MSC Foundation Mobilises Regional Experts to Help Protect Caribbean Reefs

At an expert workshop last week in Miami, hosted by MSC Foundation, scientists and practitioners agreed with the urgent need to strengthen responses to Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD), one of the most serious threats facing coral reefs across the Caribbean, including Florida and The Bahamas. 

In a keynote addressing experts in Miami, Dr. Rhianna Neely-Murphy, Director of The Bahamas Department of Environmental Planning and Protection, said: “SCTLD remains a serious challenge for us, but it is also an opportunity to strengthen our stewardship, accelerate science-based decision making, and empower communities to build a more resilient archipelago. Since its emergence, SCTLD has caused an unprecedented threat to our reef building corals across the Bahamas.”

Highlighting the complexity of the challenge, workshop participants from across The Bahamas, Florida and the wider Caribbean agreed on the need for coordinated action, strengthened scientific collaboration, and open exchange of data and best practices to achieve meaningful progress. Participants highlighted the significant efforts underway to understand the impacts of the disease on reef ecosystems and the effectiveness of existing treatments and management approaches.

Dr. Aaron Hartmann, Senior Scientist at PIMS and Head of The Bahamas Coral Program, said: “Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease is one of the most serious threats Caribbean reefs have ever faced, and The Bahamas sits directly in its path. Perry Institute for Marine Science has worked alongside Bahamian agencies and regional partners for years to monitor our reefs, treat affected corals, and understand how this disease spreads and how to slow it. What this workshop does is bring that on-the-ground experience together across borders, because coral disease does not stop at national boundaries and neither can our response. By sharing data, treatments, and hard-won lessons openly, we give these reefs, and the fisheries, livelihoods, and communities that depend on them, a far stronger chance to recover.”

Participants identified five key priorities for safeguarding Bahamian coral reefs: building local conservation capacity, closing critical data gaps, strengthening national research collaboration, identifying levels of reef interconnectivity, and implementing integrated management approaches that address the full range of threats facing reef ecosystems. Participating organizations also committed to developing a shared framework that can inform coordinated efforts on conservation priorities.

David Smith, MSC Foundation Chief Scientific Adviser, said: “The scale and complexity of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease means that no single organization or country can address it alone. Bringing together experts from different regions and disciplines creates a real opportunity to learn from one another, strengthen coordination and support science-based action for reef conservation.”

Since first identified in Florida in 2014, SCTLD has spread across multiple countries and territories across the Caribbean region, including The Bahamas. The disease affects hard corals and can spread rapidly across reefs, threatening marine biodiversity, fisheries, tourism and coastal protection. In The Bahamas, national response efforts have involved government agencies, scientific partners and conservation organizations working together to strengthen monitoring, treatment and management approaches.

The expert workshop “Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease: Partnering for Resilient Reefs” convened representatives from government agencies, research institutions, conservation organizations and restoration practitioners working across The Bahamas, Florida and the wider Caribbean to exchange experience, review emerging science spanning disease ecology and epidemiology, pathogen identification, field detection and reef health monitoring, treatment development and application, intervention effectiveness, national-scale implementation strategies and restoration science.