Can U.S.-Cuba Normalization Save Coral Reefs? On July 4, Scientists Said Sí Señor

Can U.S.-Cuba Normalization Save Coral Reefs? On July 4, Scientists Said
Sí Señor
By TIM PADGETT • JUL 11, 2016

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Billy Causey has a keen eye for recreational boaters doing dumb things
around vulnerable coral reefs in the Florida Keys.

Especially on heavy boating holidays like the Fourth of July.

"Lookee there," says Causey as his boat heads out from Big Pine Key. He
points to a nearby cluster of party boats. "A lot of them are up on the
sea grasses and people are walking around on top of small colonies of
coral."

This is why Causey – the southeast regional director for the National
Marine Sanctuary Program – invited a dozen Cuban environmental officials
to snorkel last week on July 4 at Looe Key, a popular coral reef 25
miles east of Key West.

Five years ago Causey's counterparts from communist Cuba would have been
personae non gratae in the U.S. – even more so on America's Independence
Day. But Washington and Havana have figured out they have vested
interests in learning about coral reefs on each other's sides of the
Florida Straits – and about the challenges for preserving them.

"We're certainly not against recreational use of the reefs," says
Causey, whose program is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, or NOAA.

"But our colleagues in Cuba are just starting to experience this kind of
tourism coming into their area. They can see what we're working with
here, and we'll both better understand what it means to our reefs."

Our colleagues in Cuba are just starting to experience this kind of
tourism coming into their area. They can see what we're working with
here, and we'll both better understand what it means to our reefs.
-Billy Causey
That ecological exchange is one of the clearest dividends to emerge from
the 2014 normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations.

Last fall the two countries signed a historic environmental cooperation
agreement. Its chief aim is to save their coral reefs, which are a vital
infrastructure of marine life – and therefore of the
multi-billion-dollar tourism industries Florida and Cuba depend on.

"Coral reefs have been around for 600 million years," Causey notes. But
around the world – and especially in the Florida Straits – many are
dying, thanks to climate change and human abuse, from ocean warming and
acidification to overfishing. And overboating.

As they pass the party boats, Causey kiddingly warns his guests,
"Tomorrow they're coming to Cuba!"

"No va a pasar" – It won't happen – says Carlos Alberto Díaz, who heads
Cuba's National Center for Protected Areas.

But Díaz and the Cubans know it could happen, especially as more
Americans visit the island. That's why Cuba has embarked on a widely
applauded project to preserve a quarter of its coastal marine
territory. "What they're doing gives me hope," says Causey, who believes
the U.S. is learning from Cuba's management plan.

SISTER SANCTUARIES

And the U.S. wants to help, via a "sister sanctuaries" pact between
preserves like Cuba's Guanahacabibes National Park and the Florida Keys
National Marine Sanctuary. For the first time, U.S. and Cuban scientists
are learning each other's marine habitats – and how profoundly they
interact.

"This is a historic moment for scientists in both countries," says Díaz.
"It opens the door to the future survival of these reefs."

Both Causey and the Cubans are reminded why as they dive in to snorkel
at Looe Key.

They see majestic coral, of course. Elkhorn, boulder, star and almost 40
other species. But as Causey plunges below he points out signs of coral
ailments like black band and white pox bleaching.

Just as useful – and more encouraging – is seeing big blue parrot fish
munching algae off the reef, their pecking remarkably audible underwater.

Parrot fish are important because rampant algae growth is suffocating
coral reefs. Even so, parrot fish are being overfished in the Florida
Straits. So replenishing their populations is crucial.

And that's more possible now since researchers can see more clearly how
parrot fish and their larvae drift between Cuba and the Keys.

"More important," says Díaz, who is actually a forestry expert, "we're
learning from each other how to replant coral, like planting trees in
forests."

So Causey and the Cubans also make a point of snorkeling above an
underwater nursery near Looe Key, where coral "seedlings" grow on tall
metal frames anchored to the sea floor.

"We're anxious to learn what makes Cuba a resilient place for corals as
I remember them in the past," says David Vaughan, who heads the Mote
Marine Laboratory in the Keys. He and his Cuban counterparts are
attempting to transplant coral strains from one side of the Straits to
the other – which could be a huge step for preservation.

Vaughan knows that not so long ago both countries might have considered
such scientific activity in each other's submarine territory a form of
spying.

"They'd have thought we were doing espionage," he says. "Today,
especially with our friends from the University of Havana, we can do all
the coral science monitoring we want."

U.S. and Cuban scientists actually initiated this relationship years
before their countries normalized relations. Some might say
normalization has aided the scientists – but the scientists might argue
they planted the seeds for normalization.

Source: Can U.S.-Cuba Normalization Save Coral Reefs? On July 4,
Scientists Said Sí Señor | WLRN -
http://wlrn.org/post/can-us-cuba-normalization-save-coral-reefs-july-4-scientists-said-s-se-or