The last Evaluation of Ecosystem Health of Report Card on the Health of the Mesoamerican Reef for 2022 shows a worrying trend of health decay in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR), returning to 2006 poor conditions after ten years of improvement.
The advance of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD), probably caused by a virus and first detected in 2018, is devastating the health of the Mesoamerican Reef. Fish stocks have decreased under unexpected levels, groupers and snappers had the greatest declines since the last report and now rank in critically low abundance across the MAR.
Added to this situation unfulfilled promises of wastewater management combined with higher temperatures are bringing the health of the reef to a worrisome status.
Among the urgent actions to be implemented are fishing banning, effective protected areas with higher accountability and compulsory waste management.
Access to 2022 Mesoamerican Reef Report Card of Healthy Reefs for Healthy People (HRI)