lankford, G. van Buurt, D. K. Atwood, J. C.

Gonzalez, G. C. McN. Harvey, B. Jimenez, H. E. Kumpf, and H.

Walters. 1982. Summary report of the IOCARBE steering

committee for developing regional contingencies for fish kills.

Report No. CARI/FK/-1/3, 20 pp. Paris: UNESCO.
Williams, L. B., E. H. Williams, Jr., and A. G. Bunkley, Jr. 1986.

Isolated mortalities of the sea urchins Astropyga magnifica and

Eucidaris tribuloides in Puerto Rico. Bulletin of Marine Science 38:

391-393.

Belize

by James H. W. Main

Delize is an example of the "other Caribbean." For
many, the Caribbean brings to mind images of green
islands with white, sandy beaches set into azure
seas. While this is partially true for the string of
islands arcing along the northeast and eastern
boundary of the Caribbean, the larger islands of
Puerto Rico, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic/
Haiti), Jamaica, and Cuba, are different in
composition and character. More different still are
the countries that border the southern and western
rim of the Caribbean. Because of their size,
population, and challenges, these countries are
important to any discussion of the region. Yet, many
readers might have difficulty naming them, or
locating them on a map. Belize is such a country.

Perhaps the greatest asset of Belize is its
marine environment. It has the second longest
barrier reef in the world (the longest being the Great
Barrier Reef of Australia, see Oceanus, Vol. 29,
No. 2). The reef extends 220 kilometers from the
Mexican border in the north to Sapodilla Cays in the
south. Along Ambergris Cay, Belize's tourism center,
the barrier reef is only a few hundred meters
offshore, whereas at the southern town of Placencia,

it is more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) offshore.
Behind the reef, and across the shallow coastal
waters dotted with approximately 450 sand and
mangrove cays, is the coastline fringed with
mangroves, and interrupted by numerous coastal
lagoons and creek systems. Looking inland, across
the coastal flatlands, lies the tropical lowland rain
forest. To the west rise mountains of granite and
limestone, serving as the origin for a series of short,
often estuarine, rivers.

In Belize, the coast and the inlands are closely
connected. Two of the world's most diverse and
most complex ecosystems the rain forest and the
barrier reef are found there.* These two systems
are linked by the rivers, the coastal waters, and the
mangroves.

Throughout the country, development and

Above, Carrie Bow Cay site of the Smithsonian Institution's
field station. (From Rutzler and Macintyre, 1982, Smithsonian
Contributions to the Marine Sciences No. 12)

* Other areas of the world where coral reefs and rain forest
occur in close proximity are, for example, in Indonesia, and
northeast Australia.

Belize, showing the barrier reef,
three offshore atolls, and sites
referred to in the text.

lslands

/ Carrie Bow /*-%
- / Ciy / ,'

/ ''

*Wee Wee / /Glovers

Cay t ,,'"' Reef

/ v CO

'/ \ 01

. ' \ >

Placencia " \^
<

x / Gladden Spit

Cockscomb
Basin

Snake Cays
Punta Gorda

- 1830'

- 1800'

-1730

-1700'

1630'

-1600'

8<3'00

8830'

8800'

8730

the economy are at the forefront. Agriculture (sugar,
citrus, bananas, others) is the biggest source of
revenue. Behind this comes tourism (snorkeling,
diving, and sport fishing) and fisheries. (Agriculture
and fisheries are primarily export-based.) Two out of
the three depend largely on the marine
environment.

With a few exceptions, Belize is not yet a full-
blown tourist area, and tourist services are generally
modest. Divers, naturalists, birdwatchers, and
archaeologists are common visitors. At present, the

country is known primarily for its diving and natural
history tours.

On the broader scale, Belize is a young,
developing country of 150,000 people. It has some
of the most sparsely populated areas in the world,
yet it has one of the highest birth rates. Today, more
than half of the population is under 1 8 years of age.
The government, operating under severe fiscal
constraints, is faced not only with population
concerns, but development pressures and
conservation interests.

History

Belize has a rich history and heritage. Beginning back
as far as 300 A.D., an exceptional Mayan civilization
flourished in the area a civilization that lasted more
than 1,000 years. Evidence indicates that the Mayans
used the coastal waters as fishing grounds, and the
coast and cays for trading posts, ceremonial centers,
and burial grounds.

The history and identity of Belize are closely
related to its forests. The first European settlement of
Belize was primarily for the cutting of logwood
(Haematoxylon campechianum), used for making
dyes. When the harvesting of logwood along the
coasts and accessible lagoons waned during the mid-
1 700s, the British began to export another species-
mahogany (Swietania macrophylla). The export of
these woods from then-named British Honduras
provided the basis for three centuries of British
settlement. Despite this use, the country's forests
remain healthy and nearly intact and in many areas
are true wilderness. In these forests, the jaguar the
third largest cat in the world is still abundant, and
roams relatively unmolested.

In the 1 7th Century, the coastal waters also
became a haven for pirates and buccaneers, who
looted Spanish and British ships. About this time, the
name "Mosquito Coast" was applied to the region.*

Geology

In geology, as with several other topics, there are
differences between the Caribbean most people are
familiar with, and the "other Caribbean." The smaller
islands of the Eastern Caribbean are basically the
tops of volcanoes formed as the Atlantic seafloor is
driven downward beneath the Caribbean Plate (see
page 42). These eastern islands are fairly young, in
geological terms, and range in age from 5 to 10
million years. While the islands are often ringed by
limestone and coral reefs, the predominant geology
is young and volcanic.

* The "Mosquito Coast" comprises a band approximately 40
miles (65 kilometers) wide that skirts the western rim of the
Caribbean Sea for about 225 miles. The name of the region
comes from its ancient Indian inhabitants, the Miskito or
Mosquito Indians.

The larger islands of the Greater Antilles
likewise are associated with an active plate
boundary. Their centers, too, are mountain ranges of
volcanic origin. Here, the landmass has been
increased by the accretion of deformed and
crumpled sediments scraped from the ocean floor.

Where Belize is situated, on the western rim,
the situation is different. Here, the geology is that of
a mostly passive, interior plate location. Evidence of
geologically-recent volcanic activity is absent, and
earthquakes are rare. Rather than the land being of
ocean-floor origin, the base is a continental-type
landmass, and old some 300 million years old.
During most of the Cretaceous period (100 million
years ago), much of the region was covered by the
ocean only the higher parts of the Maya Mountains
remained above sea level. In the shallow seas, thick
layers of marine limestone were deposited, with
erosion and re-deposition occurring through time.
Today, limestone is still being formed in the shelf
lagoon and barrier reef areas.

The formation of marine limestone is a
remarkable process: As sea level rises and falls, the
actions of small marine organisms result in the
buildup of enormous sedimentary platforms.

Individual coral animals grow slowly, and the
accumulation of their skeletons may take 10,000
years to form a reef. However, these reef-building
corals, together with other reef builders such as
green and red calcareous algae, snails, shellfish, and
others can produce a hundred tons of almost pure
calcium carbonate per square kilometer a year.
While corals are often thought of as the principal
reef-builders, the calcareous algae (Halimeda is an
example see Oceanus, Vol. 29, No. 2, page 43) are
major contributors of calcareous debris and "lime
mud." The coralline and algal debris and mud are
often consolidated into an open-textured kind of
"concrete" limestone.

As sea level rises, or the seafloor sinks, the
coral and algal reefs grow to maintain their optimal
distance below the surface (the growth depth is
limited to about 30 meters), and the carbonate-
producing chain of events continues.

As sea level is lowered, or land is uplifted, the
exposed limestone bedrock may develop into a karst

Sea Level

Suggested mode of
development of the Belize
continental margin. During the
opening of the Yucatan Basin,
rifted, trailing-edge plate
boundaries were formed in the
northwest Caribbean. Such
rifting produced fault blocks
(A), which subsided and were
covered with thick limestone
deposits (B). The high peaks of
these fault blocks formed the
base for features such as the
offshore atolls of Turneffe
Island, Lighthouse Reef, and
Glovers Reef. (Courtesy of
William P. Dillon, U.S.
Geological Survey, Woods
Hole, MA)

Belizean children, Hopkins Village. In the 1980 census, 50 percent of the population was under 18 years of age. (Photo by
Fred Dodd, International Zoological Expeditions)

(solution-formed) topography. As the tropical rains
and streams percolate through the soft and erodable
layers, or along joints and faults, a rugged vertical
topography, along with caves, underground streams,
and sinkholes, sometimes forms. If the land again
subsides, and/or sea level rises, some of these
systems become submarine caves complete with
stalactites and stalagmites.* In Belize, as in several
other locations with similar geology, some of these
submarine caves, and sinkholes, called "cat's eyes"
or "blue holes," are spectacular.

Some of these marine limestone formations
are of particular interest to petroleum geologists
because their porosity and solution cavities can form
reservoirs for oil. Since 1956, more than 45
petroleum test wells have been drilled in Belize, with
about 65 percent showing oil. R. Prasada Rao, Chief
Technical Advisor to the Belize Petroleum Office,
reports that exploration is continuing, and a few

* Stalactites are deposits of calcium carbonate (as calcite)
resembling an icicle, and hanging from the roof or sides of a
cavern. A stalagmite, looking like an inverted stalactite,
forms on the floor of the cave by the drip of calcareous
water.

wells are planned for 1988 but that to date, there
has been no commercial oil strike.

Fisheries

Fisheries management in Belize is faced with several
formidable and interrelated problems-
enforcement, assessment, and personnel all linked
directly or indirectly to the rather severe fiscal
constraints of the government.

Fisheries exports in 1982 totalled US$6.2
million, ranking second in export earnings after
sugar. The spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, with 1982
exports of 277 tons valued at US$5 million,
accounted for about 81 percent of export earnings.
The queen conch, Strombus gigas, with 143 tons
valued at US$668,000, accounted for 1 1 percent.

The success of Belize's export fishery is
largely attributable to the development of fishing
cooperatives. The cooperatives there are four
major ones, with a total of 12 secure export
markets, and collect, process, and package all
products for export. They also provide loans, ice for
the fishing boats, and other support. Aside from the
cooperatives, there are approximately 400
independent fishermen catching finfish for local

markets an important source of protein in the
Belizean diet.

Overall responsibility for the fishery is within
the Fishery Unit, contained within the Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. The Acting
Fisheries Administrator, Vincent Gillett, reports that
the lobster fishery is now operating just at, or very
close to, the sustainable yield, and that most lobster
is shipped to the United States. The conch fishery,
which peaked at 567 tons in 1972, is now one-fourth
that, and is probably in a depleted state and in
danger of overfishing.

Gillett describes that his office is "plagued
with requests to exploit all aspects of the marine
resources both the traditional fisheries, and those
outside the reef." On the other hand, he is faced
with an almost complete lack of survey or
assessment data on the resource itself, and on what
harvest it will support.

There are other factors. Even though Gillett
himself is a marine biologist, he laments the lack of
trained personnel. The educational system of Belize,
"is not now training fisheries scientists or
managers."* Lastly, even though Belize has fisheries
laws and regulations on the books, enforcement is a
major problem.** The Fisheries Unit has only one or
two small vessels, and few personnel. With only a
limited ability to patrol the coastal waters, Gillett
knows that there is illegal fishing, and that the
resource is, at times, being hit hard. It has been
reported that foreign poaching in southern Belizean
waters is the most serious problem affecting the
country's fisheries. When queried on this topic,
Gillett nods in agreement.

Development

Coca-Cola Foods has recently acquired a 196,000-
acre parcel in Belize some of which may be
developed for a citrus plantation and a concentrate
processing plant. It is clear that the government,
citizens, and conservationists of Belize want Coca-
Cola to be there. To Coke's credit, reports the
Rainforest Action Network Newsletter of last spring,
they have made many proposals toward a
responsible approach to their land-use plans and
possible citrus operation proposals that include
environmental impact studies, and set-asides of
wildlife preserves and sensitive habitats.

Another large corporation, Hershey
Chocolate, is involved in projects for cacao
production, supported by the Government of Belize
and the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID). Under this program, farmers are supplied
with seedlings, technical assistance, and a market.
This program, for example, brought the Blackshear
family from Texas, with the prospect of re-settling in

* Since this interview took place, a course in fisheries
science has been added to the curricula at Belize Technical
College.

** USAID has targeted enforcement as a primary goal of
their assistance program to Belize in the coming years.
Funds have been earmarked for training of personnel and
upgrading of the boats and equipment used in patrolling
the coastal waters.

Belize. One early morning, outside the Mopan Hotel
in Belize City, as the family, with backpacks, gear for
the "bush," and a local guide, stepped into their
rented Land Rover to inspect land in the north,
Blackshear explained, "We're from Texas. Belize is a
frontier. The Texas spirit will set well here."

Along the coast, development and change are
also occurring. Although the coastal lagoons and
mangrove swamps are easily regarded as
unnecessary wasteland, they, like the salt marshes
and wetlands of temperate climates, play an
important ecological role.

The coastal lagoons provide nursery and
feeding grounds for many near-shore fish species,
act as sinks for terrestrial run-off, supply abundant
nutrients to coastal waters, and provide habitat for
many species of wildlife, such as the manatee
(Jrichechus manatus), and crocodile (Crocodylus
acutus).

Mangroves (see article on page 16) are the
principal source of nutrients enriching coastal waters,
and like the lagoons, provide nursery and feeding
areas for coastal fish species, function as sediment
traps for estuarine waters, and act as a physical
buffer against marine storms.

The seagrass system is frequently connected
on the landward side to mangrove forests or fringes,
and on the seaward side to the coral reefs. These
marine grasses bind sediments and provide a stable
substrate for benthic organisms (animals and plants
living on the sea floor). The seagrasses also provide
food and shelter to the organisms that support
Belize's conch fishery. Shrimp and lobster also
depend on the seagrass beds as a foraging area for
food.

Lastly, coral reefs, like those in Belize,
together with the tropical rain forest, are described
as the richest biological communities on Earth. The
reef also provides protection against ocean swells,
supports Belize's lobster fishery, and attracts a
growing tourist trade.

The value of these coastal areas is increased
by the general hydrography of the Caribbean Sea. In
general, a relatively stable thermocline (an area of
rapid temperature change has the effect of creating
a boundary and "layering" the water column)
prevents mixing of the surface and deep waters. The
result is low nutrient levels in offshore surface
waters, and a limited fishery. The primary fishing
grounds, therefore, are in the more productive
coastal areas where a mixing of the water column
and recirculation of nutrients can occur.

Ivan Valiela, a professor in the Boston
University Marine Program at the Marine Biological
Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, describes
the link between the inland rain forest and the coast
as variable, requiring additional research. In general,
he says, rain forests are normally not "leaky," and so
release few nutrients to the rivers. The system is
thrown awry, however, when forests are cut and
land is cleared. One of the lesser-known
consequences of deforestation, aside from the
erosion and loss of the thin layer of fertile topsoil, is
the destruction of seagrass beds, mangroves, and
reefs through the choking effects of the river-borne
load of soil and silt.

It is these types of indirect effects that may be
the most important. Jacque Carter, a Research
Fellow with the New York Zoological Society
(NYZS), and active in both research and
environmental management in Belize, states: "The
greatest immediate threat to the reef environment is
not from the direct impact of overfishing or tourism,
but from rapidly expanding inland and coastal
agricultural and light industrial development,
particularly around Belize City and Dangriga. The
response of the reef ecosystem to external changes
resulting from sewage discharge, sedimentation, and
the release of chemical products associated with
industry and agriculture all of which are occurring
in Belize is generally a decrease in species
diversity, and an altered reef metabolism and
population structure."

Can development and the reef environment
co-exist? In 1980, coastal inhabitants comprised 43
percent of the nation's population. As in any country
where a high percentage of the population lives on
or near the coast, there are coastal issues and
problems. Major development projects include the
clearing of mangroves for industrial sites, housing,
ports, and recreational facilities. Dredging operations
sometimes result in the dumping of debris in
mangrove areas. Some coastal communities use
mangrove areas as dumping grounds for wastes.

