Jul 25, 2023

Diving into the Depths: Unraveling the Mystery of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease!

Stony coral tissue loss disease, a relentless affliction sweeping through the delicate ecosystems of coral reefs, continues to cause grave concerns for scientists, conservationists, and communities alike. The disease is in Belize, affecting the corals of the Great Barrier Reef. In the following news feature, reporter Hipolito Novelo in collaboration with freelancer Jose Sanchez and with support from Earth Journalism Network, embarks on a journey to uncover the devastating impact of this enigmatic disease on Belize’s precious coral reefs and what it means for Belizeans. Here is that story.

 

Hipolito Novelo, Reporting

Belize’s corals are under attack by a spreading disease.

 

Melanie McField, Executive Director, Healthy Reefs for Healthy People

“It’s bad. It kills corals so quickly. It’s faster than any of the other diseases we’ve seen.”

 

Stony coral tissue loss disease or SCTLD is spreading across the Caribbean Region and Belize is being affected.

 

Lisa Carne, Founder, Fragments of Hope

“It’s terrible. It’s really bad. It’s really awful. So it’s been devastating for the entire Caribbean.”

 

SCTLD is highly infectious, affecting stony corals and causing rapid tissue loss and mortality. The disease typically starts when a susceptible coral comes into contact with the pathogen. Once a coral is infected, the disease progresses rapidly. A distinct white band of tissue loss appears on the coral’s surface, usually near the base or on the edge of the colony. The tissue loss continues to spread, affecting more and more of the coral’s surface. As the disease spreads, the coral’s health deteriorates. The loss of tissue exposes the underlying skeletal structure, weakening the coral’s structural integrity. The coral becomes more susceptible to other infections, predators, and environmental stressors.

 

According to the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) Program, the disease is believed to have originated in Miami, Florida in 2014. It began spreading as it ravaged reefs. Scientists began studying the disease to halt the spread and restore reefs, but as they did so, the disease traveled south, to the Yucatan Peninsula and then to Belize. Its mode of transportation is still something not fully established.

 

Melanie McField

“Since the disease began by the port of Miami, there was a lot of interest in looking at ship tracks and many of the other early locations when it spread from the Florida area were in major ports. So it looked like possibly ballast water or even the hulls of ships. The hull of a ship has a film on it with little captures some of the microorganisms that are floating in the water. And so if you have a disease outbreak in one area, those organisms are in the water. They can attach to the hull of the ship. So that’s almost impossible to regulate, you know. It could be moving around, there’s even fish could be vectors or, or cetaceans could be vectors moving the disease around. The thing is, once it’s in the water, you really can’t prevent the transmission.”

 

The exact cause of SCTLD is still being investigated, but it is believed to involve a combination of factors, including bacteria and other microorganisms.

 

Melanie McField

“It began right near the port of Miami and there was a major dredging. So they were deepening the port and there was a lot of discussion about the outflow and they were trying to contain the silt that came off of that and it wasn’t working well. And there was also a coral bleaching event. And there was also a leaking sewage pipe. Florida still has several offshore outfalls where somewhat treated sewage, like primary treatment, is pumped offshore several miles, but the pipe that leads to the offshore goes across  the reef area and that’s the location where it started.”

 

That was ten years ago, and now the disease is killing over ninety-percent of reefs in the region. It’s infected more than twenty species. Colonies comprising corals that are hundreds of years old have been decimated.   Scientists, conservation organizations, and government agencies have identified hotspots where the disease cannot be allowed to exist. These hotspots were identified within the Lighthouse Reef Atoll.

 

Gabriela Ugarte, Marine Research/Monitoring Officer, Belize Audubon Society

“Approximately 4, 000 coral colonies were assessed. Of that 4,000, approximately 16% showed signs of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. And then 11% of those showed 100% mortality due to the disease. After the rover diver surveys treatment was done at our hot spots along the atoll. So those being closer to Half Moon Caye and some areas around the Blue Hole, given that those are our highest tourist destinations.”

