Saving Grand Cayman’s Coral Reefs From New Pier Project

This CNN article discuses a proposed huge pier development plan that would invariably harm a considerable amount of the coral reef off Grand Cayman, an island in the Caribbean off the coast of Cuba.  Supporters of the Pier project say the coral reef can be relocated, but the article states that a whole coral reef cannot be relocated, while “[w]hat can be attempted, in other circumstances, is to transplant or relocate individual coral fragments or even entire colonies.”

Supporters of the Cayman Island pier project point to a coral relocation project in Jamaica, where, in 2009, in Falmouth, as part of a pier construction mitigation plan, more than 140,000 individual corals were relocated. The authors of this article state that few of the corals survived or thrived at their new location.

Click to go to the CNN article.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/29/opinions/safina-coral-reef-relocation-myth/