Is Harvest Caye Development adversely affecting coral life in surrounding areas?

We haven’t heard much about NCL’s multimillion dollar tourism development project on Harvest Caye lately, but they have been working on getting the island ready for what they have said would be the end of the year. Well, their activities haven’t gone unnoticed. Pictures surfaced online a few days ago showing rocks on coral colonies. The rocks, it is alleged, are from works being done on Harvest Caye. Today, the Department of the Environment, in a release, confirmed that during a routine site inspection in the Placencia area on February eighteenth, personnel observed the construction of a groin near a patch reef in the vicinity of Harvest Caye. A verbal stop order was issued on site at the time of the discovery and they have since conducted a coral damage assessment of the patch reef. The release continues by saying that, “there have been impacts to the patch reef as a direct result of the commencement of the construction of the groin. The damage assessment has also determined the extent of impact to the reef, for which the D.O.E. and the Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development have been working with the responsible party for a closure on this matter.” But since the case is still open, details about this are being withheld due to legal implications, says the release. But the environmental community is not taking it lightly. Marine Biologist, Lisa Carne who conducts coral research in the area, has been out to the area and says the rocks are of concern.

Lisa Carne

Via Phone: Lisa Carne, Marine Biologist, Fragments of Hope

“On the west side of Harvest Caye, the silt curtains that are being used for the dredging are nonfunctional. One of them was not fully enclosed, it was open on one end which means it is not trapping the sediments and the second one evaluated was damaged so the vertical silt curtain was detached from the floatation device which also made it nonfunctional in holding back the silt from the dredging. So that was the first thing on the west side. As I mentioned, on the east side, we found this healthy reef system and then further up, we also found the large boulders dumped on the live rock. So these artificial boulders were dumped on live coral colonies and we have photos on the surface and photos on the waters, which shows the crushed live corals, which is illegal.  There are fines associated with that and it’s illegal. I’ve since understood that this may be part of the artificial beach. I am not a hundred percent certain but maybe this is part of the ground or the boundary where they will put in the artificial beach. And I also understand that NCL is claiming that they will just pay the fine and relocate the corals, which is very concerning because where will they be relocated to? Obviously the mass and sizes of some of these corals, it is physically limiting to relocate them. The relocation that I personally have done when I was contacted, we relocated small fragments of like thirty centimeters size…maximum three foot size, ninety centimeters. So these massive, massive coral heads that are in excess of six and ten feet, they weigh a lot, they are a different species from what we have been moving. They are slower growing species so they are hundreds of years old so it is not really logistical or ecologically feasible to say that you can relocate these corals.”

Duane Moody

“But, Lisa, from your expert opinion and being there, can you speak on the amount of damage, to what portion? How big is the damage?”

Via Phone: Lisa Carne

“The damage that we saw is fairly confined. When they dumped the boulder on the live coral, it is one specific site, but the impending damage of the beach construction they want to make is far larger. Harvest Caye is actually quite large and the reef system there is actually quite extensive. That’s why it is really not feasible to move all the affected corals and related species that they are suggesting that can simply be relocated. It is really not a feasibly option. So that’s my biggest concern; that’s on the east side, that’s on the windward side. On the west side or the leeward side, is where the manatee habitat is. That area is where the silt curtains that we saw were ineffective. So the extent of the damage really I couldn’t calculate it but it can be extensive because silt will lock out the sunlight for the sea grass, which is what the manatees feed on and other organisms need. So that can be very extensive. There is also dredging on the very south point for the actual ship entrance, where the ships will be actually docked. So there are multiple different impacts happening on Harvest Caye right now.”