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When he embarks on his Cozumel-to-Cancun swim on Wednesday, Paul Ellis won't be trying to conquer the sea but to save it
BYLINE: Pamela LeBlanc AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
July 15, 2002
COZUMEL, Quintana Roo -- From shore, it's hard to believe that anything is amiss in the turquoise waters off this tranquil resort island.
Tourists meander among the T-shirt shops and bars along the streets of San Miguel, this island's only town. Boats carrying scuba divers buzz back and forth between land and the coral reefs just offshore.
But beyond the white sand beaches and the protected marine park here, things are terribly wrong in oceans around the world.
Waters that once teemed with fish don't flash with the color they did a decade ago. Corals are bleaching and dying. The pace of reef destruction is quickening.
That's why Austin businessman Paul Ellis, 59, has come here. Early Wednesday, weather permitting, he'll attempt to swim 55 miles from Cozumel to Cancun, on the mainland, in hopes of drawing public attention to the plight of reefs. He has treasured these delicate ecosystems through years of snorkeling and diving. A film crew will follow him, shooting footage for a documentary about Ellis' athletic quest and his environmental mission.
On Sunday, while going over maps detailing the waters he'll swim through, which are 1,400 feet deep in some places, he said Cozumel should be held up as an example of what can be done to save coral reefs.
The Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park, a 67,133-acre underwater preserve, prohibits fishing and and controls diving within its boundaries established by the Mexican government in 1996.
"No matter how good of a job Cozumel does in protecting its reefs, there are global issues," he said. "I picked this area to do the swim because I knew it best, I love it best."
Reefs are declining all over the world, and scientists say a variety of human and natural causes -- such as hurricanes and global warming -- are to blame.
As human populations increase, so does shoreline development. (Cozumel now boasts a permanent population of about 65,000, and an estimated 60,000 divers visit each year.) Development means more runoff and sediment in the very areas where coral growth needs clean, clear water. Trampling by careless scuba divers, boat and ship groundings, and the dumping of industrial waste and other pollution also harm the reefs, as do poor fishing practices. Together, these stresses make the reefs more susceptible to diseases.
"In a nutshell, we're in a crisis," said John Ogden, director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography and professor of biology at the University of South Florida. "If we don't do anything at all, we probably will in many parts of the world lose reefs. It's a sad situation, and an economic loss of considerable magnitude."
Even people who will never see the beauty of a coral reef up close have a stake. Reefs are some of the world's most diverse ecosystems, home to almost a million species of fish and other creatures. They support fishing industries and tourist economies and protect land from storms.
A Natural Refuge
Coral reefs have been called the canaries in the coal mine because they show signs of stress before other parts of the ocean.
"In 1997 and 1998, that canary fell off the perch and was twitching on the bottom of its cage," Ogden said. "And what did we do? Nothing."
According to a report released last week by the Ocean Conservancy, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy and education group, overfishing of large fish such as shark, grouper and snapper in the Caribbean has shifted the balance of life on the reefs.
"Coral reefs are much more than just corals -- they're a myriad of ocean life. Those organisms -- coral, fish, invertebrates -- are interrelated and interdependent," said Jack Sobel, director for strategic conservation science and policy for the Ocean Conservancy. "There's a fragile web of species tied together, and removing portions of the community destabilizes the reefs and makes them more susceptible to things like hurricanes and human impacts."
That precarious balance changes when just a few species are heavily fished.
"There's a cascading effect," Sobel said. "When you remove large predators, that affects everything else."
Fisheries once focused on waters immediately adjacent to towns, leaving some fish and coral communities untouched by fishing. As human populations and demand for food have grown, and fishing technology has improved, more areas are being fished, and those natural refuges have disappeared.
"It's intense. Every tourist who goes down (to Cozumel) thinks they're in a fishing paradise -- and it used to be," Ogden said.
Land-based pollution also is harming the reefs. Sewage production, polluted air that rains down on the oceans and land destabilization where coastal forests are removed and topsoil washes into the oceans -- all of it has a damaging effect.
Relatively speaking, the Caribbean is a small body of water, ringed by more than 30 countries, with more than 100 million people living along its shores. But hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the area each year.
The stretch of Yucatan coast between Cancun and Tulum and farther south is one of the most rapidly developing areas in Mexico, with new high-rise hotels and posh, expansive resorts springing up each year. As land is cleared for development, more runoff and sediment reaches the ocean, choking the reefs.
