Establishing a Protocol for Coral Reef Damage

Assessment for the Turks and Caicos Islands

By: Judith Campbell & Tatum Fisher

Objective

To develop a standardized protocol for assessing coral reefs damaged by vessel grounding and/or anchoring.

Recorded Incidents of Grounding in TCI

*Caravel/Molasses Reef Wreck

(1513)

P

Trouvadore (1841)

*

* HMS Endymion (1790)

* Jasper Orange(1980s)

Solo (1993) *

* Mary of the Star (1998)

Benfield (1998) *Opi (2001) Champlain (2003)

Sea Eagle (2003)

Exodus (2000)

*

Recorded Incidents of Grounding in TCI

1513 Caravel West Caicos 1790 H.M.S Endymion Great Sand Cay 1841 Trouvadore East Caicos 1980s Jaspeur Orange Salt Cay 1993 Solo Grand Turk 1998 Mary Star of the Sea West Caicos 1998 Benfield Grand Turk 2000 Exodus Providenciales 2001 Ninkulhe 5 Providenciales 2001 Opi Grand Turk 2003 Champlain Grand Turk 2003 Sea Eagle Providenciales

Impact on grounding incidents on the reefs

Scarifications

Breakage of a few coral heads

Impact on grounding incidents on the reefs

Toppling of several coral heads

Crushing of reef crest

Main Issues

Previously reef assessment has been sporadic.

Wide rage of assessments methods have been used and have resulted in varied valuations

Legal personnel do not understand how we arrive at the figure for compensation, and are reluctant to prosecute.

Boaters and visiting yacht men are negligent due to the absence of precedence.

Legal Basis for Damage Assessment and

RestorationFisheries Ordinance Part III, Section

10 (1 & 2)(1) No person shall, ……. use any explosive,

noxious or other substance or any device or thing potentially harmful to marine life to remove, dissolve, shift or in any way disturb any coral, sea oats, sand, rock or other substance forming part of the sea bed or any wreck within the fishery limits.

(2) Any person who contravenes any provision of this regulation shall be guilty of an offence.

Legal Basis for Damage Assessment and

RestorationNational Park Regulations Section 8, 3 (1c)

(1) The following are prohibited within all national parks– (c) the destruction of, or damage or injury to, any animal or plant;

National Park Regulations Section 8, 13 (4) The court before which any person is convicted of

an offence under this regulation may order-(b) that the person so convicted pay the cost of repairing any damage to a national park, nature reserve, sanctuary or area of historical interest caused by the commission of such offence.

Results of Previous Assessments

Date Place Location Vessel Particulars

Damage Assessment

Estimated Compensation

Results

Yacht 3600 m2

Sea Eagle mostly dead A. palmata flattened

11-Mar-03 Grand Turk Columbus Landfall NP

French Military Vessel Champlain

2115 m2 total

area damaged, 1608 broken coral heads

$420,720.00 Case Pending

Military Vessel Opi

6.06 m Montastrea & Acropora Coral

10-May-01 Providenciales Stellars Cut Princess Alexandra NP

Military Vessel Ninkulhe 5

Damaged colonies of fire coral

Damage regarded as superficial

$6,000.00 donation

Catamaran 472 Vessel

1080 m2

damaged Exodus reef

1.5m of gorgonians corals damaged

21-Jul-98 West Caicos South West Reefs

Military Vessel Mary Star of the Sea

Shallow, patchy spur & groove coral

375 m2 of

damaged reef

Nil

6,871.2527-Aug-03 Providenciales Wheeland Cut, NW Point

$6,871.25

Nil

$3,500.00 10-Dec-01 Grand Turk Columbus Landfall NP

$3,500.00

Nil

27-Jul-98 Grand Turk Columbus Landfall NP

Cargo Vessel Benfield

$5,000 $5,000

3-Jul-00 Providenciales Wheeland Cut, NW Point

Damage Assessment Protocol

Should provide the framework for determining:

What resources have been injured, What is the loss to the public,How can the resources be restored,What type and amount of

restoration is appropriate.

The Protocol

1. Pre-assessment

2. Restoration Planning

3. Economic Assessment of Damages

1. Pre-assessment

Gather facts of the incident Name of VesselDescription of the vesselVessel registration information Captain/ Owners name and contact infoPoint of departure and intended

destinationTime of grounding and events

surrounding grounding

Mark the beginning and end of grounding site with surface buoy

Gather physical evidence GPS coordinates of grounding siteWater depth at grounding site

Pre-assessment cont’d

Determine the natural resources and services that are, or likely to have been, injured as a result of the incident;

Identify potential restoration actions relevant to the expected injuries;

Determine potential assessment procedures to evaluate the injuries and define the appropriate type and scale of restoration for injured natural resources and services.

2. Restoration Planning Injury Assessment

To quantify the degree of injury – expressed in terms of percent mortality; proportion of a species, community, or habitat affected.

To quantify the spatial extent of injury – the total area injured.

To determine temporal extent of injury – expressed as the total length of time that the natural resource and/or service is adversely affected.

Restoration Selection & Implementation Selecting appropriate restorative action Emergency restoration Restoration implementation Monitoring programme

3. Economic Assessment of Damages

To estimate the amount of money to be soughtas compensation from the responsible party, for the injury resulting in the damage to the reefs.

Restoration cost (Implementation and completion of restoration project)

Compensatory restoration for interim loss of services.

All emergency responses Injury assessment Preparation of the damage assessment

report Long-term scientific monitoring studies