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June 25 2008

To:       The Minister of Works, Bahamas

            Nassau Port Authority

            And all concerned with dredging impacts on Bahamian coral reefs

            Dear Sirs,

             I wish to give the strongest possible support to Christopher Hartley’s suggestion that dredging around New Providence be timed to coincide with outgoing tides only.  Corals require clear water and are extremely sensitive to excessive sediment, being smothered by very low levels, around 10 milligrams per Liter. In the Bahamas, since there is little soil erosion, dredging, hurricanes, and bulldozing of vegetation on land are the major sources of turbidity. We can do little about hurricanes, so we should do all we can to prevent damage from those stresses we can control, namely dredging, vegetation clearance, and inadequately treated sewage.

            I recently wrote the Foreword to a United States Geological Survey book on the coral reefs on Hawaii, which presented masses of data to show that high turbidity was the major threat to coral reefs there. This has happened all over the world. I hope the Bahamas can learn from other people’s fatal mistakes and not repeat them.

            I watched the reef I learned to dive on in my own island, Jamaica, killed by dredging 50 years ago, and this mistake has been repeated over and over all around the world. In those days we had so much healthy reef that nobody worried, but now that we have so very little left we must do all we can to protect it or we will certainly pay a heavy price in shore erosion, coastal flooding, loss of fisheries, loss of beaches, and loss of tourism.

            There is clear evidence that turbidity is already a major threat to the few surviving corals in the Bahamas. The first photograph below shows the near shore water turned completely white because of massive bulldozing of mangroves and vegetation at Bakers Bay, Guana Cay, Abaco. The second, also from Bakers Bay, shows that the silt curtains being used to “contain” the sediment has completely failed to prevent sediment being washed onto adjacent reefs. The third photo shows the huge sediment plume caused by bulldozing and dredging at Bimini Bay. These plumes wash around depending on the tides, winds, and waves. The only way to minimize these serious impacts to the Bahamas’ threatened coral reefs is to be smart and time unavoidable dredging in such a way that the tides and currents work with us to minimize the damage. I strongly urge those responsible for regulating these activities to follow Mr. Hartley’s wise suggestion.

Guana Cay, April 8 2007

Guana Cay, January 2 2007

Bimini, January 16 2008

 Sincerely yours,

 Thomas J. Goreau, PhD

President, Global Coral Reef Alliance