Ramón D. Morejón

CORAL REEF NEWS: Dredging has decimated regional coral reefs, says expert caymannewsservice.com/2025/0… Renowned regional marine scientist Dr Tom Goreau has revealed the extent of the damage to marine environments all around the Carribean resulting from dredging for cruise berthing facilities and marinas or large ships stirring up sediment as they pull into docks. Speaking at the CPR rally on Tuesday, he said the massive amount of port and coastal development in the Caribbean has been devasting for coral reefs, the world’s most delicate ecosystems. Goreau said that in almost every case where dredging and development has taken place around nearshore marine habitats in this region the projects have either directly destroyed coral or smothered it through the silt and sediment from subsequent day-to-day operations. #coralreefs #coralhealth #habitatloss #coralreefecology #dredging #caribbean #caymanislands #marineecology #marinebiology

NEW CORAL RESEARCH: Coral reef restoration can reduce coastal contamination and pollution hazards (OPEN ACCESS) nature.com/articles/s43247-0… Coral reef restoration can reduce the wave-driven flooding for coastal communities. However, this protection has yet to be assessed in terms of the reduced risk of flood-driven environmental contamination. Here we provide the first high-resolution valuation of the reduction of flood-related land-based environmental pollution provided by potential coral reef restoration. Along Florida’s 460 km-long coral reef-fringed coastline, coral reef restoration could reduce the risk of sewage and petrochemical contamination by preventing the flooding of petroleum storage tank systems (-9%), onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems (-4%), and wastewater treatment plants (-10%). The present value of critical infrastructure protection and contamination prevention benefits provided by coral reef restoration is $3,413,503, with some areas exceeding $1,500,000/km. Annually, 48,403 U.S. gal of petrochemicals, 10,404 GPD of wastewater treatment capacity, equivalent to $281,435, could be protected from flooding, demonstrating that coral reef restoration can provide environmental risk reduction and previously undocumented additional socioeconomic benefits. #coralreefs #coralresearch #coastalprotection #pollution #conservation #reefrestoration #coralrestoration #coralreefecology #marinebiology