 

Lisa Carne

“The disease pretty much kills the corals in most cases. It’s been reported on 26 different species of the hard corals. So, in Belize, we have around 60 odd, 70 of the hard coral, the stony coral species. And at least 26 of those are known to get it. The big exceptions that do not get the disease are the Caribbean Acroporids, which is the common name is Elkhorn. Staghorn, and then the hybrid between those two is fused staghorn.”

 

But still bad news for Belize, and the Blue Economy which his defined by the United Nations as an economy that “comprises a range of economic sectors and related policies that together determine whether the use of ocean resources is sustainable.” and corals are crucial to the Great Barrier Reef, a priceless ocean resource directly linked to Belize’s economy. Without corals, the reef dies and if the reef dies tourism and the livelihoods of more than tens of thousands of families who depend on such industries like tourism and fisheries, will be significantly impacted.

 

Andre Perez, Minister of Blue Economy

“The most important thing is that this government has identified itself. That is the value of our blue space. When we’re talking about a blue space, we’re talking about all the waters that are in this country, on the coast that clearly highlight the value that the contribution does in various aspects to the economy and as such the establishment of the blue economy.So the gross domestic product is clearly tourism and the fishing industry is major in this. So with that is finding that, that equilibrium, the balance, the sustainable goals that we have is to make sure everybody’s included, but that we have to preserve our waters for generations to come.”

 

One notable characteristic of SCTLD is its ability to spread quickly. It can infect multiple coral colonies in a short period, leading to large-scale outbreaks. The mechanisms of its spread are not fully understood, but it is believed to involve both direct contact and waterborne transmission of the pathogen which is why organizations like Fragments of Hope, Healthy Reefs for Health People, Belize Audubon Society, TASA and the University of Belize are doing their part to stem the spread of the disease.

 

Ninon Martinez, Marine Program Manager, ERI, UB

“Along with TASA, we only got out about four times in the whole year. Now Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, as you know from your study that you did at Goff’s Key, can kill a coral in four to six weeks. So if we’re going out four times a year, that’s probably three months, whatever we treated, it could have been dead already.”

 

Lisa Carne

“In May 2022, We had reported it all the way south of Rangwana on the outer reef. We have not seen it in what we call the inner keys of Placencia as yet, but that may just be a matter of time. And again, if you look at the map, you’ll see that, you know, because we have Gladden Spit in front of Placentia, it doesn’t go north to south again. The reef, it kind of juts out and we have all this water and cayes. And so I can’t say that it won’t be here, but it seems like it’s taking longer to reach in the west than it has to move south.”

 

Gabriela Ugarte

“Of those colonies that we did decide to treat, the treatment did show success. Progression of the disease along the coral colony itself was halted, which is really what the signs that we were looking for.”

 

Lisa Carne

“So a recent decision, I think just last year, was made that one application is enough, and we don’t have to tag every single coral again. And so that allows us to treat a lot more corals on a single dive than the previous way.”

Victor Faux is the site coordinator for Fragments of Hope in Placencia. He has been at the forefront, helping the corals battle the disease before Belize’s entire reef system is affected. Faux and other experts apply a paste made up of a carrying agent called CoreRx/Base2B and amoxicillin powder, an antibiotic. The paste stops the spread of the disease.

 

Victor Faux, Site Coordinator, Fragments of Hope

“So we put it in 60cc syringes. And we, if it’s too small at the front, we cut out the front because we want at least a width of that when we’re applying it along the lesion of the coral. With stony coral tissue loss it’s also getting white but you can see it’s dying behind it. Algae growth is faster and also where the live tissue is still by the lesions, the tissue is coming off of the coral itself. You’ll see the color of the healthy coral and right away you see a band around the coral or sometimes just little splashes. It’s not an entire area. I do see that the coral, the treatment has been working to some point where it stopped the disease, but it’s not a fix, a permanent fix. The coral can still be re-infected with the disease again.”