Marine Field Stations

Research and education may provide some of the
answers. At present, there are only a small number
of marine field stations in Belize. The three examples
given here have basic research, applied research,
and education as their primary missions although
there is some overlap.

The Smithsonian Institution's station on Carrie
Bow Cay has been in existence since 1972, and
conducts a program of basic research in tropical
marine science (see page 24). It is the best-known
research facility in the country.

An applied research effort is conducted
through a joint effort of the Illinois Natural History
Survey, the Harbor Branch Oceanographic
Institution, and the Marine Sciences Center of the
State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook
at a small but vigorous facility on Ambergris Cay.
Under the sponsorship of USAID and the Belize
Fisheries Unit, research on the biology and rearing of
conch has been underway for several years (see also
page 61). Jack Sobel, a graduate student at SUNY,
and onsite Co-Director of the project, described that
the project is aimed at examining the feasibility of
rearing conch in a hatchery through the vulnerable
juvenile stages, up to a release size of 5 to 7
centimeters. The project includes an education and
training program, and involves local people in the
hatchery, the research, and the management of the
resource.

There are a number of programs and stations
whose missions are more education than research
oriented. One of these the dual facilities operated
by the Northeast Marine Environmental Institution
(NEMEI) of Monument Beach, Massachusetts-
typifies the enterprise and initiative characteristic of
much of what is taking place in Belize today.

The coral reef. (Photo by R. Sammon)

Paul A. Shave, NEMEI president, and a former
employee of both the Marine Biological Laboratory
and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and
his wife, Mary, with little money and lots of
gumption, have carved a base station out of the
jungle 5 miles from the mouth of the Sittee River.
They also have obtained a government lease on
Wee Wee Cay, a small cay about 5 miles offshore
from the river mouth, and halfway between the river
and the barrier reef. Construction of housing,
laboratory, and dock facilities on the cay is
scheduled to begin this winter. When the marine
facility is completed, students and naturalists can
study the lowland tropical forest, river, mangrove
swamp, lagoon, and coral reef environments. To
date, the Shaves have hosted high school and
college groups, professional organizations, and
researchers.

Tourism

Tourism ranks second to agriculture in foreign
exchange earnings. Clearly, Belize has great potential
for tourism development, and the reef offers diving,
fishing, sailing, and other activities.

Among the factors that make Belize attractive
is that it is one of the few English-speaking countries
south of the United States. There is also a growing
interest among travelers to visit lesser-known places
of the world.

However, tourism development requires an
infrastructure, facilities, and environments. A need to

At Ambergris Cay, the barrier reef lies only a few hundred
meters offshore from Belize's main tourism center (he town
of San Pedro. (Photo by I. Carter)

AMBERGRIS CAY

- San Pedro

Boca Ciega Lagoon

Marco Gonzales
Archaeological Site

Mangrove Cays

Hoi Chan
Channel

The Hoi Chan Marine Reserve. Created in May 1987, it is
Belize's second marine park. (Courtesy I. Gibson)

develop recreational facilities for foreign visitors as
well as for Belizeans themselves has focused
attention on a system of parks and reserves.

Hoi Chan Marine Reserve

Setting aside parks and reserves is one way to
balance conservation and development and in
Belize, a major milestone was recently experienced.
On May 2, 1 987, the Minister of Agriculture,
Forestry, and Fisheries, Dean Lindo, signed
legislation officially establishing the Hoi Chan Marine
Reserve. The new marine reserve, the second to be
established in Belize, is significant because it
represents a commitment to properly manage and
conserve Belize's barrier reef, and because it is seen
as part of the beginnings of a national parks system.

In economic terms, fishing and tourism are
the largest commercial activities along the reef. Both
have potential for economic development, and at
the same time, degradation of their most valued
asset the reef. There was almost unanimous
agreement as to the value of the reef, and the need
to protect it was felt to be particularly urgent for
areas near San Pedro on Ambergris Cay. With a total
of 25 hotels, most of them geared to SCUBA divers
and sportfishermen, San Pedro is the hub of the
tourist industry. The reefs near San Pedro have
already been exposed to heavy use, and show signs
of stress caused by overcollecting, overfishing, and
damage by anchors. Additional stress is caused by
dredge-and-fill operations and sewage output.
Additional development of the area is continuing.

The new Hoi Chan Marine Reserve is located
along the northern section of the reef, some four
miles southeast of San Pedro. A central feature of the
reserve is a natural break, or "cut" (the reserve takes
its name from the Mayan term for this cut) in the
reef. The cut contains striking coral formations, fish,
and other sea life. The 5-square-mile reserve
includes coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and
mangrove swamps. A Mayan site, now under
archaeological exploration, lies just outside the
northwestern boundary of the main reserve but
has been included, as a "satellite location," within
the defined reserve.

As envisioned, the reserve management plan
will address the issue of achieving greater economic
benefit from the reef, while at the same time
maintaining its integrity and value in the face of
expanding tourism, diving, fishing, and development.
There are a number of hurdles to achieving this goal.
For example, legislation adequately protecting
marine resources is not yet in place. There also is
some jurisdictional overlap between the various
government ministries in the administration and
management of marine and coastal resources.

To resolve problems of conflicts of use, legal
clarity, and administrative organization, a number of
interest groups are encouraging the government of
Belize to establish a single agency to oversee the
reef. The next step, then, will be toward establishing
a Belize Barrier Reef Authority, modeled after the
Australian Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
(GBRMPA) (see Oceanus, Vol. 29, No. 2, page 13).
By applying the Australian concept of zoning,
conflicting activities will be separated, areas will be

Belize City, showing the low coastline and river system characteristic of the western Caribbean. (Photo by I. Carter)

Reef fishes in a "cats eye," or little blue hole formed by a collapsed karst dome in the Hoi Chan Marine Reserve.
(Photo by I. Carter)

identified tor specific activities, and some areas will
be set aside and strictly protected.

As in Australia, the primary goal of the
Authority would be to provide for the protection,
sustainable use, and recreational enjoyment of the
reef. GBRMPA has demonstrated that a solution to
these diverse goals is possible. A draft marine park/
barrier reef management plan is now in preparation
by Janet Gibson, a Belizean active in conservation
efforts, and affiliated with the Belize Audubon
Society.

The financial underpinnings of these efforts
are illustrative of many of the conservation efforts in
the country. To date, almost all monies for studying
and establishing the park have come from outside
the country. Funds have been provided by
international agencies such as USAID, the World
Wildlife Fund, NYZS, the Massachusetts Audubon
Society, and others. These monies have been
directed through private environmental
organizations, such as the Belize Audubon Society,
which has played a key role in conservation efforts,
and subsequent park management throughout the
country; and to a lesser extent, government
agencies, such as the Belize Fisheries Unit. It is
hoped that charging user fees for the parks may
provide some funds for park operation, and that, in
time, the government may be able to commit some
funds to its park system.

Promise

Belize achieved independence in 1981. The country
is rich in history, culture, resources, and the
character of its people. It is poor in dollars. In some

ways at least, this example of the "other Caribbean"
stands today perhaps several decades behind the
"better-known" Caribbean. However, it looks to the
pressures and problems of this and future decades.
In facing, and meeting, these pressures, there is an
underlying interest in avoiding the mistakes that have
been made elsewhere. On this count, the future
holds both threat and promise.

lames H. W. Main is Assistant Editor of Oceanus, published
by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He visited
Belize in March of 1987, and is on the Board of Directors of
the Northeast Marine Environmental Institution.

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges support for this article
by Taca Airlines.

Selected Readings

Carter, Jacque. Exploring the Hoi Chan Marine Reserve. Animal

Kingdom. In Press.
Forsyth, A., and K. Miyata. 1984. Tropical Nature: Life and Death in

the Rain Forests of Central and South America. 248 pp. New York:

Charles Scribner's Sons.
Hartshorn, C. 1984. Belize: Country Environmental Profile. 151 pp.

Belize City, Belize: Robert Nicolait & Associates Ltd.
Levine, B. B. 1981. Abundance and scarcity in the Caribbean. Ambio

10(6):274-282.
Mosher, L. 1986. At sea in the Caribbean? In, Bordering on Trouble:

Resources & Politics in Latin America, eds. A. Maquire, and J. W.

Brown, pp. 235-269. Bethesda, Maryland: Adler & Adler.
Perkins, J. S. 1983. The Belize barrier reef ecosystem: An assessment of

its resources, conservation status, and management. 188 pp. New

York: New York Zoological Society.
Rodriquez, A. 1981. Marine and coastal environmental stress in the

Wider Caribbean Region. Ambio 10(6): 283-294.

Letter Writers

The editor welcomes letters that comment on
articles in this issue or that discuss other mat-
ters of importance to the marine community.

Early responses to articles have the best
chance of being published. Please be concise
and have your letter double-spaced for easier
reading and editing.

From Jamaica

Managing Marine Resources

by Jeremy D. Woodley

/Vlarine science in the Caribbean! The prospect of research in tropical environments was one of
the main reasons that I came to Jamaica, 20 years ago. Academic research is necessary and
desirable; it has brought me the greatest thrills and satisfaction. But when you are one of a small
number of scientists in a developing country beset with economic and environmental difficulties, it
begins to feel like a self-indulgent luxury. From a Caribbean viewpoint, the paramount problems of
Caribbean marine research relate to the management of marine resources. That, of course, is no
small field and many disciplines contribute to it; from geology and oceanography, through ecology,
physiology and behavior, to fisheries, aquaculture, economics, sociology and public relations!

Our marine resources are of three main kinds: populations of valuable organisms, the coastal
ecosystems whose productivity sustains them, and environmental amenities, such as good harbors,
clean beaches, and clear water. In Jamaica, increasing population and development have put
pressure on them all. Over-exploitation has greatly reduced accessible stocks of reef fishes, lobster,
and conch. Many coastal wetlands have been drained and destroyed. Coral reefs are suffering from
increased sedimentation in terrestrial run-off, and (I believe) from the ecological imbalance brought
about by over-fishing. Marine pollution from coastal towns is increasing. These all present problems
in coastal management to which, in a general sense, the solutions are already known. But their
application can be difficult and expensive, even in developed countries; there are additional
difficulties in under-developed ones.

Leaving these aside, for the moment, what are the purely scientific questions that need to be
answered? Inventory of our resources is incomplete. Most environmental monitoring is inadequate.
We need to know more about the life-histories of commercially important species. Our coral reef
fisheries include scores of species, many of which spend long periods as larvae in the plankton. But
we do not know enough about near-shore current patterns to predict their patterns of recruitment;
studies of inshore oceanography would be highly relevant to this and other problems, such as
pathways of pollution. We need to know more about other coastal processes, such as the transport
of carbonate sediments.

Tropical coastal ecosystems, such as coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, and their
neighboring watersheds, are complex. Much progress has been made in the last 30 years toward
understanding their ecology, but we need to know more. We need to understand and quantify the
relationships between the systems, and how these affect their productivity. Further, although we
begin to understand how various factors affect each community, they are complex enough (and I
am particularly thinking of coral reefs) that some of the changes take us by surprise. Our
explanations lag behind the events, and we are a long way from prediction or control.

What are the special problems that face Caribbean marine scientists? They can be attributed,
directly or indirectly, to the lack of money in poor countries. To start with, there is only a small

number of active scientists in each country. Then, insufficient supporting staff are employed.
Equipment and facilities are often old and limited. Moreover, there are long delays in the import of
spare parts and it is difficult to arrange local maintenance. The same sort of limitations attend
efforts in environmental conservation by Government agencies. There are some good conservation
laws, but there are insufficient staff, with inadequate resources, to enforce them. Further, there are
no funds for compensation and no Welfare, so how does one reply to a fisherman who asks, "But
what will we eat?"

Compounding these problems, at least in Jamaica, is a widespread lack of sensitivity to the
environment. At all levels of society, people have been unaware of the fragility of our marine
resources. Fishermen have often told me that the sea is boundless and therefore the supply of fish
(or conch, or turtle) is unlimited. "Cyaan done," they say (meaning: it, or the resource, can never be
depleted). Governments, too, have not given a high priority to environmental management,
research, and monitoring. The importance of coastal and marine resources is much more obvious
on a small island, such as Bonaire or Cayman, and they are way ahead of us in marine
conservation. Jamaica is a large island with terrestrial resources (sugar and bauxite have been the
principal exports) and nearly half the population live in the big city of Kingston. But things are
changing. Sugar and bauxite exports are down, and the number one industry is tourism. This has
focused attention on the coastal environment; for example, the Government is seeking to establish
marine parks. Undoubtedly, the time is ripe for a wide-ranging program of public education; but
that, too, will require funding.

Marine scientists in other Caribbean territories work in similar environments and face similar
problems to ours, but we are very isolated from one another. True, we each have to work out our
local solutions, but some research effort must be unnecessarily duplicated. I wish that
communication between us were easier. If we can afford the fare, some of us meet at conferences
of the Association of Island Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean, which are very welcome, but
brief and infrequent. Perhaps it would help if we were linked by electronic mail, or to a network of
databases. Perhaps we just need more time to write to each other!

Scientists from institutions outside the region also do research in the Caribbean, usually at
one of several marine laboratories. I am in the fortunate position of running a Jamaican marine
laboratory through which there is a high traffic of investigators and courses from the United States,
Canada, and Britain. It is a symbiotic relationship, and a valuable channel of communication
between scientists from the more and less developed worlds. I and my students are exposed to
current theories and techniques; they and theirs learn about life in the tropics. Research by visitors
has added greatly to knowledge of Jamaican marine systems. I should add that the fees they pay
have helped to keep the Laboratory alive!

How else can foreign marine scientists and institutions help their Caribbean counterparts?
First, remember we are here. Beware the ethnocentric view; the Caribbean is not a cultural desert
and there are well-trained scientists there, few and overworked though they may be. Secondly, if
you are concerned with aid, respect their perceptions of what are the critical areas for research.
Thirdly, if at all possible, try to help them deal with their own problems by the provision of funds,
equipment, and training; for them and their support staff. A good example of this was the National
Science Foundation's support of oceanographic training cruises on the Eastward in the Caribbean,
discontinued in the early 1970s.

With all respect for its good intentions, it seems to me that these three precepts were
disregarded in at least the early stages of the Caribbean Initiative Plan. U.S. scientists were asked to
submit proposals for development-related projects, but Caribbean scientists were not consulted.
Many of the proposals submitted were on pet research topics that had little direct relevance to
problems perceived as critical in the Caribbean. Foreign scientists should not regard aid funding as
another way to get their own research done. If they cannot afford to help with our problems, they
should raise the funds elsewhere and come to do their research at one of our marine laboratories!

leremy D. Woodley, who came to lamaica from England in 1966, is Head of the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory and Senior
Lecturer in Zoology at the University of the West Indies.

From Panama

Protection of the Tropics

by Jeremy B. C. Jackson

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) is an international bureau of the Smithsonian
Institution with approximately 25 staff scientists from six nations based principally in the Republic
of Panama. Our purpose is to increase scientific understanding of tropical environments and biota
through basic research, and to make such information widely available to promote more effective
use and protection of the tropics. More than 300 scientists and students do research at STRI each
year.

The marine program at STRI includes six permanent staff biologists, plus numerous research
associates, fellows, and contract scientists. Offices and major laboratory facilities are on Naos Island
at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. Naos serves as a base of operations for field work in
the Bay of Panama, including a physical and biological monitoring program run jointly with the
University of Panama. It also is the home port for a 62-foot research vessel.

Most of our research in the Caribbean is done at small laboratories at Punta Caleta, just east
of the entrance to the Canal, and in the western San Bias Archipelago near Porvenir. Both stations
are equipped with running seawater, numerous small boats, and facilities for SCUBA diving. STRI
scientists also do research at other laboratories throughout the Caribbean, most frequently in
Jamaica and Venezuela.

STRI staff scientists work independently on their own research projects, which include
studies of the social systems of fishes and crustaceans, production and dispersal of larvae of many
kinds, including crabs and fish, population biology of corals, bryozoans, and sea urchins, and
patterns of speciation and extinction using molecular genetics and the fossil record.