"They're killing the goose that laid the golden egg. That place, without some check on this, is going to be basically doomed," Ogden said.
Global warming of the oceans is taking a toll as well. Higher temperatures stress the corals, which are marine polyps that respond by jettisoning plants that live within their stony skeletons. The coral turns white and stops making calcium, and if conditions don't improve, it dies.
Beginning in about 1987, huge areas of coral around the world began bleaching with increasing frequency. Many died.
The reefs might be able to cope with stressors such as overfishing, pollution or global warming, taken separately. But when the assaults all hit at once, the reefs are weakened. That makes them more susceptible to coral disease and damage from recreational activities.
Cozumel is better off than many reef systems because fishing is prohibited in the marine park and the number of dive operators is limited. But before the park was created, it, too, was showing signs of stress. Unprotected reefs outside the park and around Isla Mujeres north of Cancun are in much worse shape.
Jim Bohnsack, a coral reef ecologist and research fishery biologist with the National Marine Fishery Service in Miami, points to large die-offs of organisms that support reef-building corals.
In 1983, nearly all the black sea urchins in Caribbean waters died when exposed to bacteria introduced by a ship in the Panama Canal. That affected the corals, which relied on the urchins to clean the rock surfaces so juvenile corals could attach to them.
In the past decade, elkhorn and staghorn corals throughout the Caribbean have been decimated. Scientists blame a bacteria found in the intestines of humans and other animals.
"The biggest threat is we do such damage to the system it can't recover,"
Bohnsack said. "There is a point of no return. . . . If it's too much, we'll lose things forever."
Reversing The Damage
Despite the gloom and doom, some experts say it may not be too late to save the reefs.
In its Health of the Oceans report, the Ocean Conservancy suggests ways to curb the oceans' decline. In the United States, an independent agency for managing oceans should be created, the group says. That responsibility is now divided among several federal agencies. The conservancy also suggests overhauling the country's fisheries management system, adopting an ecosystem-based approach and reducing polluted runoff by implementing and enforcing water laws.
It proposes more and bigger marine preserves such as the one in Cozumel.
These area allow fish and coral populations to grow, helping the ecosystem rebound and drawing tourists.
In Cozumel, dive shops hand out brochures informing clients about the marine park and asking them not to touch the coral or disturb the sea life. The owners know their livelihood depends on the health of the reef.
"We came here as guests six years ago when we started," said Deep Blue dive shop owner Matt Daines. "We don't want to exploit it."
Without such sanctuaries, the conservancy's Sobel said coral reef systems will continue to collapse. Other proposals by his organization include requiring developers to use sediment screens and improving sewage treatment plants to limit land-based pollution.
Ogden, with the Florida Institute of Oceanography, testified before the U.S.
House of Representatives in June, warning lawmakers that time is running short to save the coral reefs.
"Conservation isn't really a matter of how much a natural system is worth in dollar terms; it's a moral choice," Ogden said. "We would have essentially screwed up the globe for all future generations just for our own greed and lack of sensitivity and political will. Who, in the dark of night, wants that to happen?"
Ellis says he'll be thinking about the reefs when he enters the water before dawn Wednesday, with two boats and a documentary film crew on his heels as he attempts a swim estimated to take him 12 to 24 hours.
No matter how his swim goes, he says he'll consider it a success if more people understand what's happening in the oceans -- and try to do something about it.
"We've got to make the world wake up to the fact we're killing and strangling the planet," he said.
On Nature's Behalf
Follow 59-year-old Austinite Paul Ellis as he attempts to swim from the island of Cozumel to Cancun on Mexico's Yucatan coast. He plans to start early Wednesday and finish that night or Thursday. Reports will appear in the American- Statesman and on statesman.com/ life/reef. For more coral reef information, visit www.reefcheck.org, www.swim4thereef.com and www.coralreef.noaa.gov.
Things You Can Do To Help Save The Coral Reefs:
- When you visit a coral reef, respect local guidelines and regulations.
- Hire local guides.
- Be an informed consumer. Find out the source of coral objects you buy.
- Don't pollute. Never put garbage or human waste in the water or leave trash on the beach.
- Report oceanfront dumping.
- Buy marine aquarium fish only if you know they have been collected in an ecologically sound manner.
- Don't anchor on the reef. Use mooring buoy systems when available.
- If you scuba dive, don't touch. Take only pictures and leave only bubbles.
- Support the creation and maintenance of marine parks and preserves.
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Copyright 2002 The Austin American Statesman Austin American-Statesman (Texas)
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