 

Faux alone has treated over 600 corals. For many organizations, resources are scarce, and this limits their abilities to stop the spread. Treating every single infected coral is impossible, extremely costly and time consuming.

 

Melani McField

“Some of these massive corals are hundreds of years old. So if you can stop the progression of the disease by applying these antibiotics you can save a few coral heads, and some of them are really valuable because they’re only, you know, they’re a handful of these giant, several hundred year old corals in key areas, so at least those we can work to salvage. We can’t save everything by applying antibiotics, it’s just, it wouldn’t be feasible, or even probably beneficial.”

 

Lisa Carne

“When it dies, you know, it turns white, and then right after that, you start having turf algae come in, and then microalgae come in, and so, that whiteness doesn’t stay for very long. That’s only when it’s most recent dead. And then it just literally just looks like a dead piece of anything, and then it starts to get algae growing over it. And so, it just, it changes the whole reef scenario completely.”

Protecting the corals means protecting the reef and protecting the reef means protecting ourselves.The sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem is crucial to the blue economy.

 

Lisa Carne

“The shoreline protection is invaluable with the reefs gives us right. With hurricanes and storms and things, it breaks up the wave energy and only a living reef can break up that wave energy because even though you see a lot of newfangled ideas about shoreline protection that is, uh, engineered with you know, the latest fancy cement or the latest whatever. If it’s not alive, that will erode over time, right? There’s just no way. With the beating of the wave energy and everything, it will erode. And so a living reef is constantly growing and building new tissue on it. And that’s how it continues to give us shoreline protection.”

 

Melanie McField

“Beyond the protection, of course, is the fisheries value, right? So fishes, lobsters, you know, things we like to eat, they all need the reef to live. They need the habitat. They eat the things that are on the reef. They need it for shelter from the things that eat them. and then finally for tourism or just sort of general beauty and biodiversity value. So biodiversity simply means all the different organisms around you. And for the aesthetic beauty, as you know in Belize, what is the figure? It’s like one in seven people. People have something to do with tourism, right? So it’s a huge income earner.”

 

But there is hope. The antibiotic has shown a level of success. And the focus moving forward is to strengthen the population of corals that are resistant to the disease.

 

Melanie McField

“Over time we’re hoping to be able to ID some of the survivors from this disease and then start propagating those. And even if we can’t answer the question of Why or what made them resist or survive the disease, we can at least identify the survivors and then start working to repopulate reefs after that.”

 

Lisa Carne

The only good news is that, of course, you know, we’re biding our time, but we do expect there to be some resistant corals. And so without having science backing us up to say we don’t know what the pathogen is, we don’t know why some corals are resistant. So the thinking is like, at least let’s, let’s ramp up the restoration efforts with these branching, reef building corals because we know they don’t get that particular disease. So at least we’ll have some framework and structure. And so that’s what we’ve been doing since 2020 in the northern areas.”

 

Melani McField

“There’s another aspect of looking at probiotics. So the natural immunity within these corals, it’s from a variety of different, um, bacteria, and that those can be cultivated and then kind of reintroduced the way we might take a probiotic pill to help your gut health. So that’s also being explored and that, you know, you may be able to foster that in a larger scale kind of experiment in the environment. The stony coral tissue loss disease is the most devastating coral disease yet to affect corals in the Caribbean. Well, globally, it’s actually, it affects about 26 species of coral, which is the thing that’s so unusual about this. Most diseases are more selective and affect only a few species. But this one is really affecting most of the major framework builders”

 

So protect the builders of the reef by spreading the word about SCTLD and its devastating impact on coral reefs. Share information with your friends, family, and community through social media, local events, and educational platforms. The more people who understand the issue, the greater the support for action.

This story was published with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network

 

Hipolito Novelo for News Five.