Despite this diversity, there are several areas of common interest. Perhaps most important is
our commitment to attaining a long-term perspective on biological phenomena in the tropics,
which are not nearly so stable as was believed previously. Routine monitoring of populations has
revealed many examples of extreme fluctuations in abundance, apparently unrelated to human
disturbance.

For example, STRI scientists first detected and documented the spread of the catastrophic
mass mortality of the sea urchin Diadema antillarum, which was until 1983 the most important
grazer upon algae on Caribbean reefs, particularly those subjected to overfishing. As a result of the
Caribbean-wide drop of 98 percent in the abundance of this urchin, many reefs are now carpeted
with macroalgae that are smothering corals as deep as 10 to 15 meters.

In a similar vein, recruitment of fish larvae onto reefs can be highly episodic, as in the case of
the queen triggerfish Batistes. Larvae of this important predator recently settled from the plankton
in vast numbers over about one month, unlike anything observed before or since. The effect on

future abundance of the fish is as yet unknown. Neither the death of Diadema or the recruitment
of Batistes coincided with any obvious changes in environmental conditions measured at Galeta for
more than 15 years. In contrast, mass mortality of corals in the eastern Pacific, and possibly also
along our Caribbean coast, occurred in conjunction with major climatic changes associated with
the last extreme El Nino warming event (1982-83).

A second common theme relates to our geographic position on the Panamanian Isthmus and
the physical and biological changes that resulted from the formation of this barrier to marine
organisms 3 to 4 million years ago. Environmental conditions in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific
have diverged markedly, with concomitant but variable changes in fossilizable biota. Ongoing
studies include molecular evolutionary characterization of genetic divergence among closely
related species in the two oceans, and of morphological responses, speciation, and extinction in
major fossil groups that are abundantly preserved in Panama.

Another topic of general interest relates to differences in conditions along different types of
coastlines, and the importance of terrigenous inputs to coral reefs. Most reef studies have been
done on offshore islands or banks where influxes of freshwater and sediments are small compared
to Panama and elsewhere in the southwestern Caribbean, where annual rainfall commonly exceeds
three meters. Despite such heavy inputs, reefs in these areas have grown surprisingly fast, although
they are strikingly different from island reefs in overall morphology and species abundance and
distribution. For example, the coral Montastrea annularis is rare on most mainland fringing reefs, yet
typically dominates similar reefs on offshore islands.

A last goal, imposed by accident, is to document the short- and long-term biological
consequences of the oil spill that occurred in April 1986, a few kilometers east of Punta Galeta.
This spill, the largest recorded in the American tropics, resulted in mass mortality of many types of
organisms in mangrove, seagrass, reef flat, and subtidal reef environments. Moreover, chronic
pollution is resulting from continued slow release of oil trapped in mangrove sediments during the
initial spill. A new research group of 15 scientists and assistants was formed especially for this
project, which will last at least five years.

The several striking differences between marine communities in Panama and the central
Caribbean, and the multitude of abrupt and major changes we have witnessed, clearly define a
major research problem confronting Caribbean marine biologists. Most of the classic studies of
Caribbean species are based on work at one or a few laboratories, with little feeling for the
potential generality of results. Besides the environmentally correlated differences in distributions, as
for Montastrea mentioned previously, many species dominant at some locations are rare or absent
at others, despite lack of obvious environmental differences.

Three outstanding environmental problems of importance in Panama are oil pollution,
overfishing, and deforestation. So far, severe oil pollution appears to have been limited to the area
near the Canal entrance and the major spill in 1986 at Bahia las Minas to the east. This situation
could change drastically in the event of an accident stemming from the transcontinental oil pipeline
in the Laguna de Chiriqui in northwestern Panama, which harbors the greatest area of mangroves
along our Caribbean coast.

Fishing is apparently nowhere so intense as around several of the Caribbean islands, thanks
largely to absence of trap fishing. Nevertheless, local population growth, as by the Kuna People in
San Bias, may require careful management of fisheries in the future.

Probably the most serious marine environmental problem in Panama, however, is the
smothering of coral reefs by sediments as the result of rapidly progressing deforestation and
erosion along much of the Caribbean slope. We have just begun to document the extent of these
effects, using sclerochronology (measurement of the thickness and configuration of coral growth
bands) tied in to dates of forest destruction known from aerial photographs. Our goal is to develop
a quick, reliable assay of coral population condition that can be used by local authorities to
evaluate the extent of reef stress due to sedimentation, oil pollution, and other human disturbance.

leremy B. C. lackson is a biologist and Marine Sciences Coordinator at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the
Republic of Panama.

The Whalers of Bequia

by Nathalie F. R. Ward

//D

Dlo-o-ows, mon, Blows!"

"Ease de oar becket de
gyaf run ou' de boom look
shyarp!" shouts the boatsteerer
in his quick West Indian tongue,
as the whaleboat slides over the
steep, breaking seas, chasing the
whale in the channel running to
the east of Bequia.

These orders are familiar
echoes of the last 100 years of
whaling tradition on the small
island of Bequia a 15-square-
mile island lying in the
Grenadine chain south of St.
Vincent, in the Windward Islands
of the Caribbean Sea (Figure 1).

The Bequia humpback
whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
fishery is the only existing relic of
the historic land-based fisheries
once operative in the
Grenadines between the 1880s
and the 1920s.

New England Origins

The Bequians learned the trade
from the New England whalers.
Yankee whaling activity in the
Caribbean reached its peak
during the 1860s and 1870s, and
during this period a number of
Bequians enlisted aboard Yankee
whaleships and learned the
skills of whaling. William T.
Wallace, a Bequian of Scottish
ancestry, was one such
apprentice seaman who joined
the crew of an American
whaler a voyage that ended in
Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Wallace married a Yankee
captain's daughter, Stella Curren,
and returned to Bequia to found
the present humpback fishery in
1875.

Dominica

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Figure 1 . Bequia and the outlying islands showing the range of the whaling
grounds. The hunt is focused to the windward of Bequia in the 7-mile channel
running between Bequia and Mustique.

Wallace ("Old Bill")
constructed the first shore station
on Friendship Bay (Figure 2).
Joseph Olliviere, an enterprising
proprietor, following Wallace's
lead, erected a second whaling
station about 1878 on Petit
Nevis, a small islet a quarter mile
southeast of Bequia. The
creation of the fisheries
transformed Bequia from a
declining agricultural economy to
a thriving sea-based economy,
which generated a steady
income for the majority of the
island's population.

The Bequia whaling
industry initiated a string of 20
competing whaling concerns
throughout the Grenadine chain
from 1880 to 1925, each
equipped with a shore station
and from three to five
whaleboats. The increased
whaling effort heralded the need
for a set of regulations for
competing companies to abide
by, in hopes of reducing
tiresome quarrels over the rights
or "ownership" of whales
pursued. The "Whaler's
Ordinances of 1887" were
established to define
responsibilities and to impose
restrictions on the Grenadine
concerns. Today, the historical
catch logs (St. Vincent
Bluebooks) serve as the access to
past records for interpretations of
catch statistics.

Whaling Methods

The methods and tools of the
present fishery remain nearly
unchanged from the original
whaling cooperatives. The
present whale fishery is
equipped with two boats, Why
Ask and Dart, each with a crew
of six men: the harpooner, the
captain or boatsteerer, and four
ordinary seamen. The boats,
lying on whalebone skids, are
launched from Friendship Bay
January through May, six days a
week weather permitting.
Lookouts are stationed on
hilltops and outlying cays to
signal the "humpbackers"
(whalers) of sightings by mirrors
and radio. The hunt is focused to
the windward of Bequia, in a 7-
mile channel running between
Bequia and Mustique, to take
advantage of the easterly trade
winds when towing a whale back

Wallaces Original On-Shore
Station in 1875

Launching of
"Why Askl

and
"Dart"

Wallace
Cooperatives
1890's

Pt. Hilary

Site of Bequia

Maritime and

Whaling Museum

Site of
Whaling Concern in 1900s

Figure 2. Friendship Bay, on the windward shore of Bequia, shows the shore
stations of past whaling cooperatives, the site of launching of the present fishery,
and the future site of the Bequia Whaling and Sailing Museum on Pt. Hilary.

to shore. Historically, humpbacks
are the primary quarry, cow and
calf pairs the preferential take.

The Bequia whaleboats,
modeled after the Yankee
whaleboats, are 26-foot, double-
ended wooden boats, with a jib
and sprit-sail rig, five rowing
stations, and a 20-foot steering
oar. Perhaps more uncouth in
appearance than their Yankee
counterpart, the planks are hand-
hewn from imported spruce; and
the ribs are made from locally-
cut white cedar whose natural
curvature, due to the prevailing
winds, is ideal for framing. A
removable "daggerboard" or
centerboard functions as keel
and prevents lateral drift when
beating through steep seas.
Heavy stone is carried in the
bilges to act as ballast, and
gingerly rearranged with every
tack.

The hand-thrown harpoon
or "toggle iron," a 12-foot-long
cinnamon wood shaft with a 2-
inch barbed brass head, weighs
about 25 pounds, and can be
thrown accurately a distance of
only about 12 feet. Once the
whale is struck, and the harpoon
"holds fast," an 1 1 -foot lance is
repeatedly thrown in attempts to
puncture the whale's heart or
lungs. As a last resort, a hand-
held "darting gun" (a bayonet-
like harpoon), or a "bomb gun"
(a 40-pound shoulder gun),
equipped with exploding
cartridges, is used to secure the
whale.

At present, Petit Nevis is
the shore station where whales
are flensed (stripped for
blubber), and processed for their
meat and oil. The processing
facilities include: a concrete
ramp and a winch with a block
and tackle for hauling the carcass
and facilitating the "cutting in" or
butchering; the "tryworks"
consisting of two large "coppers"
or iron boilers for rendering the
blubber to oil; and a cement
building to house the cooling
tubs, whaling implements, and
wooden casks and cast-iron
drums for the storage of oil.

The killing of a whale
prompts a celebration of
hundreds of the island's
residents, who gather on Petit
Nevis for the event of butchering
and the joyous aftermath of
buying oil and meat. In
comparison to the 1920s, the
export of oil is virtually non-
existent today because of a
dwindling market throughout the
Lesser Antilles. The oil, however,
continues to be used locally for
lubricants, medicaments,
illumination, and cooking. More
importantly perhaps, the whale
meat is considered a precious
commodity. In 1986, meat, sold
either fresh or corned, retailed
for $3 a pound East Caribbean
(EC) currency (about US$1.50).

Traditionally, there is no
wage in the Bequia fishery. The
humpbackers exert a strenuous
effort and a determined fortitude
during the long hours and the

Why Ask under sail by Ramie Cay southeast of Bequia. Intrepid sailors sail their boats between coral heads and islets for
strategic positioning when chasing humpbacks. (Photo by N. Ward)

Athneal Olliviere, a descendant of
Joseph Olliviere, is the chief
harpooner and owner of the present
fishery. He is the living legend of the
last 30 years of the Bequia humpback
fishery. (Photo by N. Ward)

often lean rewards of a 4-month
whaling season. Earnings are
dependent upon the sale of oil
and meat. The income of
whaling is divided into shares,
and distributed among the 12
crew members, the look-out
man, and the five owners of the
fishery. Returns from whale oil
are forthcoming only after its sale
in St. Vincent and other local
export markets in the
Grenadines. Whale meat is
marketed by individuals in the
fishery, given to relatives, or sold
to locals.

Due to the paucity of
whales landed about two a
year (although many years pass
without a catch) and the
structure of the fishery, the
present fishery gives monetary
advantage to a select few,
preempting an economic
contribution to the island's

population of 9,000, and
lessening the economic status as
a "subsistence" fishery. Rather,
the cultural and historical aspects
of the fishery are the valuable
"subsistence" cornerstones of a
cherished maritime tradition.

An Uncertain Future

Whaling on Bequia does not
have a secure future. Only a
handful of the islanders are
practiced in the demanding ritual
of the hunt, and the majority of
whalers are well into their 60s.
The risk and effort of whaling
and the regular cash flow of
conventional fishing, entice both
current and potential whalers
from the industry making it
difficult to recruit new members.

Athneal Olliviere, 67 years
old, is the owner and prestigious
harpooner of the fishery. A man
of quiet dignity and confidence,
Olliviere is the undisputed
champion of the hunt. He has
monopolized his position as the
"last harpooner" for the last 30
years. Many of the traditions and
skills of whaling have not been
passed on to future generations.

Bequians hope the whale
fishery will be allowed to follow
its natural course and be
supplanted by the Bequia
Whaling and Sailing Museum.
This is an important step in
implementing the transition from
an active whaling operation to
historical status. The Bequia
Heritage Foundation* recently
purchased land for the museum
on Pt. Hilary an original site of
the Wallace whaling cooperative.
The museum will serve to
document and to preserve local
heritage for future generations
before the fishery fades, as
Bequians feel it inevitably will.

International Scrutiny

During the 1987 season, the
Bequia whaling was the subject
of scrutiny and concern. One
result is that the 1988 season will

* The Bequia Heritage Foundation
was founded in 1984 by a group of
concerned citizens, and in 1986 was
formally incorporated by an Act of
Parliament. The foundation's
objectives are "to conserve the
historical, cultural, and physical
heritage of Bequia for future
generations."

The lookout man on top of Pt. Hilary
on Bequia signals the whalers of
sightings of humpbacks via mirror, and
then communicates via radio the
specifics of numbers and direction of
travel of humpbacks. (Photo by
N. Ward)

mark the first time that a quota
has been established by the
International Whaling
Commission (IWC) for aboriginal
whaling in the Grenadines:

For the season 1987/
1988to 1989/90, the taking
of 3 humpback whales each
year is permitted by Bequians
of St. Vincent and The
Grenadines, but only when
the meat and the products of
such whales are to be used
exclusively for local
consumption in St. Vincent
and The Grenadines. . . . It is
forbidden to take or kill
suckling calves or female
whales accompanied by
calves.

In response, the Bequians
feel that there is no evidence
that the harvesting of one or two
whales for food each year
endangers the species, nor
places a dent in the reproductive
segment of the population.
Bequians believe that the quota
placed by the IWC has rarely
been exceeded in the last 20
years.

Resolving The Issues

To conservationists and the IWC,
Bequia is an important location
for conservation and
management issues. Although
political influence and pressure
have been exerted toward the
cessation of whaling practices,
the means to preserve the past
and present fisheries heritage has
sometimes been overlooked.
Regulating the fishery without
the complement of a viable
course of transition is seen as
characteristic of outside
involvement in many Third
World countries. This situation
negates the fostering of mutual
expression and respect.

Hopefully, support for a
museum and a local educational
effort in Bequia will influence a
pro-conservation ethic, arrest
what is potentially a tenuous
situation, and insure the natural
sequel to the last humpback
fishery.

Nathalie F. R. Ward is an independent
marine mammal researcher who has
worked with the Provincetown Center
for Coastal Studies, Provincetown,
Massachusetts. She has been studying
the Bequia humpback whale fishery
since 1984.

Acknowledgments

The support and assistance of
Athneal Olliviere, Bertram Wallace,
Lincoln Simmons, and Nolly
Simmons is gratefully acknowledged.

Selected Readings

Adams, ). E. 1971. Historical Geography of
whaling on Bequia Island, West Indies.
Caribbean Studies 1 1(3): 55-74.

Mitchell, E., and R. R. Reeves. 1983. Catch
history, abundance, and present status
ot Northwest Atlantic humpback
whales, pp. 153-207, Special Issue No.
5, Reports of the International Whaling
Commission. Cambridge, England:
International Whaling Commission.

The whaleboat Why Ask, built in 1983, lying on the beach at Friendship Bay.
Although shorter in overall length, the Bequia whaleboat is basically a replica of
the Nantucket prototype. (Photo courtesy of the Provincetown Center for Coastal
Studies)

Twelve humpbackers of the crews of Why Ask and Dart on the beach at
Friendship Bay, 1985. (Photo by N. Ward)

The Future

of the Panama Canal

by Ambler H. Moss, Jr.

Is the Panama Canal still commercially and strategically
important, and will it be so in the year 2000?

