Caribbean coral reefs face disease threat ^{CEFR B2}

Caribbean coral reefs face rising pressures from warmer sea temperatures, acidification, overfishing and pollution, and the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) in Trinidad and Tobago has highlighted Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) as an additional, urgent danger that is "wreaking havoc on coral reefs in the Caribbean." First recorded in Florida in 2014, SCTLD has spread to The Bahamas, The Cayman Islands, Jamaica, the Dutch Caribbean and islands across the Lesser and Greater Antilles. The pathogen transmits easily by direct contact, by water currents and via ballast water, which makes ports frequent early sites of infection.

Infected corals develop lesions where tissue dies; these dead areas grow as the disease advances and can kill coral within weeks to months. Scientists do not yet know the exact cause — it may be entirely bacterial or a combination of bacteria and a virus. To try to save reefs, some affected colonies are treated with antibiotics and some are moved to land-based facilities for short-term protection.

The IMA reports SCTLD has infected over twenty of the forty-five stony coral species in the Caribbean, naming maze, mountainous and brain corals among those affected. Even the world-renowned giant brain coral found in Speyside is highly susceptible. An economic study from June 2008 valued Tobago's coral reefs at between USD 120–160 million annually, and although SCTLD has not been confirmed in Tobago it is present in neighbouring Grenada and some Dutch Caribbean islands. The IMA received a 2024 grant from the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife Regional Activity Centre (SPAW RAC) for a one-year preparedness and resilience project, and in January 2025 its ecologists trained with the Perry Institute of Marine Science in San Andres, Colombia. The IMA is educating sea-goers to report signs via the seaiTT app, to avoid touching corals, to sanitise diving gear and to disinfect bilge water, arguing that proactive action, public education and stronger capacity give the best chance to protect reefs and that communities must work together as guardians of these ecosystems.