A film by Alexander Helff
Thomas J. F. Goreau, PhD
President, Global Coral Reef Alliance
Note: Subtitles in English, Spanish, or German
This brilliant and urgent film by Alexander Helff shows an environmental hero, Dr. German Mendez, growing back coral reefs on Cozumel as they die all around him from tourism sewage and global warming.
Corals are the first ecosystem to pass their global warming tipping point, and mass coral mortality over the last few record hot years have made most reefs functionally extinct, the last few survivors are too stressed to reproduce.
Most coral reef films are frankly pretty-picture blue-washing propaganda for tourism interests profiting from coral reef destruction, or big international NGOs (BINGOs) claiming to protect them for donations, something they have totally failed to do in the face of rising sewage and high temperature that have killed most of the world’s remaining corals in the last record hot years.
This film tells the ugly truth, what is really happening underwater, everywhere, as the coral reef tipping point is passed, and of a real hero who is growing corals back locally. The same disaster is global, with local variations, but this is about Cozumel, the world’s number one diving destination. Cozumel gets more divers than anywhere in the world due to clear beautiful waters, healthy coral reefs, and thrilling drift diving with strong currents along spectacular slopes. Cozumel reefs were some the last to die in the Caribbean.
Everyone concerned with the future of coral reefs should see this film. The Global Coral Reef Alliance has the oldest underwater photographs of Cozumel and has followed changes there since diving began in the 1960s. Cozumel was one of the last reefs in the Caribbean to degrade, protected by the strong currents that wash away pollutants and draw up cool deep water.
GCRA has worked with Dr. German Mendez for many years, and has built successful Biorock projects at his Cozumel site:
https://www.globalcoral.org/coral-growth-after-one-month-on-new-cozumel-biorock-reefs/
https://www.globalcoral.org/new-cozumel-coral-restoration-project/
We propose to greatly expand German Mendez’s efforts with Maya pyramid Biorock reefs on the sand below the reef that he is now restoring. The Biorock Cozumel Maya Reef will restore Cozumel’s collapsing ecotourism and fisheries.
AI-aided design of Cozumel Biorock Maya Pyramid Reef by Thomas Sarkisian
We encourage all concerned about saving coral reefs to donate directly to German Mendez’s programs at the Cozumel Coral Restoration Program: https://www.ccrrp.mx/. Those wishing to support the Biorock Cozumel Maya Reef in the US can make tax-exempt donations to the Global Coral Reef Alliance, www.globalcoral.org