Is the phased turnover to Panamanian management
working well enough so that Panamanians can
eventually run the Canal without U.S. help?

Is the present political turmoil in Panama an ominous
sign for the Canal's future?

hese are some of the
frequently-asked questions as
the midway point in the phased
transfer of the Panama Canal to
the Republic of Panama is
approached (the transfer is to be
concluded on the last day of
1999). The continuing political
disturbances in Panama certainly
do not ease the minds of those
concerned with the Canal. Yet
despite the cloudy horizon, there
is cause for optimism. The
ongoing need for an efficient,
reliable waterway as an
important asset to world
commerce underlies that
optimism. The legacy of
cooperation between the United
States and Panama in its
management also provides
strength for the future.

The New Treaty Relationship

Ten years ago last September,
the United States and Panama
signed two treaties. They were

approved by the Senate in early
1 978 after very long and
acrimonious debate, and entered
into force in October 1979.
These two documents the
Panama Canal Treaty, and the
Treaty Concerning the
Permanent Neutrality and
Operation of the Panama
Canal contain a complex
scheme that defines U.S. rights
and obligations concerning the
Canal, and the use of military
bases until the year 2000. Once
the new century begins, the so-
called "Neutrality Treaty"
provides a regime of access and
passage to all nations, and gives
the United States certain rights to
act in the Canal's defense. The
Canal's actual operation at this
point, however, passes entirely
into Panamanian stewardship.
Doom was forecast by
those opposed to the "giveaway"
of the Panama Canal by the
Carter Administration in 1977.

Indeed, some of the Reagan
Administration's new appointees
in the Latin American area had
been authors of the 1980 paper
(A New Inter- American Policy for
the Eighties, published by the
Council for Inter-American
Security) which termed Panama
a "left-wing and brutally
aggressive dictatorship," and saw
the treaties as one more gain for
communism in the Western
Hemisphere.

President Reagan himself
had campaigned vehemently
against Senate approval of the
treaties in 1978. After his
election, however, he behaved
gracefully toward Panama. In
early December of 1980, he
allayed Panamanian fears by
sending President Aristides Royo
a letter promising the fullest
cooperation in the Treaty
relationship.

There were good reasons
for him to do so. The entry into
force of the treaties in 1 979 had
gone smoothly, and the Canal
was to set new tonnage and ship
transit records for the next three
years. Residual anti-U.S.
sentiment seemed to vanish from
Panama altogether, encouraging
U.S. businessmen and some
Panamanian colleagues to start
that country's first American
Chamber of Commerce. In
retrospect, the emotional fervor
and extreme nationalism of the
anti-treaty orators seemed
unjustified on any rational
grounds.

It must be recognized that
certain aspects of the Panama
Canal Act (P.L. 96-70, 22 U.S.C.
3601 et seq.), and the U.S.
domestic legislation passed in
1979 in implementation of the
treaty, caused friction between
the two countries. Congress
imposed certain changes to the
Administration's Bill such as
the creation of two wage systems
for "old" and "new" employees,
and for positions traditionally
hard to fill. Subsequent
amendments have smoothed out
some of the Act's difficulties,
however.

Just as with any business,
Panama Canal traffic has had its
ups and downs, reflecting world
economic conditions. Today,
however, more ships and
tonnage transit the Canal
annually than did in 1977. The
Canal pays for all of its
operational costs from tolls and
U.S. payments to Panama
required by the Treaty (in fiscal
1986, these amounted to nearly
$77 million). Tolls have not been
increased since 1983, and are
considered very competitive as a
component of shipping costs.

Continuity of

management under exceptional
leadership has been an
important factor in the success of
the Panama Canal Treaty. Dennis
P. McAuliffe, formerly
Commander-in-Chief of the U.S.
Southern Command based in
Panama, has been Administrator
of the Panama Canal
Commission since 1979. His
deputy, Fernando Manfredo,
held cabinet positions in the
Panamanian government during
the 1970s, and is respected by
U.S. and Panamanian workers
equally. Manfredo has stressed
the importance of timely
preparation on the part of
Panama to assume the task of
running this large enterprise
efficiently in the year 2000.

Looking Toward the Future

Panamanian territory has been
significant as a worldwide transit
point ever since Spanish colonial
days. Simon Bolivar ascribed
great importance to the
geography of the isthmus. In his
Letter from Jamaica, the Liberator
stated: "This magnificent position

Atlantic Ocean

CARIBBEAN SEA

Chagres River

GATUN
LOCKS

PANAMA CANAL

Transisthmian
Hwy

Gatun Lake

Panama
Railroad

Barro Colorado Is

Madden

Lake

Madden
Dam

Republic

of
Panama

Gaillard_
Cut

PEDRO
MIGUEL
LOCKS

MIRAFLORES
LOCKS

Interamencan Hwy

PANAMA CITY

BAY OF PANAMA
Pacific Ocean

The Panama Canal is a lock-type canal, approximately 51 miles long, with a
navigable channel whose minimum width is 500 feet. The channel depth can vary
according to the water available in the storage areas. Vessels transiting the area are
raised in three steps to the level of Gatun Lake and lowered in three steps on the
opposite side. The canal opened on August 15, 1914, and since that date has
transited more than 640,000 vessels. (Source: Panama Canal Commission)

between the two seas can
become, in time, the emporium
of the universe." He compared it
to Byzantium in an earlier age.

There is no reason to
assume that Panama's location
will be less important in the year
2000 than it is today.
Nevertheless, the exact
parameters of that importance
are not easily predicted, and
depend on a number of

variables. With regard to the
Canal itself, these variables are:

Future growth and nature of
world trade patterns.

Changes in technology in
the transportation industry.

Availability of external
funding either for Canal
improvements or
alternatives across the
Central American isthmus.

Building the Catun Locks around 79/2. Construction of the Panama Canal
involved excavation techniques that have long since vanished from the big
engineering projects scene. (The Bettman Archive)

Military and security
considerations, of course, were a
large factor behind the huge
investment of the United States
in constructing the Canal
between 1903 and 1914. In
today's era of a two-ocean navy,
however, they are less important
and probably will remain so. In
fiscal 1986, for example, only 85
of a total 12,023 Canal transits
were by U.S. Government
vessels. Because of its
vulnerability to missile attack, the
Canal would likely not be
available in time of war. As its
operation relies on the gravity-
fed flow of fresh water from
Gatun Lake, a perforation and
drainage of the water supply
would put the Canal out of
action; refilling the lake could
take up to three years.

World Trade Patterns

Great effort is made to keep tolls
as low as possible, because the
Panama Canal is facing new
forms of competition from a
technologically dynamic
transportation industry. The
opening of an oil pipeline across
Panama in October, 1982, for
instance, led to a decrease in
traffic; this, among other factors,
prompted the last toll increase,
of 9.8 percent. Predicting future
traffic flows is exceedingly
difficult, as they are so
dependent on unforeseeable
world economic conditions and
technological change.

It has long been known
that Canal traffic is highly
sensitive to toll rates. A toll
sensitivity study performed by

International Research Associates
was the basis of the financial
arrangements with Panama
under the Panama Canal Treaty.
The Panamanian negotiators,
entering the discussions with
high expectations of gain for
their country, soon realized the
need to limit any new toll
increases resulting from the
Treaty to around 33 percent.

Bulk goods such as
petroleum products, grains, ores,
and so on, make up a large part
of the cargo, close to 65 percent.
Other types of cargoes,
however, such as containers, and
Japanese automobiles destined
for the East Coast of the United
States, have accounted for recent
tonnage increases. Containerized
shipments, however, may
alternatively be shipped across
the United States by rail or truck
transport at costs similar to ocean
transport.

More recent studies
reinforce the challenge of
competitiveness. In 1986, a toll
sensitivity study was performed
by Temple, Barker & Sloane Inc.,
looking at the period from 1984
to 2010. The study showed that
sensitivity is expected to increase
over time, "reflecting greater cost
competitiveness of diversion
alternatives."

Technological Changes

Both the United States and
Panama agree that new
investment should be put into
enhancing the Panama Canal's
competitiveness. According to
the Panama Canal Treaty, the
United States is required to turn
over the Canal free of any debt
or liens at the end of 1999. The
Panama Canal Commission has
practiced a policy for the last
several years of investing heavily
in new capital equipment out of
Canal revenues. In this manner
the Canal tugboats and "mules"
(locomotives) that assist ships
through the locks have been
upgraded greatly in capacity, as
has the Commission's industrial
repair facilities. High-mast
lighting has been installed at all
locks, a vessel tie-up station has
been constructed just north of
Pedro Miguel Locks, and solar
panels that recharge power cells
have been installed on all lighted
buoys. The marine traffic control

function is now automated to an
unprecedented degree.

Average ship size has
increased annually, making
physical improvements in the
Canal necessary. Today, vessels
with beams of more than 80 feet
account for nearly half of total
traffic, posing problems of how
to handle flow in both directions
efficiently. The Commission
considers it important to hold
average time in "Panama Canal
waters" to around 24 hours.

Although significant
widening projects have been
carried out in recent years in
1986, one involved the removal
of 185,400 cubic yards of
material still larger projects are
needed. These probably cannot
be financed out of toll revenues
between now and the year 2000.
The major proposal calls for
widening the 9-mile Gaillard Cut,
through the highest point of land
along the Canal. This stretch, by
far the greatest challenge to the
turn-of-the-century engineers,
was originally limited to a 300-
foot width, later widened to 500
feet. Still, a ship with a beam
exceeding 95 feet is not
permitted, for safety reasons, to
pass another ship in the cut
this creates bottlenecks that will
become worse as ship sizes
increase. A project to widen the
cut to 630 feet along straight
portions, and up to 730 feet on
curves, could cost more than
$400 million. However, many
user countries, particularly those
that depend more heavily on the
movement of raw materials or
finished products through the
waterway, such as Japan, have an
interest in Canal improvements.

In May of 1987, a
financing study undertaken by
Bear, Stearns & Co. and Samuel
Montagu Ltd., outlined a range
of alternatives: from 100 percent
internal financing; to 100 percent
external financing; and various
multinational solutions. To date,
no decisions on funding
arrangements have been made.
It should be recalled that a major
improvement project for the
Suez Canal during the 1970s was
accomplished through
multinational financing by user
nations through the United
Nations. Such a scheme has not

T/'e-up station north of Pedro Miguel Locks. This station is used to increase the
traffic capacity of both Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks.

been proposed for the Panama
Canal, however.

Alternatives and Funding Plans

A more ambitious study, looking
into the feasibility of a sea-level
canal, is concerned with the
longer-range plans for trans-
isthmian transportation. Article
XII of the Panama Canal Treaty
stipulated that both countries
should consider this possibility,
the advantage being that it could
accommodate the supercarriers
of 200,000 tons and greater. As a
result of diplomatic talks, a
Panama Canal Alternatives Study
Commission has been
established, which includes
Japan. This commission has an
initial $20 million budget, shared
by the three member countries.
Ironically, a recommendation to
build a sea-level canal is perhaps
the least likely outcome of the
study. The cost of such a project
is generally thought to exceed
$20 billion, a figure hard to
justify on the basis of commercial
advantage.

The mandate of the
commission goes well beyond a
sea-level canal study, however,
and has been set to include all
alternatives for more efficient use
of Isthmian geography. A
Panamanian engineering firm,
Lopez y Moreno, has proposed
an expansion of the present lock
canal to handle supercarriers.
Additional pipelines, including a
coal slurry pipeline, and new rail

connections to handle containers
will probably be examined.

The Commission
announced that additional
countries could join the study
(and share the cost), but so far
none have. Whatever new
projects the Commission
recommends, however, it is
likely that they must appeal to
the international community of
user nations for financing. Since
the turnover of the Canal to
Panama is still fresh in U.S.
Congressional memory, it is
extremely unlikely that Congress
would appropriate funds for
these projects.

Panama as a Reliable Partner

One basic assumption must be
made, however, before any of
the projects relating to the
Canal's future can be faced; it is
that Panama will be a reliable
partner. This question relates not
only to the future of the canal,
but to strategically-important
regional quesions for the United
States such as: the outcome of
present Central American
conflicts; the future of Soviet
involvement in Latin America;
the future of Cuba as the post-
Castro era approaches and
becomes a reality (Castro will be
in his 70s by the year 2000); and
the outcome of terrorist threats
and "low-intensity conflict" in
the northern countries of South
America and Peru.

In early 1978, Panama's
former military strongman, Omar

Torrijos, responded to pressure
from U.S. Senators debating the
Treaties. At that time he made,
and subsequently kept, three
promises to them: to restore
freedom of the press; to allow
the return of political exiles; and
to allow political parties to
operate freely. Torrijos then
began a process of transition to
democracy by retiring to the
barracks in favor of a civilian
government, which the military
nonetheless controlled from
behind the scenes.

Torrijos died in an
airplane crash in July, 1 981 . A
year later the president, Aristides
Royo, was forced by the military
to resign. His successor, Ricardo
de la Espriella, met the same
fate, again after one year, in
1983.

Presidential elections
were held on schedule in
October, 1984. The winner by a
narrow margin was Nicolas
Andito Barletta, an economics
Ph.D. from the University of
Chicago, and former vice-
president of the World Bank.
The opposition charged electoral
fraud. In late September of 1985,
Ardito Barletta was forced to
resign, again under pressure from
the Panamanian Defense Forces,
headed by General Manuel
Antonio Noriega. Ardito Barletta
was replaced by his vice-
president, Eric Arturo Delvalle,
but the military have clearly
continued to control the
country's politics from behind
the scenes. Panama's economy
has stagnated, and the country
suffers from a lack of confidence
on the part of the private sector.

In June, 1987, a rival of
Noriega, Colonel Roberto Diaz
Herrera, retired (perhaps
forcibly) and launched a series of
public charges against Noriega:
that he had assassinated a
political enemy (Hugo
Spadafora); that he was involved
in drug trafficking and money
laundering; and that he had
rigged the 1984 elections.
Demonstrations staged by
students, the opposition, and
private-sector civic
organizations reached large-
scale proportions. The
Panamanian Defense Forces
responded with an unusual

degree of repression for Panama,
and shut opposition newspapers
down. Street demonstrations still
occur frequently, and the
atmosphere is tense.

The outcome of the
political standoff remains
uncertain. In the meantime, the
threat of economic deterioration
looms large. Panama's economy
is fragile, as more than 60
percent of it is in the services
sector. Its 120 banks employ
8,000 people, and the potential
loss of such an industry threatens
the country's future. Following a
resolution this last July by the
United States Senate on the
situation in Panama, Noriega and
Delvalle have now levelled
charges of U.S. interference, and
relations have reached their
lowest point since resolution of
the Canal Treaty issue 10 years
ago. Washington is clearly
disturbed by events in Panama,
but there are no easy answers as
to how the direction of
Panamanian politics can be
changed.

U.S. Policy Options

Whatever the United
States may think of Panama's
government, there is no turning
back on its treaty obligations.
The present situation would
indicate the most desirable U.S.
posture is to:

1. Keep the Panama
Canal relationship
separate from other
issues. The treaties are
not dependent on the
character of the
government in power.
They represent a long-
term joint venture,
responsive to both
countries' interests in
the Panama Canal.

2. Maintain pressure in
favor of

democratization. This
is a delicate and
medium-range
objective, the definition
of which is to wean the
Panamanian military
away from the exercise
of political power. Our

military -to- military
relationships in Panama
can help. The U.S.
military commander in
Panama, General Fred
Woerner, is a seasoned
expert on Latin America
and an outspoken
proponent of
democracy and civilian
rule.

3. Be prepared to rescue
the Panamanian
economy before it
collapses. Continued
economic crisis could
bring on an explosion
of the social time-bomb
whose clock is already
ticking. Although U.S.
bilateral aid has been
suspended as a sign of
displeasure with the
regime, issues such as
the resolution of
Panama's huge debt
service problem;
multilateral agency
lending; and the
development of a
private-sector, export-
oriented economy
should continue to be
of concern to
Washington.

