Health of the reefs?

[marcus8]

I'm curious to hear from any veteran Coz divers who've been lucky enough to dive there recently. We've had a few events that might have affected reef health.....the suspension of dive activity on certain reefs - rotating availability, etc....and then the pandemic where I'm sure dive activity has been much lighter than normal. Has anyone noticed and changes, maybe even some improvement of the coral, sea fans, sea life...? Thanks

 

[jlyle]

We are on the island right now. Reef and fish on the reefs within the park look the same as they did last January. The bleaching of some corals continues but isn't widespread. What's remarkable is the bottom north of the park - specifically in front of Scuba Club Cozumel. For several years, algae had proliferated to the detriment of marine life. Without cruise ships, most of the algae is gone! I've suspected for a long time that the ships were dumping gray water in port and nutrients were feeding the algae. It looks like I may be right.

 

[ColoDale]

Health of the reef is good. There is a bit of sand and other debris (natural) in some some spots but that is due to storms.

 

[ggunn]

I'm curious to hear from any veteran Coz divers who've been lucky enough to dive there recently. We've had a few events that might have affected reef health.....the suspension of dive activity on certain reefs - rotating availability, etc....and then the pandemic where I'm sure dive activity has been much lighter than normal. Has anyone noticed and changes, maybe even some improvement of the coral, sea fans, sea life...? Thanks

I would expect, hope even, that there are no appreciable improvements in reef conditions that can be directly attributed to the reduced number of divers in the waters around Cozumel. I do not, however, see how the effects of fewer divers can be separated from the effects of no cruise ships in the area.

 

[Charred]

We are on the island right now. Reef and fish on the reefs within the park look the same as they did last January. The bleaching of some corals continues but isn't widespread. What's remarkable is the bottom north of the park - specifically in front of Scuba Club Cozumel. For several years, algae had proliferated to the detriment of marine life. Without cruise ships, most of the algae is gone! I've suspected for a long time that the ships were dumping gray water in port and nutrients were feeding the algae. It looks like I may be right.

Wow, so what you are saying is that if the reefs got a 6 month break from cruise ships it would help their health?

Just think how exotic ($$$) a place like Cozumel would be if you could only go there 6 months a year. Quality, not quantity.

 

[cozcharlie]

We are on the island right now. Reef and fish on the reefs within the park look the same as they did last January. The bleaching of some corals continues but isn't widespread. What's remarkable is the bottom north of the park - specifically in front of Scuba Club Cozumel. For several years, algae had proliferated to the detriment of marine life. Without cruise ships, most of the algae is gone! I've suspected for a long time that the ships were dumping gray water in port and nutrients were feeding the algae. It looks like I may be right.

What depth are you talking about for the algae? At shallower depths the storms scrubbed a lot of stuff and would have likely removed algae. Beyond 25-30 feet I would assume it is more cruise ship related. Not arguing, just curious. Cruise ships clearly bad for reefs in multiple ways

 

[jlyle]

What depth are you talking about for the algae? At shallower depths the storms scrubbed a lot of stuff and would have likely removed algae. Beyond 25-30 feet I would assume it is more cruise ship related. Not arguing, just curious. Cruise ships clearly bad for reefs in multiple ways

Less than 30 feet. Yes, some of the algae wasn't attached and could be swept away by storms but we've been through storms before and the algae remained or was quickly replaced. We also had filamentous algae attached to rocks and it is now gone.

 

[Okcdiver2]

We are on the island right now. Reef and fish on the reefs within the park look the same as they did last January. The bleaching of some corals continues but isn't widespread. What's remarkable is the bottom north of the park - specifically in front of Scuba Club Cozumel. For several years, algae had proliferated to the detriment of marine life. Without cruise ships, most of the algae is gone! I've suspected for a long time that the ships were dumping gray water in port and nutrients were feeding the algae. It looks like I may be right.

It might be the cause of some of it but I'm a storm water inspector for 15 yrs and I see the sanitary sewer overflow everytime it rains at punta langosta and melgar and rosada salas. Also all the locals dump wash water into the street. They also pour bleach and soap on sidewalks and wash down daily. People are so quick to blame cruise ships when majority of the problems come from island itself and lack of education on storm water quality.

 

[Snoweman]

I was in Cozumel last August, and didn't think I would return due to the determination of the reef over the past six years I have visited. I came back this past September, mostly due to not being or wanting to go anywhere else. I felt that the reefs had remakrkingly improved. My unscientific opinion was that it was due to the lack of cruise ships. I would love to see Cozumel restrict cruise ships dramatically, but I also saw a lot of shuttered businesses in town, too.

 

[gopbroek]

I think that since the prevailing current is North the cruise ships have little effect on the reefs in the park. Since to the best of my knowledge there is no sewer system south of town from the marina to Iberostar I believe they use vertical pipes and inject the sewage into the coral limestone which is riddled with passages allowing it to percolate out into the adjoining sea, this could cause an effect from Cedral and north to Paradise, but would not affect Palancar and below. Not sure what the town of Cedral uses.
As for water activities simply enforcement of the requirements for permits and baring the unlicensed operators and banning non biodegradable sunscreen would help, in my opinion.