• Cayman Islands: Little Cayman could hold key to reef survival
• Damaged reefs show resiliency in Cayman Islands study
• Cayman's imperilled blue iguanas on the rebound

• Grand Cayman Island: Reefs are beautiful - but most of the coral is dead.

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Positive Trends
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Cayman Islands: Little Cayman could hold key to reef survival
16 July 2014 - Research taking place in Little Cayman could hold the key to the survival of coral reefs in the Caribbean and the colourful marine life they support. Coral cover has actually been increasing around Little Cayman in the past five years, bucking the regional trend that has seen widespread coral die-off on reefs -- often compared to rainforests because of the biological diversity they support. Initial studies suggest that controlling overfishing and reducing coastal pollution could be key factors. (more)

Damaged reefs show resiliency in Cayman Islands study
20 December 2013 - A 13-year study of coral reefs spontaneously recovering in the Cayman Islands offers hope of refuting often doomsday forecasts about the worldwide decline of the colourful marine habitat. Scientists monitoring the Cayman reefs noted a 40 per cent decline in live coral cover between 1999 and 2004 during a period of warmer seas in the Caribbean. However, seven years later, the amount, size and density of the live coral had returned to 1999 levels as sea temperatures eased, according to Tom Frazer, professor of aquatic ecology at the University of Florida and part of the research team. (more)

Cayman's imperilled blue iguanas on the rebound
16 August 2012 - The blue iguana has lived on the rocky shores of Grand Cayman for at least a couple of million years, preening like a miniature turquoise dragon as it soaked in the sun or sheltered inside crevices. Yet having survived everything from tropical hurricanes to ice ages, it was driven to near-extinction by dogs, cats, and cars. Now, though, a breeding programme some see as a global model has worked better than any had hoped to dream for a species that numbered less than a dozen in the wild just a decade ago. Arthur C Echternacht, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Tennessee, USA said that the Grand Cayman programme has succeeded by building unusually strong relationships with international scientists as well as support from local politicians and citizens. (more)

Cayman's imperiled blue iguanas on the rebound
15 August 2012 - The blue iguana has lived on the rocky shores of Grand Cayman for at least a couple of million years. Yet having survived everything from tropical hurricanes to ice ages, it was driven to near-extinction by dogs, cats, and cars. Now a breeding programme has worked better than any had hoped to dream for a species that numbered less than a dozen in the wild just a decade ago. (more)

Grand Cayman blue iguana: Back from the brink of extinction
18 July 2011 - While thousands of species are threatened with extinction around the globe, efforts to save the Grand Cayman blue iguana represent a rarity in conservation: a chance for complete recovery, according to health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo and other members of the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme. (more)

Cayman Islands bans smoking in public places
31 December 2009 - The Cayman Islands has banned smoking inside all public places. The law went into effect Thursday. Other Caribbean countries such as the Dominican Republic and Grenada already have smoking bans, while legislators in Trinidad have approved such a proposal and are waiting for the Prime Minister to sign it. (more)

Cayman Islands: Devoted to protecting its environment
12 January 2007 - After a two year absence, the island of little Cayman will soon benefit from the support of two Department of Environment (DoE) officers. (more)

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Flops
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Grand Cayman Island: Reefs are beautiful - but most of the coral is dead.
6 May 2014 - Grand Cayman Island is a key haven of marine biodiversity, sporting 36 different coral species (corals are tiny animals that build rock-like reef structures) and 350 kinds of fish. Generally speaking, coral reefs are some of the most ecologically rich habitats on Earth, supporting 25 per cent of marine life in less than one percent of the ocean environment. They're a first line of defence for coastal communities against devastating storm surges. In Cayman, as in many small island nations, reefs are the backbone of the local tourism and subsistence fishing industries. And they're rapidly dying off. A study published last October found that on reefs around Little Cayman, a kind of suburb island adjacent to Grand Cayman, coral cover fell from 26 to 14 per cent just between 1999 and 2004. Since the early 1980s, coral cover across the entire Caribbean has plummeted 80 percent, so that living corals now cover only 10 per cent, on average, of available surface area. And a 2011 report from the World Resources Institute that labelled reefs around Grand Cayman as highly threatened found that what's happening there is a microcosm of a global trend: 90 per cent of the world's coral will be at risk of disappearance by 2030. (more)