At present, optimism
regarding Panama is in short
supply both in Washington and
in Panama. Nevertheless, there
are 12 years left to run under the
present canal treaty regime; this
is time enough for positive
developments to take place.
Panamanians have traditionally
been practical people. Their
future interest in an efficient
Panama Canal will be at least as
great as that of the United States,
and arguably even greater.

Ambler H. Moss, jr. is Dean of the
Graduate School of International
Studies, Professor of International
Studies, and Director of the North-
South Center at the University of
Miami, Coral Cables, Florida. He was
U.S. Ambassador to Panama from
1978 to 1982, and a member of the
negotiating team for the Panama
Canal Treaties signed in 1 977.

Athelstan Spilhaus

Renaissance Man

I he bathythermograph one of
the principal tools developed at
Woods Hole for the study of
oceanography is 50 years old.
The man who pioneered the
development of the BT, which

by Paul R. Ryan

played a prominent role in the
defense against German
submarines in World War II, is
Athelstan Spilhaus. This
Renaissance Man has jauntily
worn the silk top hats of

inventor, scientist, engineer,
author, raconteur, comic strip
creator, professor, dean, institute
president, sculptor, architect-
designer, toy collector,
meteorologist, advisor to

presidents of the United States,
and father of the Sea Grant
College concept. In short, a very
unusual, energetic man, who has
packed more experiences into
his 76 years than most people
would in 10 lifetimes.

Born in Capetown, South
Africa, on November 25, 191 1,
the son of Karl Antonio and
Nellie (Muir) Spilhaus, Athelstan
Frederick Spilhaus, fondly
referred to as "Spilly," spent his
early years on a farm called Bell
Rock in the Transkei, a sector
south of Natal. The youngest of
five children three boys and
two girls he remembers that he
"never really went to school until
I was ten.

"A series of prim young
governesses from England were
brought out to teach my sisters
and myself, but I resisted formal
education." There is a family tale
that when one young governess
tried to get Spilly into school, he
took off all his clothes and stood
in the middle of a dam, daring
her to come and get him. This
sense of mischievousness and
humor would become a
permanent character trait.

"I got a much better
education at home [his mother
was the first woman graduate of
the University of Capetown and
his grandfather the
Superintendent General of
Education in South Africa]. It
often makes me think, with the
quality of some of our schools
nowadays, and with the good
education of many parents, why
we have laws that prevent well-
educated parents from keeping
their children home learning,
instead of sending them to
schools where there are badly
educated teachers."

After World War I,
Spilhaus' father, a successful
merchant, was appointed
Minister Plenipotentiary in
Europe to rebuild commerce
interrupted by the war. Young
Spilly was packed off to a British
public school where he received
a classical education lots of
Latin, Greek, French, English,
mathematics, and a little science.

With only five years of
formal schooling, Spilhaus was
admitted to the University of
Capetown at the age of 1 5. The

following year, he attracted
attention in the local press by
building a sand yacht out of an
old automobile and sailing it on
nearby salt flats, much the same
as an ice boat with wheels. He
was edging closer to the sea.

His first summer job while
at the university was as an
apprentice engineer on a cargo
vessel plying the Indian Ocean.
He gained much practical
engineering experience by going
to sea, finishing his degree at the
university in 1931. However, his
interest was turning from the sea
to the sky. He had observed the
flying boats of Imperial Airways
as they set down like huge birds
on Lake Entebbe in Uganda. He
decided he wanted to be an

Good engineering,
he feels, is the ability
to understand both
the medium and the
machine.

aircraft engineer and, through his
father's European connections,
got a job in Germany at the
Junkers factory, where he
worked as a volunteer for six
months.

The volunteer work at
Junkers convinced Spilhaus that
he wanted to continue
studying this time
aerodynamics. But where? Well,
he'd never been to America.
There were two places that
taught aerodynamics the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and the California
Institute of Technology, and he
made the fateful decision to go
to MIT over Cal Tech because he
did not have the money to cross
the continent.

MIT and Woods Hole

Spilhaus arrived at the Dean of
Admissions office suitcase in
hand. The dean looked up and
said: "Do you have an
application in?" "No," Spilhaus
replied, "I wrote for a catalog
and decided to come here."
"You know," the dean
said, "we get lots of applications,
and we have to process them."
Spilhaus replied, "Look, I've

come all the way from South
Africa."

The dean asked, "Where
did you go to school?"

"University of Capetown,"
Spilhaus replied.

"Never heard of it," the
dean commented.

"You will."

Spilhaus was admitted on
probation, and the rest, as they
say, is history. The influences on
the young aerodynamics
engineer began to grow
Norbert Wiener, Charles Stark
Draper, Manfred Rauscher, Hurd
Willett, Harry Wexler, Carl
Rossby, and others.

Spilhaus recalls that
money was short at the time
(1932). "Cases of scotch and
other whiskeys with floats on
them were dumped outside the
three-mile limit off Cape Cod.
My contact was a philosophy
student at Harvard. He rounded
up a few of us who could sail
small boats. We went out to the
three-mile limit at night to bring
back the cases of liquor. We
simply picked up whatever
floating cases we could, wrote
our mark on them, and left them
on the beach. We never saw
who picked them up. We were a
little ambivalent about the repeal
of Prohibition, and this operation
certainly helped me get through
MIT."

Another thing that helped
him get through MIT was his
invention of a "comfortmeter,"
an instrument that recorded
where temperature and relative
humidity crossed. An air
conditioning company bought
the rights, which "was the last
anyone heard of my invention."

In 1933, Spilhaus finished
his degree in aerodynamics, and
then went on to study
meteorology for about two years.
He switched subjects because he
realized that man had not truly
conquered the air. Planes were
at the mercy of weather
conditions, many going down
because of icing conditions.
Good engineering, he felt, was
the ability to understand both
the medium and the machine.

In June of 1935, after
finishing his degree work at MIT,
he married Mary Atkins, a
granddaughter of Henry

100

Hornblower of Boston. They
would have five children:
Athelstan Spilhaus jr., now
Executive Director of the
American Geophysical Union;
Molly; Eleanor; Margaret Ann;
and Karl, now President of the
Northern Textile Association in
Boston. The first year of the
Spilhaus' marriage was spent
back in South Africa, specifically
in Pretoria, where he was
appointed a temporary First
Lieutenant in the South African
Defense Force, a branch of the
British Army. Part of his time was
spent destroying dud shells left
over from the Boer War.

The desire to get back
into science began to gnaw at
him. He wrote to his professor
and great mentor Carl Gustav
Arvid Rossby, who arranged for
Spilhaus to become a research
assistant at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution while
working also at MIT. Spilhaus
and his new wife decided to
come back to Boston and
Woods Hole by way of Cairo
and Alexandria. They bought a
used 1934 Buick and a compass
and set off from Capetown. In
many places, such as the
Serengeti Plains, there were no
roads. Pygmies and other natives
helped them to cross rivers and
to get them unstuck from the
mud. The trip took about nine
weeks. At one meat market on
the border of the Belgian Congo
and Sudan, they saw human
flesh displayed. Spilly found it
"stringy, like venison. Needs to
be larded." The trip could not be
done today.

On arrival in Boston,
Spilhaus discovered that Rossby,
who was then involved in his
work on jet streams and vorticity,
wanted him to construct a
rotating model ocean with a jet
stream somewhat like the Gulf
Stream in it. The only space MIT
had to offer was a seldom-used
men's room. And this is where
the aerodynamist/meteorologist
began his work the only
interruptions coming from an
occasional student with a
pressing hydrodynamic problem.

"The features in which
Rossby was interested," Spilhaus
recounts, "were the eddies on
both sides of the jet stream. Not
only was he doing his theoretical

Evolution of the Bathythermograph

A. 1936-37, 1st BT (thermal lag)

B. 1937, 2nd BT, (thermal lag reduced but bad vibration)

C. 1937, Bourdon tube BT, (lag reduced, vibration eliminated)

D. 1939, Bourdon tube BT, (lag further reduced by thin tube bulb)

E. 1941, Production BT, (first built at Woods Hole)

studies, but he was also trying to
delineate the real eddies on the
edge of the Gulf Stream, eddies
which were well known to bring
unusually warm water close in to
Nantucket." The rotating model
ocean would later lead William
von Arx to construct a more
sophisticated rotating basin at
Woods Hole.

"During an earlier cruise
on the WHOI research vessel
Atlantis in 1934, Rossby had
constructed a great box-like
contraption which he called an
Oceanograph in an attempt to
get continuous tracings of
temperature versus depth in the
surface layers of the ocean more
conveniently than with the then
standard procedure of lowering a
string of reversing thermometers
attached to Nansen bottles."

The Bathythermograph Is Born

The Oceanograph was
cumbersome and not practical.

Its linkages became fouled in
seaweed and the instrument
vibrated, making the recordings
useless. Spilhaus, who
accompanied Rossby on the
1934 summer cruise, had
thought about the problem
during his year in South Africa,
devising a solution. Now, back at
MIT, he started to build it on a
bootleg basis.

"Woods Hole, in the
wonderful personae of Henry
Bigelow, the director, and
Columbus Iselin, were intrigued
with the first crude model, giving
me the opportunity to sail on a
number of cruises in late 1 936
and early 1937 to test the gadget,
many of which were
disappointing. I once went
shamefacedly to Iselin and
Bigelow and apologized for
taking up so much valuable ship
time. Both encouraged me to go
on. Bigelow said, "Not to worry,
it's just the perversity of
inanimate objects."

101

"By the summer of 1937,"
Spilhaus recalls, "I had a
workable instrument. It recorded
temperature against pressure,
but the word barothermograph
was already in widespread use
for a meteorological station
instrument that recorded
atmospheric temperature and
barometric pressure on a chart.
So I used the Greek root for
depth "bathos," and coined the
word bathythermograph
universally known as the BT later
on."

While the initial

application of the instrument was
for biologists and
oceanographers and those in the
fisheries, it was Iselin who saw
another sphere of application for
the instrument the detection of
submarines in conjunction with
sonar. He arranged for sonar/BT
tests aboard the Atlantis from
August 23 to 31, 1937, in
conjunction with the U.S.S.
Semmes and a Navy submarine
out of New London,
Connecticut.

"At that early stage, the
detection of submarines was a
hit-and-miss proposition,"
Spilhaus remembers, "and the
sound engineers were attributing
failures to deficiencies in the
sonar equipment, whereas we
were trying to convince them
that it was the thermal layering of
the oceans and the lens-like
bending of the sound waves by
the thermocline that was
responsible for the misses."

The skipper of the
Semmes noticed that many
echoes were missed in the
afternoon, which he attributed to
his sonar operators' sleepiness
after a big lunch. The real cause
was the heating up of the
shallow surface layer by the
daytime sunshine. Along about
this time, the U.S. Navy became
aware that Spilhaus was not an
American citizen, but an "alien."
"I came out with the old gag," he
states. 'Yes, I know foreigners are
aliens, but I'm British.'"

After the Semmes tests,
the Navy asked Spilhaus to
arrange for the manufacture of
two bathythermographs. He was
by this time head of the
Department of Meteorology at
New York University. With uses
by biologists, oceanographers,

and fishermen in mind, as well as
the Navy, he approached H.J.W.
Fay, then Vice-President of the
Submarine Signal Company of
Boston.

"Every Oceanographer
will be wanting one," Spilhaus
recalls saying in making his sales
pitch. Fays' laconic reply was,
"Yes, all six of them."

Fay nevertheless agreed
to commercialize the
bathythermograph. The
Submarine Signal Company filed
for a patent in Spilhaus' name,
but assigned to them, on August
10, 1938.

From the very beginning
of BT development, there had
been a small problem with the
glass slides used to obtain the
graph drawn by the stylus.
Spilhaus used smoked glass
microscope slides, easily
obtainable and easily smoked.
However, the smoke washed off
with seawater. The solution was
to rub a forefinger along the side
of one's nose and then onto the
slide before smoking it. Once in
production, Iselin suggested
another oil, used at that time to
lubricate valve mechanisms on
the old Nansen bottles. It was
skunk oil, easily obtainable in
Woods Hole where skunks live
in great numbers. Later, the
slides were covered with a
monomolecular coating of gold

that was evaporated onto them.
To this day, Spilhaus is
convinced, nose grease and
skunk oil are as good as gold.

Thanks for the Memo, 'W.C'

On September 3, 1939, Britain
and France declared war on
Germany. Within a short period
there were many sinkings of
British ships by German U-boats
in the approaches to the Straits
of Gibraltar, and elsewhere.

Iselin and Spilhaus
believed that the Germans were
hiding beneath the sharp
thermocline that existed
between the warm, less saline,
low density surface layers
flowing into the Mediterranean,
and the dense cooler saline
water flowing out underneath
through the Straits. This sharp
difference in density refracted
the sonar beams of the primitive
British Asdic (Anti-Submarine
Detection Investigating
Committee) sonar, allowing the
U-boats to operate in relative
safety.

With the United States
still neutral in the war, Spilhaus,
with the backing of Iselin despite
the risk to Woods Hole's Navy
connection, passed along a
memorandum and the latest
drawings of the BT to a British
Navy captain in a New York
apartment. The memorandum

Example of glass slide.

102

was unsigned, undated, and
unaddressed, but clearly pointed
toward the British Admiralty. "I
did receive, much later, a 'thank
you' by circuitous paths [Iselin
told Spilhaus the message came
to Woods Hole] from the First
Lord of the Admiralty himself,
signed simply "W. C," but this
only came after the British had
asked President Roosevelt to
send them a quantity of about
200 bathythermographs."

In October of 1940, Iselin
informed Spilhaus that Woods
Hole, dissatisfied with the
slowness of the Submarine Signal
Company in manufacturing the
BT, would build "a
bathythermograph of your
newest design in our shop where
we can work night and day." The
project was turned over to
Maurice Ewing and his student
Allyn Vine, the scientist who later
played a principal role in the
design of the deep-sea
submersible Alvin.

"They streamlined the
whole apparatus into a projectile
shape with a heavy weight at the
nose, fins protecting the coiled
temperature bulb at the tail, and
made it so that it could fall
rapidly through seawater,"
Spilhaus says. "They also
designed a special winch with a
thin wire which ran freely on the
descent. On reaching the desired
depth, the BT was retrieved by
engaging the clutch on the winch
and pulling it up to the surface.
This made the
bathythermograph highly
practical for the Navy's uses, as it
could be used from destroyers at
convoy speeds."

"In addition to these
modifications," Spilhaus remarks,
"Vine made a fundamental
improvement by compensating
tor the difference in temperature
between the water surrounding
the Bourdon tube [a pressure-
sensing element] inside the body
and the sea temperature around
the outside capillary tube which
formed the bulb of the Bourdon
tube thermometer. He
compensated for this difference
in temperature by putting a
reverse response bimetallic coil
between the end of the Bourdon
tube and the stylus."

About 200 BTs were
made in WHOI's shop. Spilhaus,

meanwhile, was training more
than a thousand Navy and Air
Corps cadets to be
meteorologists at the then
University Heights campus of
NYU. In 1943, by special act of
Congress, Spilhaus became a
temporary officer in the Army Air
Corps (although still a British
citizen).

From November 1944
until September 1945, he ran
about 90 weather "stations" in
northern China. Landing behind
Japanese lines, Spilhaus lived in
the caves of Yenan, Shensi
Province, northern China,
headquarters at that time for
Mao Tse-Tung, who lived a scant
three caves away. They
sometimes ate together.
Spilhaus' weather reports were
critical for U.S. bombers out of
Guam and Saipan that were

We have land grant
colleges, "Why not
Sea Grant Colleges?"

raiding Japan. While still in
uniform at the close of the war,
Spilhaus became a U.S. citizen.

Minnesota Years

After the war, Spilhaus became
Director of Research at NYU,
and, because of his knowledge
of German, played a part in
bringing German rocket scientists
to the United States to
participate in the Vanguard
Program. In 1949 he left NYU to
become Dean of the Institute of
Technology at the University of
Minnesota, a position that would
occupy the next 18 years. The
bathythermograph during these
years came into routine use
around the world for peaceful
purposes, the Submarine Signal
Company became a division of
Raytheon, and the expendable
BT (XBT) came into use.

In 1951, he took on the
job of Scientific Director of
Weapons Effects for two Nevada
Atomic Tests; in 1952, he
accepted a position as consultant
to the Armed Forces Special
Weapons Project under the
Defense Department. Later that
year he was awarded the
Exceptional Civilian Service
Medal by the U.S. Air Force.

While at Minnesota,
Spilhaus launched a number of
projects, one of which was the
creation of a weekly comic strip
called "Our New Age." The idea
for the science comic strip,
which was syndicated in more
than 100 newspapers around the
world, came from a meeting
Spilhaus attended while U.S.
Ambassador to UNESCO (the
United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural
Organization) in Paris. The Indian
delegate attacked the United
States for exporting brainless
comic strips to India's new
literates, a term meaning older
people just learning to read
English. Why not write a comic
strip with some substance?

Spilhaus also took heat
from his faculty at Minnesota,
some of whom thought it was
below the dignity of a Dean to
write a comic strip, even a
factual, science-oriented one.
After being berated one
afternoon by a professor,
Spilhaus asked, "How many
students do you have in your
class?"

"About 25," the professor
replied. "On Sundays, I have
more than a million," the Dean
remarked.

The Sea Grant Idea

In September of 1963, Spilhaus
made another great contribution
to marine science by calling for
the establishment of Sea Grant
Colleges. The call came in a
keynote address to the American
Fisheries Society meeting in
Minneapolis. Pointing out the
then-dreadful state of ocean
fishing by the United States, the
Dean suggested that another
approach other than
controls be taken to protect
American fisheries:

"Why, to promote the
relationship between
academic, state, federal, and
industrial institutions in
fisheries, do we not do what
wise men have done for the
better cultivation of the land
a century ago. Why not have
Sea Grant Colleges?"

About two years earlier, in
March of 1961, President John F.

103

Kennedy had told the U.S.
Senate that "Knowledge and
understanding of the oceans
promise to assume greater and
greater importance in the future.
This is not a one-year program
(referring to his request to
increase funding for
oceanographic research from
about $60 million to nearly $100
million in 1962) or even a 10-
year program. It is the first step in
a continuing effort to acquire
and apply the information about
a part of the world that will
ultimately determine conditions
of life in the rest of the world.
The opportunities are there. A
vigorous program will capture
these opportunities." Spilhaus
offered a plan that would fulfill
Kennedy's dream.

In his pamphlet Creating
the College of the Sea, John
Miloy writes: "Spilhaus has been
called a 'flywheel of the machine
of American science' and its
'incurable optimist.' By his own
definition he is a 'pragmatic
idealist: an innovator of the
living' and a 'committed futurist.'
All this suggests that 'this
remarkable scientist has an
exceptional gift for pulling into
his mind an encyclopedia of
assorted facts and synthesizing
from them better approaches by
which science may serve
humanity.' The Sea Grant idea
was typical of this innovative,
imaginative engineer and
scientist from South Africa."

The Sea Grant concept
took root at the University of
Rhode Island under the hand of
John A. Knauss, the Dean of the
Graduate School of
Oceanography. Senator
Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island,
and Representative Paul Rogers
of Florida steered the necessary
legislation through Congress in
1966.

The 1960s saw some
major changes in Spilhaus' life.
He got a divorce from his first
wife and in 1964 remarried. His
second wife was Gail Thompson.
In 1961, President Kennedy
appointed him United States
Commissioner to the Seattle
World's Fair (President
Eisenhower had appointed him
U.S. Representative to the
Executive Board of UNESCO in
1954, and President Johnson

would appoint him a member of
the National Science Board from
1966 to 1972).

Spilhaus left the

University of Minnesota in 1966,
and became President of the
Franklin Institute in Philadelphia
in 1967, a position he held until
1969. The 1970s would see
Spilhaus become President of
the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, a
Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars,
and a consultant to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. Along the way,
he collected 1 1 honorary
doctorates, became a member of
the Cosmos Club in Washington,
D.C., and the Explorers Club, in
New York, N.Y., and received

"/Ve often found
the first practical
appearance of an idea
is in a toy/'

several awards, including the
French Legion of Merit and
Sweden's Berzelius medal. In
1978, his second wife, Gail, died.
In 1979, he married his third
wife, Kathleen.

As if all this activity has
not been enough, Spilhaus is also
a sculptor, several of his pieces
gracing various cities across the
country. He is probably best
known for his "triangle of the
sun" sculpture, which
encompasses the entire plaza in
front of the McGraw-Hill
Building on the Avenue of the
Americas in New York City. In
fact, Spilhaus has been an
advocate of building
experimental cities in much the
same way as the Japanese have
suggested (see Oceanus, Vol. 29,
No. 3, pp. 52-62).

Playing With Ideas From Toys

What does this man do to relax?
He collects toys antique
mechanical toys. Since 1965, he
has collected some 4,000 of
these all with moving parts.
The hobby has forced him to
build four rooms onto his
comfortable 1763 white
stuccoed house in the rolling,

horse country of northern
Virginia just 2.3 miles from the
flashing light in the center of
Middleburg, as visitors seeking
directions are often advised. The
toy rooms have become a
museum; indeed, the
Smithsonian sometimes calls to
see if they can arrange a tour.
There are American, Japanese,
and German tin toys, cast-iron
toys, tin trains, tractors, musical
toys, plus the mechanical toys of
Fernand Martin, and the papier-
mache figures of Ernest
Decamps, both 19th Century
French toy masters.

"I enjoy toys," Spilhaus
says. "They're simple, yet
ingenious. They're also
prototypes. I've often found the
first practical appearance of an
idea is in a toy. They're the
forerunners of practical
inventions. All my toys do
something."

And how much might one
be worth? "I once traded one for
a nearly-new Lincoln
Continental. The guy who got
the toy, got the better of the
bargain. The toy will be around a
lot longer than the Lincoln."

Spilhaus also designs
toys one of his latest efforts
being a jigsaw puzzle of the
Earth's surface. The main pieces
are cut along the actual tectonic
plates of oceans and continents
and can be arranged in at least
150 configurations, including the
original super-continent of
Pangea of 300 million years ago.

What next? Spilly's already
pragmatically turning an idea
over in his gray-haired attic
where the child in him has
always pretended.

Paul R. Ryan is Editor of Oceanus,
published by the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution.

104

To the Editor:

In Oceanus magazine, Volume 30, Number 2, Summer
1987, there is an article entitled "Marine Biological
Research in the Galapagos: Past, Present, and Future."

In the second paragraph under the heading
"Millionaires" (page 37 of this issue) regarding private
expeditions on yachts, it is written "The Vanderbilt family
enthusiastically partook of this fashion. In the 1920s and
30s, the collection of Galapagos species at the Centerport,
New York, Vanderbilt Museum grew, thanks to such
activities as the George Vanderbilt South Pacific Expedition
of 1937."

The Vanderbilt Museum, in Centerport, New York,
is the former summer home of William K. Vanderbilt II. On
the Museum grounds there is a Marine Museum (also
referred to as the "Hall of Fishes"), an area of zoological
dioramas called the "Habitat," and some rooms within the
Mansion which contain birds and invertebrates. The wet
collections of fishes and invertebrates, including those from
the Galapagos Islands, were collected by William K.
Vanderbilt II. There is a seven volume set, Bulletin of The
Vanderbilt Marine Museum, which was printed on the
marine collections of William K. Vanderbilt II and has been
given to marine research institutions, and museum and
university libraries around the world.

William K. Vanderbilt II went to the Galapagos
Islands in 1926 and in 1928 on his yacht the Ara to collect

marine specimens for his private Marine Museum in
Centerport, New York. There is a motion picture film which
has since been transferred to video of the 1926 expedition.
There are also photo albums in our archives of both
expeditions. William K. Vanderbilt II also wrote a book
entitled "To Galapagos on the Ara" complete with color
plates made from the watercolor paintings of specimens by
the artist William Belanske.

I would like to make it clear that the extensive
private marine collections housed at the Vanderbilt
Museum in Centerport, New York, are those of William K.
Vanderbilt II. The Vanderbilt Museum does not, and never
has to my knowledge, contained any zoological collections
collected by George Vanderbilt.

Christina H. Hamm

Collections Manager

The Vanderbilt Museum

Centerport, N.Y.

To the Editor:

The article by Tim Hawley in your Fall 1987 issue about our
new Institute is very much appreciated. It serves to provide
needed visibility to the Institute in its early stages of
development.

For the most, the article is accurate and projects the
essence of the Institute's program. However, there are two
errors I need to bring to your attention.

First, Figure 1 suggests that the University
Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) operates
and manages 55 other research institutions in addition to
The Institute for Naval Oceanography (INO) and the
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). That is

Frontiers of Marine
Ecosystem Research

A Special 3 -Day Seminar at the A A AS Annual Meeting

12-14 February 1988 + Boston

This unique seminar will examine the state of the art in research on large marine ecosystems
(LMEs) - - those relatively narrow zones that produce nearly 95% of the world's usable
biomass.

Individual session topics include the biodynamics of LMEs; recruitment, dispersal, and gene
flow; perturbation and yield of LMEs; and the theory and management of LMEs.

For a full program, including a list of speakers, see the 4 December 1987 issue of Science or
write to: AAAS Marketing, Department ZA, 1333 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005.

American Association for the Advancement of Science

105

incorrect. I think Tim was confused with the fact that UCAR
is a consortium of 57 universities, 55 American and 2
Canadian. UCAR operates and manages NCAR, I NO, and a
few other activities.

Second, the caption of Figure 2 incorrectly lists NRL
as the National Research Laboratory; it is the Naval
Research Laboratory.

Finally, there is a need for clarification of a point in
the first paragraph of page 55, where it is suggested that
ocean prediction may be more feasible than (atmospheric)
weather prediction due to the relative smallness of ocean
eddies. That attribute is actually a liability to ocean
prediction because, as a consequence, more eddies can fit
into an ocean basin; and, thus, there are more variable
ocean features to track at any instant, and with higher
spatial resolution, than would otherwise be the case.
(Similarly, numerical ocean models need greater spatial
resolution; and, thus, the demands on computational speed
and computer memory size are high.) However, the
relatively slow movement and long existence of ocean
eddies are offsetting of the small size and can be exploited
in observing and modeling the ocean. The efforts to explore
the feasibility of ocean prediction, and to develop ocean
prediction capability, are made easier because of the
technical precedents and progress established in
atmospheric weather prediction.

Christopher N. K. Mooers, Director

Institute for Naval Oceanography

Bay St Louis, Mississippi

To the Editor:

Your summer issue on the Galapagos Marine Resources
Reserve is fantastic. I recently worked at the Darwin Station
for a year, and it does my heart good to see the marine
environment of those islands receive proper attention.

Jerry Emory
Oakland, California

To the Editor:

In our recent article in Oceanus (Vol. 30 (3):69-77), we
[Frank Lowenstein co-author] erroneously noted that
"Dogwhelks [Nucella lapillus] feed on algae and other
microscopic organisms coating rocks and other hard
substrates in the intertidal zone." Nucella is a carnivore that
principally feeds on barnacles and mussels. These two prey
organisms, in turn, are filter feeders taking up algae from
the near-surface water column. There are at least two
potential routes of TBT exposure for Nucella. One is
through the food chain, the other is that TBT could be
absorbed through the gastropod's foot as it crawls over the
surface film of epiphytes which have been repeatedly
exposed to high TBT concentrations from the surface
microlayer. We are indebted to Peter Gibbs of the Marine
Biological Association Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth,
England, for bringing this to our attention.

Michael A. Champ
Senior Scientist

Science Applications International Corporation

Rockville, Maryland

To The Editor:

I want to express my interest and fascination at Diane K.
Stoecker's article, "Photosynthesis Found in Some Single-
Cell Marine Animals" found in the Fall 1987 issue. As a
marine aquarist, without a formal education in marine
biology, it is difficult to find such enlightening reading.
Ms. Stoecker's ability to turn a complex subject such as the
interrelationships of microzooplankton, into an
understandable lesson for the novice, is truely appreciated.

I have visited many of the libraries in this area and
have found that articles and books dealing with various
disciplines within marine biology are either too simple to be
of much valve, or written in a dialogue which is
incomprehensible to a novice such as myself.

Thomas I. Parsons
Devon, Pennsylvania

To The Editor:

The article "Submersibles for Scientists" by L. C. Hanson
and S. A. Earle is a very narrow view of undersea science in
the U.S. today. A reader unfamiliar with submersibles
would think vehicles like the lohnson-Sea-Links I & II are
limited to surveying shipwrecks (i.e. USS Monitor) or
salvaging space shuttle debris (i.e. STS Challenger). The
authors give very little consideration to the scientific
accomplishments of the several other vehicles presently
available to the science community.

A great deal of submersible vehicle time is available
to scientists in the U.S. through NOAA's Office of Undersea
Research (OUR) and their regional National Undersea
Research Programs (NURP). Vehicles like Alvin, Makali' I,
Mermaid, lohnson-Sea-Link I & II, De/fa, and Pisces V
perform hundreds of dives each year, with hundreds of
scientists, who produce a wealth of new information.
lohnson-Sea-Link I & II and Delta alone, during the last two
years, have conducted 444 dives in support of NURP at the
University of Connecticut. OUR and the regional NURPs
have conducted, since 1971, in excess of 2,500
submersible dives, placing more than 1,500 scientists safely
underwater, in 12 different vehicles. Research and test/
evaluation dives have also been conducted utilizing very
sophisticated, as well as low-cost, ROVs. One hundred
ninety-two peer reviewed journal publications, and 545
technical reports on diverse topics are the result of these
efforts. These figures represent a considerable amount of
scientific productivity. Diving effort is supported through a
system which requests proposals from the scientific
community and selects only (he very best science.

The science accomplished in various vehicles is not
generally limited by the vehicle itself. It is the ingenuity and
imagination of the scientists and engineers who design the
sensors, samplers, and ancillary apparatus to accomplish
the work that limits the results. Certainly, some vehicles
have more maneuverability than others, or are better suited
to mid-water operations. We find that pre-mission
exchanges between the scientist-users and the operators/
engineers of the submersible are extremely productive for
designing and building the right tool for the anticipated job.
After all, many of the planned dives will be examining a
phenomenon for the very first time and off-the-shelf
samplers are often not available or appropriate.

The article was very slanted toward the use of one-
person vehicles. As far as we can ascertain, only 5 scientific
diving programs have been conducted with one-person
vehicles (1 with WASP and 4 with Deep Rover). Since so

106

few science dives have been conducted, and so few
scientists have used these vehicles, one can hardly point to
these as examples of the cutting edge of undersea research.

We would like the opportunity, in a future issue of
Oceanus, to present an overview of undersea research in
the U.S. A review of the history, accomplishments, present
status, and future directions of undersea research and
exploration would make interesting reading.

Richard A. Cooper, Director

NOAA's National Undersea Research Program

University of Connecticut at Avery Point

Alan Hulhert. Director

NOAA's National Undersea Research Program
University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Richard Touma, Director

NOAA's National Undersea Research Program

Fairleigh Dickinson University at St. Croix

Alexander Malahoff, Director

NOAA's National Undersea Research Program

University of Hawaii at Honolulu

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Hanson/Earle article made no claim
to being a comprehensive view of undersea science in the
U.S. I refer the authors to Oceanus, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp.
18-29, "Submersibles: Past, Present, and Future" by Eugene
Allmendinger but rather was inspired by a NOAA
initiative to "examine new directions for undersea
research." While the focus of the article is on one-man
vehicles, considerable space was devoted to the activities
of larger manned submersibles. As for the scientific
accomplishments of other vehicles, I refer you to our
summer issue (Vol. 30, No. 2, p. 69) and the article on the
Johnson Sealink /'s activity in the Galapagos Islands.

AUTHORS' REPLY: We are puzzled by the comments sub-
mitted by four representatives of the NOAA/NURP Pro-
gram in response to our article "Submersibles for Scien-
tists." Both of us are well-known for our fondness for sub-
marines and ROVs of all sorts, and our long-standing efforts
to encourage cooperation and support for ocean research,
no matter who is doing it, or what tools are being used.

The letter suggests that we presented a narrow view
of "undersea science in the U.S. today." Herein is the puz-
zle. No pretense was made that we were offering a com-
pendium of undersea science, or a comprehensive review
of submersibles for scientists. Working with the editors of
Oceanus, we focused the article on new developments in
small, portable manned and robotic systems. Our working
title was: "New Tools for Marine Scientists." The editors
selected photographs they believed to be appropriate from
dozens that were submitted. Those who read the article will
discover that, after providing background information on
various vehicles currently in operation, we describe some
technology primarily developed and used by industry in the
past decade that the scientific community is just beginning
to discover and adapt in creative ways for ocean research
and exploration.

The letter suggests that the article was "very slanted
toward the use of one-person vehicles." While it is true that
8 of the 32 paragraphs included describe the new small,
portable systems such as Wasp and Deep Rover, and the
uses scientists are making of them, this is, after all, what the
article was supposed to be about. Nine paragraphs describe

other manned subs and six relate to ROVs. The fine history
and performance of vehicles supported by the NOAA/
NURP Program are well known and widely admired. Not so
well known are the opportunities that await the application
of the small manned and robotic systems that we de-
scribed.

Those who read the article will realize that it origi-
nated as an outgrowth of a workshop called together by the
Center for Ocean Management Studies at the University of
Rhode Island. At that meeting (attended by Dr. Cooper and
Dr. Hulbert), an effort was made to focus the attention of
the marine community on advances being made in low-cost
ROVs and submersibles and the scientific opportunities that
await those who can make use of them. It encouraged
various funding sources (NSF, ONR, NOAA/NURP) to
jointly support projects and the users to cooperate in apply-
ing these new systems. A Newsletter, InSitu News (partially
sponsored by NOAA/NURP) has been established to con-
tinue this cooperative spirit. Any increased interest in and
use of underwater vehicles is an advance for the entire
community.

Lynne Carter Hanson
Executive Director

Center for Ocean Management Studies
University of Rhode Island

Sylvia A. Earle

Research Biologist, California Academy of Sciences
Vice-President, Deep Ocean Engineering, Inc.

TACA gets you there from Miami, Houston,
Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Your diving trip to Belize is special; and so must be
your flight. Thai's why TACA offers you the best service
on board. With delicious food, wines and drinks. 'All free!

We fly daily from Miami; four times a week from Houston.
New Orleans, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Dive the best way from the very beginning.
Fly TACA to Belize.

Consult your travel agent or dive shop.

Reservations 800-535-8780
U.S. Dive/Tour Desk 800-535-6879.

107

The Underwater Wilderness: Life Around the Great Reefs
by Carl Roessler. 1987. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New
York, NY. 320 pp. $29.95.

A large-sized book (9" x 12") full of underwater
photographs, Underwater Wilderness is typical of the kind
one finds on coffee tables. It is clearly aimed at the general
public who have no background in marine biology, and is a
fine presentation and overview of the variety of fishes and
invertebrates found on coral reefs. The book presents
descriptions and examples of fishes and invertebrates

which are common on many reefs throughout the world.
Written mostly from the author's personal viewpoints and
experiences, it is similar to articles found in SCUBA diving
magazines. The theme throughout the book is very
strong the underwater wilderness is in great peril. The
term "underwater wilderness" was chosen by the author,
Carl Roessler, to convey the image of a place where the
natural community of plants and animals flourish without
the destructive influence of mankind.

The first section of the book reviews very basic
coral reef natural history. The topics covered include how
atolls are formed, cooperation and aggression between
species, cleaning symbiosis, parasitism, color patterns and
nocturnal habitats. All of these topics have been covered in
dozens of popular articles by many authors and there is no
new information presented in this book.

The second section of the book is the author's
personal travelogue of diving in the world's most famous
coral reefs, and would be particularly interesting for people
planning to dive for the first time in these places. The
regions covered include the Caribbean, Hawaii, Baja
California, Galapagos, the tropical South Pacific, Australia,
the Coral Sea, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

The key selling point for a book of this type is the
collection of underwater photographs. The collection in this
book is very good, but not outstanding. An experienced
amateur diver or marine biologist will find many good
pictures, but none that are unique or of very rare species.
Many of the pictures are of animals that are commonly
photographed and published. Most of the photographs are
crystal clear, but some of the ones chosen for enlargement
are fuzzy and not well composed. A few have been
enlarged to fill the double page and some of these are not
in sharp focus and the page's center crease is a serious
detraction. But in general, the photographs are good and
correctly identified.

This book is a fine introduction to the art of
watching animals underwater. It will surely inspire some
youngsters to study marine biology. Hopefully, it will also
serve as a valuable source document to educate politicians
on the beauty and fragility of the animals under the sea.

Phillip S. Lobel

Assistant Scientist

Biology Department

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Books Received

Biological Sciences

A Functional Biology of
Echinoderms by John Lawrence.
1987. The Johns Hopkins University
Press, Baltimore, MD 2 1 2 1 1 . 340
pp. $56.50.

Animals Without Backbones, Third
Edition by Ralph Buchsbaum,
Mildred Buchsbaum, John Pearse,
and Vicki Pearse. 1987. The
University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, IL 60637. 572 pp. + x.
Cloth $25.00, Paper $17.00.

Islands by H. W. Menard. 1987. W.
H. Freeman and Company, New
York, NY 10010. 230 pp. $32.95.

Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic
and the Mediterranean, Volume III
edited by P. J. P. Whitehead, M.-L.
Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen,
and E. Tortonese. 1986. UNESCO,
Paris; distributed in the United
States by UNIPUB, Lanham, MD
20706. pp. 1015-1473. $45.00.

Observing Marine Invertebrates:
Drawings from the Laboratory by

Donald P. Abbott, edited by Galen
Howard Hilgard. 1987. Stanford
University Press, Stanford, CA
94305. 380 pp. + xxiv. $29.50.

Sharks edited by Dr. John Stevens.
1987. Facts On File Publications,
New York, NY 10016. 240 pp.
$29.95.

Chemistry

Petroleum Hydrocarbons by

Alexander A. Petrov. 1987. Springer-
Verlag, Secaucus, NJ 07094. 255 pp.
-I- ix. $95.00.

Diving

The Silent World by Jacques
Cousteau, with new introduction.
1987. Nick Lyons Books, New York,
NY 10010. 250 pp. + xii. $12.95.

Underwater Photography: Sport
Diver's 1987 Annual and Directory

edited by Tricia Reilly. 1987. Sport
Diver Publications, Washington, DC
20007. 79 pp. $7.95.

108

Earth Sciences

A View of the Sea: A Discussion
between a Chief Engineer and an
Oceanographer about the
Machinery of the Ocean Circulation

by Henry Stommel. 1987. Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New
Jersey 08540. 161 pp. $19.95.

Baroclinic Processes on Continental
Shelves edited by Christopher N. K.
Mooers. 1986. Coastal and Estuarine
Sciences Volume 3, American
Geophysical Union, Washington,
DC 20009. 130 pp. + vii. $25.00.

Biolaminated Deposits by Cisela
Gerdes and Wolfgang E. Krumbein.
1987. Lecture Notes in Earth
Sciences Volume 9, Springer-Verlag,
Secaucus, NJ 07094. 183 pp. + ix.
$24.00.

Geotectonic Evolution of China by

Ren Jishun, Jiang Chunfa, Zhang
Zhengkun and Qin Deyu. 1987.
Springer-Verlag, Secaucus, Nj
07094. 203 pp. + x and plates.
$69.00.

Mesozoic and Cenozoic Oceans

edited by Kenneth J. Hsu. 1986.
Geodynamics Series Volume 15,
American Geophysical Union,
Washington, DC 20009. 153 pp. +
xi. $22.00.

Modern Sedimentation in the
Coastal and Nearshore Zones of
China edited by Ren Mei-e. 1986.
China Ocean Press, Beijing, China;
distributed by Springer-Verlag,
Secaucus, N] 07094. 466 pp. + vi.
$136.00.

Observation of the Continental
Crust through Drilling II edited by
H.-J. Behr, F. G. Stenhli, and H.
Vidal. 1987. Exploration of the Deep
Continental Crust, Springer-Verlag,
Secaucus, NJ 07094. 229 pp. + viii.
$46.50.

Quaternary coastal geology of West
Africa and South America: Papers
prepared for the INQUA-ASEQUA
Symposium in Dakar, April 1986.

1987. Unesco reports in marine
science 43. UNESCO, Paris;
distributed in the United States by
UNIPUB, Lanham, MD 20706. 145
pp. Price unavailable.

Nautical Quarterly: Number 39,

Autumn 1987. Nautical Quarterly
Co., Essex, CT 06426. 120 pp.
$16.00.

Speciation of Metals in Water,
Sediment and Soil Systems edited
by Lars Landner. 1987. Lecture
Notes in Earth Sciences Volume 1 1,
Springer-Verlag, Secaucus, NJ
07094. 189 pp. + v. $21.70.

Time series of ocean measurements,
Volume 3 1986.

Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Commission Technical Series 31.
UNESCO, Paris; distributed in the
United States by UNIPUB, Lanham,
MD 20706. 62 pp. $7.50.

The Zechstein Fades in Europe

edited by Tadeusz M. Peryt. 1987.
Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences
Volume 10, Springer-Verlag,
Secaucus, NJ 07094. 272 pp.
$49.50.

Environmental Sciences

Annual Report of the Executive
Director 1985, by the United
Nations Environment Programme.
1986. UNEP, Nairobi; distributed in
the United States by UNIPUB,
Lanham, MD 20706. 246 pp.
$10.00.

Fate and Effects of Oil in Marine
Ecosystems edited by J. Kuiper and
W. J. Van Den Brink. 1987. Martinus
Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, The
Netherlands. 338 pp. $195.00.

S/7enf Spring by Rachel Carson.
1962. 25th Anniversary Edition,
1987 by Houghton Mifflin Co.,
Boston, MA 02108. 368 pp. + xiv.
$17.95.

The Solomon Islands Project: A
Long-term Study of Health, Human
Biology, and Culture Change edited
by Jonathan Scott Freidlaender.
1987. Oxford University Press, New
York, NY 10016. 409 pp. + xii.
$90.00.

The State of the Environment:
Environment and Health 1986 by

the United Nations Environment
Programme. 1987. UNEP, Nairobi;
distributed in the United States by
UNIPUB, Lanham, MD 20706. 83
pp. + ix. $7.50.

The Toxic Cloud: The Poisoning of
America's Air by Michael H. Brown.
1987. Harper & Row, New York, NY
10022. 307pp. $18.95.

POSSUM POINT
BIOLOGICAL STATION
SITTEE RIVER, BELIZE

A Full Service Field Station

For Educational Groups and Researchers.

Lowland Tropical Forests, Rain Forests,

Savannah,
Mangrove Communities, Coral Reef Station for

all
Marine Environments.

For More Information Write:

Paul Shave
Northeast Marine Environmental Institution

P.O. Box 660

Monument Beach, Massachusetts 02553
(617)759^055

109

Field Guides

A Field Guide to the Atlantic
Seashore by Kenneth L. Gosner.
1978. New cover, 1987. The
Peterson Field Guide Series Number
24, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston,
MA 02108. 329 pp. + xvi. $12.95.

Alaska Mammals edited by Jim
Rearden. Alaska Geographic Vol. 8,
No. 2. 1981. The Alaska Geographic
Society, Anchorage, Alaska 99509.
184pp. $12.95.

Alaska's Saltwater Fishes and Other
Sea Life by Doyne W. Kessler. 1985.
Alaska Northwest Publishing Co.,
Anchorage, Alaska 99509. 358 pp.
$19.95.

An Underwater Guide to Hawai'i by

Ann Fielding and Ed Robinson.
1987. University of Hawaii Press,
Honolulu, HI 96822. 156pp.
$14.95.

Fisheries

Design of Small Fishing Vessels

edited by John Fyson. 1985. The
Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations, Rome;
distributed in the United States by
UNIPUB, Lanham, MD 20706. 320
pp. $50.00.

Occupational and geographical
mobility in and out of Thai fisheries

by Theodore Panayotou and Donna
Panayotou. 1986. The Food and
Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, Rome; distributed
in the United States by UNIPUB,
Lanham, MD 20706. 77 pp. $7.50.

General Reading

Coasting by Jonathan Raban. 1987.
Simon and Schuster, New York, NY
10020. 302 pp. $17.95.

Dictionary of Military and Naval
Quotations by Robert Debs Heinl,
Jr. 1966. Naval Institute Press,
Annapolis, MD 21402. 367 pp. + xl.
$21.95.

The Dolphin Doctor by Sam

Ridgway. 1987. Yankee Books,
Dublin, NH 03444. 159 pp. $12.95.

Extraterrestrials: Science and Alien
Intelligence edited by Edward
Regis, Jr. 1987. Cambridge
University Press, New Rochelle, NY
10801. 278 pp. + x. $12.95.

The Mariner's Pocket Companion:
1988 Calendar by Wallace E. Tobin
III. 1971. Naval Institute Press,
Annapolis, MD 21402. 101 pp. +
calendar. $6.95.

Mountain Light: In Search of the
Dynamic Landscape by Galen
Rowell. 1986. Sierra Club Books,
San Francisco, CA 94109. 224 pp.

$19.95.

The River That Flows Uphill: A
tourney from the Big Bang to the
Big Brain by William H. Calvin.
1986. 528 pp. + xiv. $12.95.

Steichen at War by Christopher
Phillips. 1981. Harry N. Abrams,
Inc., New York, NY 256 pp. $40.00.

"The Navy Needs You!" U.S. Navy
Poster Art of the Twentieth
Century: U.S. Naval Institute 1988
Engagement Calendar. 1987. Naval
Institute Press, Annapolis, MD
21402. $9.95.

History

Between the Devil and the Deep
Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen,
Pirates, and the Anglo-American
Maritime World, 1700-1750 by

Marcus Rediker. 1987. Cambridge
University Press, New Rochelle, NY
10801. 322 pp. + xv. $24.95.

The Development of a Modern
Navy: French Naval Policy 1871-
1904 by Theodore Ropp, edited by
Stephen S. Roberts. 1987. Naval
Institute Press, Annapolis, MD
21402.439pp. + xi. $28.95.

The Log of Christopher Columbus

translated by Robert H. Fuson.
1987. International Marine
Publishing Company, Camden, ME
04843. 272 pp. + xviii. $29.95.

This Night Lives On: New Thoughts,
Theories, and Revelations About the
Titanic by Walter Lord. 1986.
William Morrow and Company, Inc.
New York, NY 10016. 272 pp.
$15.95.

Raiders & Rebels: The Golden Age
of Piracy by Frank Sherry. 1986.
Quill/William Morrow, New York,
NY 10016.399 pp. $9.95.

Marine Policy

The Antarctic Treaty regime: Law,
Environment and Resources edited
by Gillian D. Triggs. 1987. Studies in
Polar Research, Cambridge
University Press, New Rochelle, NY
10801. 237 pp. + xxi. $54.50.

Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Commission Reports of Governing
and Major Subsidiary Bodies:
Fourteenth Session of the Assembly.

1987. UNESCO, Paris; distributed in
the United States by UNIPUB,
Lanham, MD 20706. 86 pp. + 8
annexes. Price unavailable.

Living with the Lake Erie Shore by

Charles H. Carter, William J. Neal,
William Haras, and Orrin Pilkey, Jr.
1987. Duke University Press,
Durham, NC 27708. 263 pp. + xiii.
$12.95, paper.

Ocean Yearbook 6 edited by
Elisabeth Mann Borgese and Norton
Ginsburg. 1986. The University of
Chicago Press, Chicago, IL 60637.
686 pp. + ix. $49.00.

Review of the Protected Areas
System in Oceania Prepared by the
International Union for
Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources, Commission on National
Parks and Protected Areas, in
collaboration with the United
Nations Environment Programme.
1986. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland;
distributed in the United States by
UNIPUB, Lanham, MD 20706. 239
pp. $20.00.

State of the World 1987 edited by
Linda Starke. 1987. Worldwatch
Institute, Washington, DC 20036.
268 pp. + xvii. $9.95.

The Status of the North Sea
Environment: Reasons for Concern,
Proceedings of the 2nd North Sea
Seminar '86, Volume 1 edited by E.
Hey and G. Peet. 1986. Werkgroep
Noordzee, Amsterdam; distributed
in the United States by UNIPUB,
Lanham, MD 20706. 54 pp. (Vol. 1
and 2) DFL 75.

The Status of the North Sea
Environment: Reasons for Concern,
Proceedings of the 2nd North Sea
Seminar '86, Volume 2 edited by G.
Peet. 1987. Werkgroep Noordzee,
Amsterdam; distributed in the
United States by UNIPUB, Lanham,
MD 20706. 352 pp. (Vol. 1 and 2)
DFL 75.

110

United States Arctic Research Plan

Prepared by the Interagency Arctic
Research Policy Committee. 1987.
National Science Foundation,
Washington, DC 20550. 334 pp.
Free.

Physical Sciences

Introduction to the Physics and
Techniques of Remote Sensing by

Charles Elachi. 1987. John Wiley &
Sons, New York, NY 10158. 413 pp.
+ xvii. $44.95.

Nonlinear diffusive waves by P. L.

Sachdev. 1987. Cambridge
University Press, New Rochelle, NY
10801. 246 pp. + vii. $49.50.

Physical Oceanography of the
Eastern Mediterranean (POEM):
Initial Results 1987. Unesco reports
in marine science Number 44,
Unesco, Paris, France. 92 pp. + vi.
Price Unavailable.

Science Communication

Knowing Everything About Nothing:
Specialization and change in
research careers by John Ziman.
1987. Cambridge University Press,
New Rochelle, NY 10801. 196 pp. +
xvii. $29.95.

Stet! Tricks of the Trade for Writers
and Editors edited by Bruce O.
Boston. 1986. Editorial Experts, Inc.,
Alexandria, VA 22312. 310 pp. +
xiv. $15.95.

Ships and Sailing

Chapman Piloting: Seamanship &
Small Boat Handling by Elbert S.
Maloney. 58th Edition, 1987. Hearst
Marine Books, New York, NY
10016.652 pp. $24.95.

Mariner's Atlas of the Texas Gulf
Coast by A. P. Balder. 1987. Gulf
Publishing Company, Houston, TX
77001. 103 pp. $37.50.

Nautical Quarterly: Number 39,

Autumn 1987. Nautical Quarterly
Co., Essex, CT 06426. 120 pp.
$16.00.

The Porticello Shipwreck: A
Mediterranean Merchant Vessel of
415-385 B.C. by Cynthia Jones
Eiseman and Brunilde Sismondo
Ridgway. 1987. Texas A & M
University Press, College Station, TX
77843. 126pp. $85.50.

A WORKSHOP

INSTRUMENTATION

AND MEASUREMENTS

IN THE POLAR REGIONS

The San Francisco Bay region section of the Marine Technology
Society will present a 2-day workshop on instrumentation and
measurements in the polar regions. The workshop will feature
sessions on atmospheric, oceanographic, ice, biological, and geo-
physical instrumentation and measurements.

The workshop will be held at the Monterey Aquarium, Monte-
rey, California, January 27-28, 1988. Registration fee for the
workshop is $100, and includes the proceedings. Persons with
professional interests in the polar regions are invited to attend.

The workshop is being sponsored by the Marine Technology
Society and the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society. For more
information, contact Dr. Warren Denner at:

C/O Science Applications International Corp.

205 Montecito Ave.

Monterey, CA 93940

(408) 649-5242

For moored, fixed position, or profiling
measurement of temperature and
salinity at depths to 6800 meters:

SEA-BIRD'S new SEACAT and SEACAT PROFILER
offer proven Sea-Bird conductivity and
temperature sensors in a self-contained solid
state logging package.

These compact instruments provide very
high resolution and accuracy, flexible
acquisition routines, precision time-
bases, and convenient electrical read-
out. Pressure measurement available
in SEACAT, standard in SEACAT
PROFILER.

The best sensors are even better.

Manufacturers ol cable telemetering and internal recording CTD systems, modular sensors and data loggers for
conductivity temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and other environmental variables

SBE Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc.

1808 136th Place, NE, Bellevue, WA 98005 USA.
Telephone: (206) 643-9866. Telex: 292915 SBEI UR.

111

INDEX

VOLUME 30 (1987)

Number 1, Spring, Japan and the Sea: Noriyuki Nasu, Introduction Osamu Sato, The Japanese Fisheries
System; Takeji Fujii and Seikichi Mishima, The Salmon Fishery; Akira Fuji, Aquaculture and Mariculture; Akito
Kawamura, Whaling and Research Takashi Mayama, The Japanese Marine Science and Technology Center;
Shinichi Takagawa, Deep Submersible Project (6,500 m); Hiroshi Hotta, Deep Sea Research around japan;
Yoshitaka Odani, Kaiyo, a Unique Research Vessel; Takayoshi Toyota and Toshimitsu Nakashima, Using Deep
Seawater for Biological Production; Takeaki Miyazaki, Wave Power Generator Kaimei; Hitoshi Hotta, Recovery of
Uranium from Seawater Takahisa Nemoto, japan's Ocean Research Institute Masamichi Murakawa, Marine
Pollution and Countermeasures in japan Takehiko Ishihara, Radioactive Waste Disposal Kenji Hotta, The Use
of Ocean Space in japan Isao Kubota, japan's Weather Service and the Sea, and The Western Pacific and El
Nino Yasushi Kitano and Masayuki Tanaka, The Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Problem Zempei Yamashita,
Cormorant Fishing on the Nagara River Paul R. Ryan, Profile: The Emperor of Japan: Marine Biologist
Letters Book Reviews.

Number 2, Summer, The Galapagos Marine Resources Reserve: Leon Febres Cordero, President of Ecuador,
Foreword, and President's Decree of Galapagos Marine Resources Reserve Roque Sevilla, A Promise to the Sea,
and the Politics of the Decree James M. Broadus, The Galapagos Marine Resources Reserve and Tourism
Development Efrain Perez Comacho, Ecuadorian Law and the Galapagos Marine Reserve; Kilaparti
Ramakrishna, International Issues of the Galapagos Marine Reserve Godfrey Merlen, Diving in the
Galapagos John E. McCosker, The Fishes of the Galapagos Islands Henk W. Kasteleijn, Marine Biological
Research in the Galapagos: Past, Present, and Future Gary R. Robinson, Negative Effects of the 1982-83 El Nino
on Galapagos Marine Life Hal Whitehead, Sperm Whale Behavior on the Galapagos Grounds Andrew Laurie,
Marine Iguanas: Living on the Ocean Margin Mitchell W. Colgan and David L. Malmquist, The Urvina Bay
Uplift: A Dry Trek Through a Galapagos Coral Reef Shirley A. Pomponi and Susan van Hoek, A Search for
Unique Drugs in the Galapagos Underwater Environment Charles Darwin, History: The Voyage of the Beagle,
Chapter 17 (edited) Frank J. Sulloway, History: Darwin in the Galapagos: Three Myths Bruce E. Epler,
History: Whalers, Whales, and Tortoises Paul R. Ryan, The Editor's Log: Galapagos Tales Book Reviews.

Number 3, Fall, Columbus, Sea-Level Rise, Chernobyl, Plastics, TBT: Philip L. Richardson and Roger A.
Goldsmith, The Columbus Landfall: The Voyage Track Corrected for Winds and Currents Robert D. Ballard,
Christopher von Alt and William J. Hersey III, Live Deep-Sea Expedition Video Coverage Planned for Scientists
Ashore, Educational Institutions Graham S. Giese and David G. Aubrey, Losing Coastal Upland to Relative Sea-
Level Rise: 3 Scenarios for Massachusetts Kenneth O. Buessler, Chernobyl: Oceanographic Studies in the Black
Sea Lynne Carter Hanson and Sylvia A. Earle, Submersibles for Scientists Ben Patrusky, Mass Extinctions:
Volcanic, or Extraterrestrial Causes, or Both? Diane K. Stoecker, Photosynthesis Found in Some Single-Cell
Marine Animals T. M. Hawley, The Institute for Naval Oceanography R. Jude Wilber, Plastic in the North
Atlantic Michael A. Champ and Frank L. Lowenstein, Concerns: TBT: The Dilemma of High-Technology
Antifouling Paints Timothy K. Eichenberg, Concerns: Supreme Court Rules Against Public Beach /Access-
Michelle K. Slowey, Profile: Robert George Weeks: A Man of Many Skills Letters Books Received.

Number 4, Winter, Caribbean Marine Science: John D. Negroponte, Introduction: Caribbean Marine Science
John C. Ogden, Cooperative Coastal Ecology at Caribbean Marine Laboratories Klaus Rutzler and Candy
Feller, Mangrove Swamp Communities Donald K. Atwood, Fred J. Burton, Jorge E. Corredor, George R.
Harvey, Alfonso J. Mata-Jimenez, Alfonso Vasquez-Botello, and Barry A. Wade, Petroleum Pollution in the
Caribbean A. Meriwether Wilson, Caribbean Marine Resources: A Report on Economic Opportunities
William P. Dillon, N. Terence Edgar, Kathryn M. Scanlon, and Kim. D. Klitgord, Geology of the Caribbean-
frank Gable, Changing Climate and Caribbean Coastlines Mel Goodwin, Changing Times for Caribbean
Fisheries Daniel O. Suman, Intermediate Technologies for Small-Scale Fishermen in the Caribbean Ernest H.
Williams, Jr., and Lucy Bunkley Williams, Caribbean Mass Mortalities: A Problem With A Solution James H. W.
Hain, Be//ze Voices from the Caribbean: Jeremy D. Woodley, Jamaica: Managing Marine Resources; Jeremy B.
C. Jackson, Panama: Protection of the Tropics Nathalie F. R. Ward, Concerns: The Whalers of Bequia Ambler
H. Moss, Jr., Concerns: The Future of the Panama Canal Paul R. Ryan, Profile: Athelstan Spilhaus: Renaissance
Man Letters Book Reviews Index.

112

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Vol. 28:1, Spring 1985 History and science beneath the waves.

The Exclusive Economic Zone,

Vol. 27:4, Winter 1984/85 Options for the U.S. EEZ

Deep-Sea Hot Springs and Cold Seeps,

Vol 27:3, Fall 1984 A full report on vent science.

El Nino,

Vol. 27:2, Summer 1984 An atmospheric phenomenon analyzed.

Industry and the Oceans,

Vol. 27:1, Spring 1984

City

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Senses of the Sea,

Vol 23:3, Fall 1980.

Summer Issue,

1980, Vol 23:2 Plankton, El Nino and African fisheries, hot springs, Georges
Bank, and more.

A Decade of Big Ocean Science,

Vol. 23:1, Spring 1980.

Ocean Energy,

Vol. 22:4, Winter 1979/80.

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Number 4, Winter, Caribbean Marine Science: John D. Negroponte, Introduction: Caribbean Marine Science
John C. Ogden, Cooperative Coastal Ecology at Caribbean Marine Laboratories Klaus Rutzler and Candy
Feller, Mangrove Swamp Communities Donald K. Atwood, Fred J. Burton, Jorge E. Corredor, George R.
Harvey, Alfonso J. Mata-Jimenez, Alfonso Vasquez-Botello, and Barry A. Wade, Petroleum Pollution in the
Caribbean A. Meriwether Wilson, Caribbean Marine Resources: A Report on Economic Opportunities
William P. Dillon, N. Terence Edgar, Kathryn M. Scanlon, and Kim. D. Klitgord, Geology of the Caribbean-
frank Gable, Changing Climate and Caribbean Coastlines Mel Goodwin, Changing Times for Caribbean
Fisheries Daniel O. Suman, Intermediate Technologies for Small-Scale Fishermen in the Caribbean Ernest H.
Williams, Jr., and Lucy Bunkley Williams, Caribbean Mass Mortalities: A Problem With A Solution James H. W.
Main, 8e//ze Voices from the Caribbean: Jeremy D. Woodley, Jamaica: Managing Marine Resources; Jeremy B.
C. Jackson, Panama: Protection of the Tropics Nathalie F. R. Ward, Concerns: The Whalers of Bequia Ambler
H. Moss, Jr., Concerns: The Future of the Panama Canal Paul R. Ryan, Profile: Athelstan Spilhaus: Renaissance
Man Letters Book Reviews Index.

112

MBL WHOI LIBRARY

Oceanus

Columbus, Plastics,
Sea-Level Rise, TBT

Vol. 30:3, Fall 1987 A col-
lection of topics of current
interest, including new infor-
mation on Columbus' land-
fall, loss of coastal upland
because of sea-level rise, a
new generation of submers-
ibles for science, Chernobyl
fallout in the Black Sea, mass
extinctions, plastics in the
ocean, and the TBT di-
lemma.

Oceanus

,JJfe Galapagos ^

Marine Resourfgs Rese

Galapagos Marine
Resources Reserve

Vol. 30:2, Summer 1987 In
1986, Ecuador declared the
waters and seabed sur-
rounding the Galapagos Is-
lands a marine reserve. The
legal, political, management,
and scientific aspects are de-
scribed. Includes descrip-
tion of 1982-83 El Nino, and
historical articles on Darwin,
and on the taking of whales
and tortoises in the 1800s.

Japan

and the Sea

Vol. 30:1, Spring 1987 The
first comprehensive view of
Japanese ocean science
written primarily by Japa-
nese authors. Describes how
tradition and innovation
combine to continue forging
a strong link between Japan
and the sea. Includes fishing,
submersibles, SWATH ves-
sel, recovery of uranium,
ocean space, and much,
much more.

Changing Climate
and the Oceans

Vol. 29:4, Winter 1986/87-
Forecasts of near-term cli-
mate change have chal-
lenged scientists to under-
stand complex interactions
between the atmosphere,
the ocean, and the Earth.
The wobbling Earth, chang-
ing sunlight, carbon dioxide,
polar ice sheets, and defo-
restation along with a new
generation of research sat-
ellites are described.

o o o

The Titanic Revisited,

Vol. 29:3, Fall 1986 Radioactivity ot the Irish Sea, ocean architecture, more.

The Great Barrier Reef: Science & Management,

Vol. 29:2, Summer 1986 Describes the world's largest coral reel system.

The Arctic Ocean,

Vol. 29:1, Spring 1986 An important issue on an active frontier.

The Oceans and National Security,

Vol. 28:2, Summer 1 985 The oceans from the viewpoint of the modern navy,
strategy, technology, weapons systems, and science.

Marine Archaeology,

Vol. 28:1, Spring 1985 History and science beneath the waves.

The Exclusive Economic Zone,

Vol. 27:4, Winter 1984/85 Options for the U.S. EEZ.

Deep-Sea Hot Springs and Cold Seeps,

Vol. 27:3, Fall 1984 A full report on vent science.

El Nino,

Vol. 27:2, Summer 1984 An atmospheric phenomenon analyzed.

Industry and the Oceans,

Vol. 27:1, Spring 1984

Oceanography in China,

Vol. 26:4, Winter 1983/84

Offshore Oil and Gas,

Vol. 26:3, Fall 1983

Summer Issue,

1982, Vol. 25:2 Coastal resource management, acoustic tomography, aqua-
culture, radioactive waste.

Summer Issue,

1981, Vol. 24:2 Aquatic plants, seabirds, oil and gas.

The Oceans as Waste Space,

Vol. 24:1, Spring 1981.

Senses of the Sea,

Vol. 23:3, Fall 1980.

Summer Issue,

1980, Vol 23:2 Plankton, El Nino and African fisheries, hot springs, Georges
Bank, and more.

A Decade of Big Ocean Science,

Vol. 23:1, Spring 1980.

Ocean Energy,

Vol. 22:4, Winter 1979/80.

Issues not listed here, including those published prior to 1977, are out of print.
They are available on microfilm through University Microfilm International,
300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106.

Send orders to:

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